Global network
Encyclopedia
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
. The term, as used in this article refers in a more restricted way to bidirectional communication networks, and to technology-based networks. Early networks such as international mail and unidirectional communication networks, such as radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, are described elsewhere.
The first global network was established using electrical telegraph
Electrical telegraph
An electrical telegraph is a telegraph that uses electrical signals, usually conveyed via telecommunication lines or radio. The electromagnetic telegraph is a device for human-to-human transmission of coded text messages....
y and global span was achieved in 1899. The telephony
Telephony
In telecommunications, telephony encompasses the general use of equipment to provide communication over distances, specifically by connecting telephones to each other....
network was the second to achieve global status, in the 1950s, and more recently, interconnected IP networks (a.k.a. the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, with estimated 360 million users worldwide in 2009), and the GSM mobile communication network (with over 3 billion worldwide users in 2009) form the largest global networks of all.
Setting up global networks require immense, costly and lengthy efforts lasting for decades. Ellaborate interconnections, switching
Switching
LAN switching is a form of packet switching used in local area networks. Switching technologies are crucial to network design, as they allow traffic to be sent only where it is needed in most cases, using fast, hardware-based methods.- Layer 2 switching :...
and routing
Routing
Routing is the process of selecting paths in a network along which to send network traffic. Routing is performed for many kinds of networks, including the telephone network , electronic data networks , and transportation networks...
devices, laying out physical carriers of information, such as land and submarine cable
Cable
A cable is two or more wires running side by side and bonded, twisted or braided together to form a single assembly. In mechanics cables, otherwise known as wire ropes, are used for lifting, hauling and towing or conveying force through tension. In electrical engineering cables are used to carry...
s, wireless bridge
Wireless bridge
A wireless bridge is a hardware component used to connect two or more network segments which are physically and logically separated. It does not necessarily always need to be a hardware device, as some operating systems provide software to bridge different protocols...
s must be set in operation. In addition, international communication protocols, legislation
Legislation
Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it...
and agreements
Contract
A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...
are involved.
Satellite global networks
Communication satellites are an important part of global networks. However, there are specific low Earth orbitLow Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit is generally defined as an orbit within the locus extending from the Earth’s surface up to an altitude of 2,000 km...
(LEO) global satellite constellation
Satellite constellation
A group of artificial satellites working in concert is known as a satellite constellation. Such a constellation can be considered to be a number of satellites with coordinated ground coverage, operating together under shared control, synchronised so that they overlap well in coverage and...
s, such as Iridium
Iridium satellite constellation
The Iridium satellite constellation is a large group of satellites providing voice and data coverage to satellite phones, pagers and integrated transceivers over Earth's entire surface. Iridium Communications Inc...
, Globalstar
Globalstar
Globalstar is a low Earth orbit satellite constellation for satellite phone and low-speed data communications, somewhat similar to the Iridium satellite constellation and Orbcomm satellite systems.-History:...
and Orbcomm
Orbcomm
ORBCOMM is a company that offers M2M global asset monitoring and messaging services from its constellation of 29 LEO communications satellites orbiting at 775 km. Like its voice-centric competitors Iridium and Globalstar, it filed for Chapter 11 protection, in September, 2000. ORBCOMM issued...
, which are comprised by dozens of similar satellites which are put in orbit at regularly spaced positions and form a mesh network, sometimes sending and receiving information directly among themselves. Using VSAT technology, satellite internet access
Satellite Internet access
Satellite Internet access is Internet access provided through satellites. The service can be provided to users world-wide through low Earth orbit satellites. Geostationary satellites can offer higher data speeds, but their signals can not reach some polar regions of the world...
has become possible.
Mobile wireless networks
It is estimated that 80% of the global mobile market uses the GSM standard, present in more than 212 countries and territories. Its ubiquityUbiquity
Ubiquity is a synonym for omnipresence, the property of being present everywhere.Ubiquity may also refer to:* Ubiquity , a simple graphical installer made for the Ubuntu operating system* Ubiquity Records, an American music label...
makes international roaming
Roaming
In wireless telecommunications, roaming is a general term referring to the extension of connectivity service in a location that is different from the home location where the service was registered. Roaming ensures that the wireless device is kept connected to the network, without losing the...
very common between mobile phone operators, enabling subscribers to use their phones in many parts of the world. In order to achieve this, these networks must be interconnected by way of peering
Peering
In computer networking, peering is a voluntary interconnection of administratively separate Internet networks for the purpose of exchanging traffic between the customers of each network. The pure definition of peering is settlement-free or "sender keeps all," meaning that neither party pays the...
arrangements, and therefore the GSM network is a truly global one.
