This is an interesting article.
What are the major pieces of the Internet,
and who are the major players in each segment?
Welcome to “The Big Picture” of connecting through the Internet to reach online resources. The purpose of this page is to answer the question: “What are the major pieces of the Internet, and who are the major players in each segment?” If some of these links don’t make sense, it’s because you are not an “alumni” of my internet courses 
This page displays the main pieces of the Internet from a User’s PC… extending all the way through to the online content. Each section mentions the most significant parts of the Internet’s architecture. I also provide links to the top “couple of vendors” in each category, and then an external link to a more extensive lists of vendors.
In creating this one web page to describe the “entire Internet”, I split the diagram based on the function being performed. I recognize that a company may perform several of these functions. I’ve included several “leading edge” components as well, such as LMDS for the local loop (This page is intended to be forward-looking). I also recognize that there are many additional details that could be added to this page, but I am trying to adhere to a 90/10 rule. If this page identifies 90% of the mainstream pieces and players, that should be sufficient to convey “the big picture”. (The remaining 10% details would probably triple the size & complexity of this one meta-diagram.) I welcome any comments you have to improve this page – especially if I’ve omitted anything significant. Russ Haynal.
These are the Main Sections:
- User PC – Multi-Media PCs equipped to send and receive all variety of audio and video
- User Communication Equipment – Connects the Users’ PC(s) to the “Local Loop”
- Local Loop Carrier - Connects the User location to the ISP’s Point of Presence
- ISP’s POP – Connections from the user are accepted and authenticated here.
- User Services – Used by the User for access (DNS, EMAIL, etc).
- ISP Backbone – Interconnects the ISP’s POPs, AND interconnects the ISP to Other ISP’s and online content.
- Online Content – These are the host sites that the user interacts with.
- Origins Of Online Content – This is the original “real-world” sources for the online information.
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User PC – A Multi-Media PC equipped to send and receive all variety of audio and video.
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User’s Communication Equipment - This is the communication equipment located at the User’s location(s) to connect the Users’ PC(s) to the “Local Loop” (aka Customer Premise equipment – CPE)
User services – Many corporations also provide “User services” to their employees such as DNS, Email, Usenet, etc. Links for these services are described further down this diagram in the user services section. |
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Local Loop Carrier - Connects the User location to the ISP’s Point of Presence
Equipment Manufacturers: Nortel, Lucent, Newbridge, Siemens. |
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ISP POP- This is the edge of the ISP’s network. Connections from the user are accepted and authenticated here.
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User Services - these are the services that most users would use along with Internet Access. (These may be hosted within a large corporate LAN) (Webhosting is discussed under the online content section)
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ISP Backbone - The ISP backbone interconnects the ISP’s POPs, AND interconnects the ISP to Other ISP’s and online content.
The Broadband guide (links to 4,000 vendors) |
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Online Content - These are the host sites that the user interacts with.
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Origins of online content - This is the original “real-world” sources for the online information.
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Other Resources:
