Chapter 30: Putting the i5 on the Net

Overview

When the telephone was first made available to the general public, businesses that adapted and took advantage of the new technology succeeded. Those that did not failed. The Internet is the next step in the overall evolution of communications. You can become successful by taking advantage of it, or ignore it and fail.

This section covers the basics of connecting to the Internet. To see the steps involved in connecting your i5 to the world, see the subheading on Internet Connection.

The Internet is simply a network of interconnected computers that have all agreed to communicate using the same protocol. That protocol is called Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, or TCP/IP. See the section on TCP/IP for more information on how to enable this protocol and what it can do for you.

One of the strengths of the i5 is its built-in security. While it is running your day-to-day applications, you usually don't worry about security. It has built-in password security and object authority checking. This is usually enough for in house security. But, once you open up your computer to the masses, security becomes much more of an issue. Hackers have traditionally ignored the i5 and its predecessors, but the more the i5 becomes the server of choice for companies attaching to the Internet, the bigger a target it becomes for hackers. (See the section on Internet Security for ways to arm yourself against an attack.)

One of the things the Internet brings with it is new jargon. Even if all you want to do is explore the possibility of using the Internet, you need to speak the language. TCP/IP, routers, bridges, firewall, FTP, SMTP, POP, and HTML, are just a few of the many unfamiliar and confusing terms that are regularly bantered around. This chapter starts with a section on terminology to help you speak the language.