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How the Internet works - The Basics:
What is the Internet?
The Internet was originally built by the USA military as a group of computers for use when defending their country during the cold war. This technology was then started to be used for non military work as a way of distributing information around the world. Along the way, the real potential of the Internet was discoverd, and so the Internet boom started. Now the Internet is huge network connecting millions of computers using communication cables across the whole world.
What is a Website?
The Internet is divided into websites. Many computers (also known as a webservers) on the Internet have many websites on them, depending on the type of computer. Every website can be found using the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) for it. This the the text that you see advertised on business cards, television, etc (e.g. www.piko-technologies.com). This is also the text you enter in the URL or Address Bar at the top of your Internet browser.
What is Web Hosting?
Some large companies may have their own webservers connected to the Internet and use them for their own websites. The costs of computer equipment has fallen a lot over the last few years, but the price of the telecommunication pipes used to connect webservers to the Internet is usually beyond the reach of most companies. Because of this, companies called Web Hosting Providers have added their own webservers to the Internet to allow companies or individuals to use these webservers for their own websites. This is usually called Web Hosting.
What is an ISP (Internet Service Provider)?
People who want to browse the Internet first need to connect into the network in order to view websites. Because of the high prices involved with telecommunications, this is usually not feasable for many companies or individuals. Because of this some companies handle the costs of connection to the Internet and offer a dialup or permanent (broadband) service between the user and the ISP. A user can then use a piece of hardware called a modem to dial an ISP to connect to the Internet. This means very cost-effective access to the Internet for many people. These companies are known as Internet Service Providers or ISP's.
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