The internet offers a vast global network between
all internet ready devices using protocols such as TCP/IP and UDP. Within the
internet are application protocols such as VOIP, IRC, MSNP, and FTP that allow
for real-time messaging, video chat, forums, wikis, blogs, tweets, cloud
computing, grid computing, and file sharing.
Real time messaging allows people to exchange short
messages while they are online. There are two types of real time messaging:
Instant message and a Chat. An instant message is one on one messaging. Chat is
a group of people messaging together. Real time messaging is also a form a
synchronous communication.
Voice over internet protocol or voice over IP is
calling someone over the internet instead of using the regular phone system.
There are many variations of voice over IP. You can video chat with someone via
Skype, Facebook, or Face Time. You can also just talk with someone using voice
over IP via Vonage, IM, or Magic Jack. Voice over IP is also a form a
synchronous communication.
Forums, wikis, blogs and tweets are all asynchronous
forms of communication so that a message or post can be seen at a later time.
Blogs and wikis are almost the same besides that wikis allow other people to
edit information and blogs are simply just a web log. A tweet is short message
posted to the Twitter website.
Cloud computing offers internet-based resources such
as servers, software, and storage space on demand. Cloud computing helps
businesses save money and offers scalable solutions that can be meet.
Grid computing is a network of computers that are
set to perform certain tasks. Grid computing is mainly for high-performance
processing. It accesses thousands of PCs with internet that are in idle to
perform certain tasks.
FTP or file transfer protocol is used to transfer files
between one computer to another using any TCP/IP network. FTP was made to easily
upload and download files without having the hassle of dealing with the
operating system and file management system. You can set up an FTP server so
you can access files remotely for convenience or you ran out of storage on your
hard disk drive.
File or sometimes called P2P file sharing uses a
peer to peer network protocol allows users to obtain files from other users
anywhere on the internet. Bit torrent is the file sharing protocol that is used
during this process.
