LARSEN focused on the geometric growth of the Internet from its inception
circa 1969 to the present, and the adjustments required to respond to
that rapid growth. To illustrate the issue of scalability, LARSEN
considered computer networks as including three generic components:
computers, network communication nodes, and communication media. Each
component scales (e.g., computers range from PCs to supercomputers;
network nodes scale from interface cards in a PC through sophisticated
routers and gateways; and communication media range from 2,400-baud
dial-up facilities through 4.5-Mbps backbone links, and eventually to
multigigabit-per-second communication lines), and architecturally, the
components are organized to scale hierarchically from local area networks
to international-scale networks. Such growth is made possible by
building layers of communication protocols, as BESSER pointed out.
By layering both physically and logically, a sense of scalability is
maintained from local area networks in offices, across campuses, through
bridges, routers, campus backbones, fiber-optic links, etc., up into
regional networks and ultimately into national and international
networks.
LARSEN then illustrated the geometric growth over a two-year period--
through September 1991--of the number of networks that comprise the
Internet. This growth has been sustained largely by the availability of
three basic functions: electronic mail, file transfer (ftp), and remote
log-on (telnet). LARSEN also reviewed the growth in the kind of traffic
that occurs on the network. Network traffic reflects the joint contributions
of a larger population of users and increasing use per user. Today one sees
serious applications involving moving images across the network--a rarity
ten years ago. LARSEN recalled and concurred with BESSER's main point
that the interesting problems occur at the application level.
LARSEN then illustrated a model of a library's roles and functions in a
network environment. He noted, in particular, the placement of on-line
catalogues onto the network and patrons obtaining access to the library
increasingly through local networks, campus networks, and the Internet.
LARSEN supported LYNCH's earlier suggestion that we need to address
fundamental questions of networked information in order to build
environments that scale in the information sense as well as in the
physical sense.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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