miércoles, 1 de marzo de 2017

Broadband in the USA: a long evolution



In the current society, the Internet is something the human population uses daily for information, entertainment, direction, and much more. But there was a time when internet was still premature; in fact, there was a time from which internet had to be born. This essay, in collaboration with Kristen Hinderliter, will explore the history and growth of broadband connections and internet in the United States of America. 

In 1957, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, also known as ARPA, was created by the United States’ Department of Defense in response to the Soviet Union’s recent Sputnik launch. The idea was that the Soviet Union was getting too far ahead in technological and research advancement; the Advanced Research Projects Agency was the United States government’s way of getting back into the competition. ARPA along with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, was supposed to recreate technical supremacy in the United States of America.
It was decided that the fastest and most efficient way to gain this superiority would require the knowledge and brain power of multiple experts of their fields in the United States. From this idea emerged the Information Process Techniques Office, or the IPTO. The IPTO was to be an easily accessible space to share and create information and ideas between the people. It was 1962 at this point, and the IPTO was being run by J.C.R. Licklider. It was Licklider’s dream to create an “Intergalactic Computer Network”. His vision for the internet’s capabilities took the world’s perspective of the computer from, essentially, a large mathematical calculator, to so much more. Licklider’s work created the outlines for many of the internet’s current uses, such as online banking, digital libraries, and user-friendly interfaces.
The first step to creating this “intergalactic” network involves a process called packet switching. Packet switching is a transmission process in a digital network that breaks down data into pieces, or packets, to then be distributed quickly and efficiently to other networks. Every packet has its own routing information and is channeled individually to the destination, where they are then reassembled.
In 1968, ARPA put out a contract worth $563,000 to design, create, install, test, and maintain interface message processors, or IMPS that would connect four main locations: the Stanford Research Institute, the University of California-Santa Barbara, the University of California-Los Angeles, and the University of Utah. In October of 1969, the Stanford Research Institute and the University of California-Los Angeles were connected. This was the beginning of ARPANET. Stanford and UCLA were the next to be connected to the system. It was during this time that the term “log in” was coined, a way to identify individual users on the same system. The log in still remains a widely used form of identification in the current society.
Various other kinds of programs began to cultivate from here, including programs designed to expand other programs. For example, Request for Comments, or RFC, was a publication used by the Internet Engineering Task Force to help develop, create, and grow ARPANET. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) was in charge of and responsible for the engineering issues involved with the internet activities. The RFC started out as a way to peer-review the workings of ARPANET, but have grown to be the official specifications and protocols for how the internet itself functions. Today there are over 4,000 RFC’s.
Also in this time, the basis for Telnet was set up. Telnet is short for Terminal Network. It is a user command used to access remote computers. It derived from the log in, and is essentially the same thing. It gives access to a specific computer and all the functions and clearances that have been allotted to that user.
In 1993, the World Wide Web was finally introduced to the United States by a British computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Berners-Lee wrote the three most fundamental programs in technology: HyperText Markup Language, HTML, is the standard markup language for creating web pages and web applications, Uniform Resource Identifier, or URI/URL, is a web address that specifies its location on a computer network, and Hypertext Transfer Protocol, or HTTP, is for transferring hypertext.
Dial-up internet access was limited to 56 kbps modems at this time. Broadband is a term used to describe any connections faster than dial-up, so it is an umbrella term for many other applications, such as cable or DSL. 1996 marked the earliest availability of broadband in North America. By 2000, there was a 50% increase in the number of subscriptions to broadband internet, and by 2010, over 65% of households had access to their own broadband connections.
The introduction of broadband boomed across the United States, leaving dial up in the dirt. The following is a chart showing the increase in broadband, and a correlated decrease in dial up usage.
We analyze international broadband evolution (here, the USA case) in this blog, in Research Group about Digital Journalism and Marketing and Broadband and in Research Group on Innovative Monetization Systems of Digital Journalism, Marketing and Tourism (SIMPED), from CECABLE,  Escola Universitària Mediterrani of UdGUPF and Blanquerna-URL, in Twitter (@CECABLEresearch), Google+, in the group of LinkedIn, in the page of LinkedIn, in the group of Facebook, in Instagram (CECABLE), in Pinterest and in this blog. We will go in deep in the XXII Cable and Broadband Catalonia Congress (4-5 April, 22@, UPF). 


37 comentarios:

  1. OK! We insist on the international analysis! Thanks for your comment!

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  2. The origins of cable were on the USA. Congrats for the article!

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  3. El Tío Sam siempre se ha espabilado en asuntos tecnológicos. La Sociedad de la Banda Ancha la tienen muy bien asimilada.

