now connected to the Internet. The number of computer hosts approaches ten million (interesting, considering that today there are more than three hundred million!). Within 30 years, the Internet has grown from a Cold War concept for controlling the tattered remains of a postnuclear society to the Information Superhighway. Just as the railroads of the nineteenth century enabled the Machine Age and revolutionized the society of the time, the Internet takes us into the Information Age and profoundly affects the world in which we live. The Age of the Internet arrives. 1997 Some people telecommute over the Internet, allowing them to choose where to live based on quality of life, not proximity to work. Many cities view the Internet as a solution to their clogged highways and fouled air. Schools use the Internet as a vast electronic library, with untold possibilities. Doctors use the Internet to consult with colleagues half a world away. And even as the Internet offers a single Global Village, it threatens to create a second-class citizenship among those without access. As a new generation grows up as accustomed to communicating through a keyboard as in person, life on the Internet will become an increasingly important part of life on Earth. 1998-2004 The Internet bubble climbs to insane levels and money flows into the telecom and IT industries like water over Niagara. The bubble rises, and falls, and $7 trillion dollars in market value evaporate. Recovery begins in early 2004, just in time for the next big bubble to begin Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website. First Things First First Things First Chapter Summary This chapter is designed to acquaint the reader with the fundamental terms and concepts that characterize the data and telecommunications worlds today. Now we can move deeper into the magic. In the next chap- ter, we introduce th