Network interconnection
The telegraph and telexTelex
Telex may refer to:* Telex , , a communications network** Teleprinter, the device used on the above network* Telex , a Belgian pop group...
global communication networks have been phased out, so interconnection
Interconnection
In telecommunications, interconnection is the physical linking of a carrier's network with equipment or facilities not belonging to that network...
among existing global networks arise at several points, such as between the voice telephomy and digital data networks, and between these and satellite networks. Many applications also run now on several networks, such as VoIP (voice over IP). Mobile communication (voice and data) are also now intimately intertwinned, because the majority of cell phones nowadays have both voice and data (internet navigation and email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
ing) capabilities.
Digital global networks require huge carrying capacity in the main backbone
Internet backbone
The Internet backbone refers to the principal data routes between large, strategically interconnected networks and core routers in the Internet...
s. This is currently achievable by fiber optic cables.
Social and economic impact
The Canadian sociologist Marshall McLuhanMarshall McLuhan
Herbert Marshall McLuhan, CC was a Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar—a professor of English literature, a literary critic, a rhetorician, and a communication theorist...
was the first to forecast the huge impact of the matrix of global networks upon society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
, coining the term global village
Global Village (term)
Global Village is a term closely associated with Marshall McLuhan, popularized in his books The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man and Understanding Media . McLuhan described how the globe has been contracted into a village by electric technology and the instantaneous movement of...
. His work, however, related to radio and television networks, which are broadcast
Broadcast
Broadcast or Broadcasting may refer to:* Broadcasting, the transmission of audio and video signals* Broadcast, an individual television program or radio program* Broadcast , an English electronic music band...
(unidirectional) networks, thus predating the much larger impact of the internet.
Global networks have revolutionized human communication several times. The first to do so was the electrical telegraph. Its impact was so large that it has been dubbed the Victorian Internet
Victorian Internet
The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-Line Pioneers is a 1998 book by Tom Standage. It is about the development and uses of the electric telegraph during the second half of the 19th Century and some of the similarities the telegraph shared...
. It was expanded many times in its coverage with the advent of radiotelegraphy, and with text messaging using telex
Telex
Telex may refer to:* Telex , , a communications network** Teleprinter, the device used on the above network* Telex , a Belgian pop group...
machines.
The Internet and mobile communication networks have made possible entirely new forms of social interaction, activities and organizing, thanks to its basic features such as widespread usability
Usability
Usability is the ease of use and learnability of a human-made object. The object of use can be a software application, website, book, tool, machine, process, or anything a human interacts with. A usability study may be conducted as a primary job function by a usability analyst or as a secondary job...
and access, and instant communication from any connected point to another. Thus, its social impact has been, and still is, enormous.
See also
- History of telecommunicationHistory of telecommunicationThe history of telecommunication began with the use of smoke signals and drums in Africa, the Americas and parts of Asia. In the 1790s, the first fixed semaphore systems emerged in Europe; however it was not until the 1830s that electrical telecommunication systems started to appear...
- History of the InternetHistory of the InternetThe history of the Internet starts in the 1950s and 1960s with the development of computers. This began with point-to-point communication between mainframe computers and terminals, expanded to point-to-point connections between computers and then early research into packet switching...
- History of radioHistory of radioThe early history of radio is the history of technology that produced radio instruments that use radio waves. Within the timeline of radio, many people contributed theory and inventions in what became radio. Radio development began as "wireless telegraphy"...
- History of televisionHistory of televisionThe history of television records the work of numerous engineers and inventors in several countries over many decades. The fundamental principles of television were initially explored using electromechanical methods to scan, transmit and reproduce an image...
- History of the telephone
- History of telegraphy
- History of the Internet
- Mobile telecommunications
- Computer networking
- Communication protocol
- Network architectureNetwork architectureNetwork architecture is the design of a communications network. It is a framework for the specification of a network's physical components and their functional organization and configuration, its operational principles and procedures, as well as data formats used in its operation.In...
- Global network positioningGlobal network positioningGlobal network positioning is a coordinates-based mechanism in a peer-to-peer network architecture which predicts Internet network distance . The mechanism is based on absolute coordinates computed from modeling the Internet as a geometric space...
- TelephonyTelephonyIn telecommunications, telephony encompasses the general use of equipment to provide communication over distances, specifically by connecting telephones to each other....
- Fiber optic cable
- TelegraphyTelegraphyTelegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages via some form of signalling technology. Telegraphy requires messages to be converted to a code which is known to both sender and receiver...