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  4. Ciertamente van muy avanzados. El cable histórico, de hecho, nació allí a finales de los años 40 del siglo XX. Toda una declaración de intenciones. ¡Muchas gracias por tu comentario!

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  5. The broadband is necessary in all the activities, especially in tourism.

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  6. Certainly, tourism needs broadband. Thanks for your comment!

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  7. What a great invention! I can't imagine life without broadband connections. They are so useful for tourism nowdays.

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  8. Certainly, broadband is like the air we breathe. Thanks for your comment!

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  9. A l’article s’explica de manera detallada la història de la banda ampla a Estats Units. Curiosament, Internet va començar per ús militar amb la finalitat de tenir comunicació entre bases, però més tard es va extendre a un ús universitari i desprès a un ús general… Crec que aquest article està molt bé ja que podem veure com ha anat variant al llarg del temps fins a l’actualitat i com s’han fet diferents usos amb diferents finalitats.

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  10. És curiós que d'un origen militar n'hagin sorgit tantes aplicacions socials. Moltes gràcies pel comentari!

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  11. Mai es deixa d'aprendre. No tenia ni idea dels origens de la banda ampla.
    Em sento afortunat de ser alumne de'n Joan Francesc.
    Gràcies.

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  12. És un article bastant interessant sobre la banda ample i a més m'ha agradat bastant. Moltes gràcies JF.

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  13. Es un artículo que nos explica como la banda ancha se originó por la competencia entre los Estados Unidos y la Unión Soviética en una carrera tecnológica sin precedentes. Entonces, J.C.R. Licklider vió en el ordenador algo mucho más allá de una maquina calculadora. También resulta asombroso el crecimiento exponencial del porcentaje de uso y acceso a la banda ancha, que hoy en día es prácticamente de cobertura mundial. Es por eso exactamente por lo que es tan importante en la gestión y administración de las empresas ya que todos las estrategias se desarrollan en base a una sociedad que vive en un mundo 3.0.

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  14. Miriam Manzanera i Oriol Lafuente:
    Hem trobat l'article interessant donat que tots dos coneixíem la història del passat del internet i de la seva creació però aprendre detalladament els seus orígens a Estats Units ha sigut força interessant.

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  15. Un article molt interessant, que ens ajuda a compendre millor el món de la banda ancha. Moltes gracies joan francesc!

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  16. Articles com aquest sobre la banda ample ens fan comprendre aspectes que no tothom té clars i que fan interessant el tema.

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  17. Este comentario ha sido eliminado por el autor.

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  18. S'ha de saber els origens de les coses, i el cas de la banda ampla és molt interessant.

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  19. Gran velocidad en Estados Unidos. Interesante análisis.

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  20. I thought that it can be interesting to know in detail the evolution about broadband. More exactly in the USA cause it is almost the first country in many different things about internet connection.

    Anna J.

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  21. The USA case is illustrative about the long-term task to deploy the networks, especially in the physical ones. With the microwaves option the dissemination is faster.

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  22. El artículo nos habla de la evolución de la banda ancha en Estados Unidos. Es muy interesante ver como todo empezó por la rivalidad con la Unión Soviética que lanzó el primer satélite artificial de la historia. Es sorprendente como una aplicación que fue militar en origen, con el pasar de los años, se ha ido desarrollando para dar origen a la banda ancha y el internet en general tal y como lo conocemos hoy.
    Además, también es curioso ver como durante los años que se fue desarrollando lo que había eran sistemas primitivos como por ejemplo el de 1968 para conectar varias universidades. Por otra parte, es llamativo como mientras que el World Wide Web se creó en 1993 y lo cambió todo pero, sin embargo, seguimos utilizando el sistema de log in que data del 1969.

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  23. Interesting article to know how broadband appeared, has developed during the years and has arrived nowadays to US!

    Sergio Arenas

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  24. ¡Muy cautivador! Interesante para ampliar la cultura general. Siempre es bueno conocer el origen, así podemos ser más intuitivos para prever los futuros proyectos. Trufanova, Y.

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  25. ¡Los orígenes de la banda ancha siempre son buenos consejeros!

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  26. Interesting article that make us know that the origins of Internet were mainly for militar reasons. Later, it began to be used for research between universities until the early 90's and the beginning of the century, when World Wide Web and broadband were introduced. These two last elements made the communication easier and worldwide, made that everyone who want could make, for example, a website of the product they sell for arrive to more people. We should have in consideration also that broadband hasn't arrived to everyone and not
    arrives with the same strength to everywhere but this is what they are trying to improve actually just as we can see in Maresme and Scotland articles.
    Gonzálvez, Gabriel

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