Semiconductor Technology and Optical Networking

 

Semiconductor Technology and Optical Networking

Steady advances in semiconductor technology and optical networking at its core created new economic opportunities for commercial involvement in network expansion and delivery of services to the public.

In mid-1989, MCI Mail and CompuServe established connections to the Internet, delivering email and public access products to half a million users of the Internet. A few months later, on January 1,1990, PSInet launched an alternative Internet backbone for commercial use; One of the networks that formed the core of the commercial Internet of later years. In March 1990, the first high-speed T1 (1.5 Mbit/s) connection between NSFnet and Europe was established between Cornell University and CERN, allowing more robust communications than capacity with satellites.

 

Six months later, Tim Bernerslee began writing the first web browser, the World Wide Web, after two years of lobbying CERN management. By Christmas 1990, Berners-Lee had built all the tools necessary for a working Web: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) 0.9, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), the first web browser (which included an HTML editor and could access USnet newsgroups and FTP files), the first HTTP server software (later called CERN HTTPD), the first web server, and the first web pages that described the project. The Commercial Internet Exchange was established in 1991, allowing PSiNet to communicate with other commercial networks such as CERNet and Alternet.

In October 1994, Stanford Federal Credit Union was the first financial institution to offer online Internet banking services to all of its members. In 1996, OP Financial Group, Cooperative Bank became the second online bank in the world and the first in Europe. By 1995, the Internet was fully commercialized when NSFnet was deactivated in the US, removing the t.

As technology improved and commercial opportunities fueled mutual growth, Internet traffic volumes began to experience characteristics similar to the scaling of MOS transistors, exemplified by Moore’s Law, doubling every 18 months. This development, formalized as Edholm’s rule, was catalyzed by advances in MOS technology, laser lightwave systems, and noise performance.

Since 1995, the Internet has had a huge impact on culture and commerce, including the rise of instant communication via email, instant messaging, telephony (Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP), two-way interactive video calls, and the World Wide Web. With its discussion forums, blogs, social networking and online shopping sites. Large amounts of data are transmitted at higher and higher speeds through fiber optic networks operating at 1-Gbit/s, 10-Gbit/s, or more. The Internet continues to grow, fueled by the large amount of online information and knowledge, commerce, entertainment, and social networking.

In the late 1990s, traffic on the public Internet was estimated to have grown by 100 percent per year, while the average annual growth in the number of Internet users was thought to be between 20% and 50%. This growth is largely due to the lack of central governance. This allows for organic growth of the network, as well as the proprietary nature of Internet protocols, which encourages vendor interoperability and prevents any one company from having too much control over the network. 

As of 31 March 2011, the estimated total number of Internet users was 2.095 billion (30.2% of the world population). In 1993 it was estimated that the Internet accounted for only 1% of the information flowing through two-way telecommunications, by 2000 this figure had risen to 51%, and by 2007 over 97% of all telecommunications information was carried over the Internet.