It also demonstrated that they had the ability to launch a nuclear warhead from anywhere in the world, at anywhere in the Unites States they desired. Leaders declared that “everything was threatened,” and a defensive response was seriously needed. The solution became visible to computer engineers, they must come up with a communication system that would not fail even if sections of it were destroyed, or buried under radioactive waste. The first essential technology that emerged from this was the Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). TCP/IPThe term TCP/IP stands for a pretty simple principal. It is a set of regulations that allow different computer networks on the Internet to communicate with each other. Instead of relying on a single unbroken electronic signal to exchange data between two computers (which could be taken out by a bomb), the data is sent in many little packets over a vast network of computers. If one computer, or route becomes obscured (with too much traffic, etc.) or destroyed, the packets are free to take any other route. A list of the packages and the order they go in is also sent along. If one package of information doesn’t make it, it will notify the computer who is sending the packages, and it will resend the missing information. This also enables the information to take the fastest route possible. For example, with today’s internet, if you live in London, and are accessing a web page based in Toronto, the packages will be sent from one computer to another, which will determine the fastest route to London, and pass it on, the information may pass through Australia or Timbuktu if this happens to be the fastest way from Toronto to London. Today this happens in a fraction of a second. TCP/IP was originally design by the United States Department of Defence of computers using the UNIX operating system. Today all computers connected to the Internet use this system for commu...
