How to Troubleshoot Common Internet Service Issues
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Identifying the Problem: Initial Steps
Okay, so youre staring at that blinking cursor again, huh? IT services in sydney . Identifying the problem – the very first step when your internets acting up. It aint always as straightforward as it seems, believe me. You cant just jump to conclusions and start unplugging everything (though, sometimes, I feel like doing exactly that!).
First things first, dont panic! (Easier said than done, I know). We gotta be a bit methodical, see? Ask yourself: is it everything thats not working? Like, can you not get to any website? Or is it just, say, your favorite cat video site thats being a pain? This is crucial, (really crucial), because it points to where the issue might be hiding.
If nothings loading, well, that suggests a broader problem. Maybe its your modem or router (the usual suspects!). Or, heaven forbid, its a problem with your internet service provider (ISP). But if only certain sites are being difficult, that points to a website issue, or, possibly, a problem with your computers DNS settings. (Dont worry if you dont know what that is yet; well get there!)
Another thing! Check your other devices. Is your phone able to connect to the Wi-Fi and get online? If so, the problem is likely isolated to your computer. If no device is working over Wi-Fi, well, thats a pretty strong clue that the router is the culprit.
Basically, initial troubleshooting is all about gathering information. Observe everything! Note down any error messages you see. It might seem like gibberish now, but it could be a vital clue later on. And, most importantly, dont, I repeat, do not assume you know the answer before youve even looked at the evidence. Whoa! Youd be surprised how often that leads you down the wrong rabbit hole. Good luck!
Checking Connection Hardware
Alright, so when it comes to checking connection hardware, it can be a bit of a headache, but hey, its all part of the fun! First things first, you wanna make sure that nothings loose. You know, like those pesky Ethernet cables or Wi-Fi routers that decided to take a nap on the floor. Dont laugh, it happens to the best of us!
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So, you plug in everything nice and tight, give it a little tug just to make sure its not gonna fall out again.
Now, heres the thing - dont forget to check those power cords too! It sounds obvious, but sometimes its the simplest things that we overlook. Your modem and router need power to operate, so if theyre not getting it, youre not gonna get no internet. And while youre at it, maybe give them a quick restart. Press the power button, wait a minute or two, and see if that doesnt fix the issue.
Oh, and dont be too quick to blame your hardware just because everything looks fine. Sometimes, the problem could be with your service provider. So, if youve checked everything and its still not working, a quick call or text to them might not be a bad idea. They could be experiencing issues on their end that you have no control over.
Lastly, make sure theres no interference from other devices. You know, those cordless phones or microwaves that can disrupt your Wi-Fi signal. Move em around a bit, see if that helps. And hey, if youre still stuck, well, thats when you might need to call in the professionals. But lets try to avoid that if we can, right?
So there you go, a few tips to help you troubleshoot those pesky hardware issues. Hope it helps!
Restarting Devices for a Fresh Start
When it comes to troubleshooting common internet service issues, one of the most effective (and often overlooked) steps is simply restarting your devices. Its surprising how many folks don't realize the power of a good restart!
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You might think, "What's the big deal?" But trust me, it can make a world of difference.
Firstly, let's consider your modem and router. These devices are like the heart of your internet connection, pumping data to and from your home. If they've been running for a long time without a break, they can get bogged down, just like us after a long day at work. So, turning them off for a minute or two can clear out any cobwebs (figuratively speaking, of course). It's like giving them a fresh start, which can often resolve slow speeds or intermittent connectivity issues.
Now, dont forget about your devices! Whether it's your smartphone, laptop, or smart TV, these gadgets can also get stuck in a loop of sorts. If you're experiencing weird glitches or can't connect to the internet, just restart them. It's a simple step that too many people ignore. You'd be surprised how often a quick reboot can fix what seems like a major problem.
Of course, there are times when restarting doesn't solve everything. If you still find yourself struggling with your connection after a restart, it might be time to look deeper into the issue. But hey, starting with a restart is always a good first move. It's quick, easy, and doesn't require any technical know-how.
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So, the next time you're having internet trouble, don't just sit there frustrated-give those devices a break and restart them! You might just find that it's all you needed for a smoother online experience.
Testing Internet Speed and Connectivity
Okay, so youre having internet troubles, huh? First things first, lets talk about testing your internet speed and connectivity! I mean, ya gotta know what youre supposed to be getting (and what youre actually getting) before you can even begin to fix things.
Its not rocket science (trust me!), but its certainly important. There are loads of free online speed tests, (like Speedtest by Ookla, for instance). Just pop that into your search engine, and youll find plenty.
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These sites, they measure several things, like your download speed (how fast you grab stuff from the internet), your upload speed (how fast you send stuff to the internet, like photos or emails), and your ping (basically, how responsive your connection is).
Now, dont just run one test and call it a day, okay?
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Run a few, at different times of the day, to get a better picture of whats going on. You might find that your speed is great in the morning but terrible in the evening. Thats a clue! It could imply network congestion where everyone in the neighborhood is using the internet at the same time.
Also, connectivity is more than just speed. Can you even reach websites at all! If you cant, thats a bigger problem. Try pinging a reliable address, like Googles DNS server (8.8.8.8). If that fails, that means theres a blockage somewhere between you and the internet. Argh!
Its not always easy to figure out whats wrong, but testing your speed and connectivity is the first, crucial step!
ICT is also used to refer to the convergence of audiovisuals and telephone networks with computer networks through a single cabling or link system. There are large economic incentives to merge the telephone networks with the computer network system using a single unified system of cabling, signal distribution, and management. ICT is an umbrella term that includes any communication device, encompassing radio, television, cell phones, computer and network hardware, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and appliances with them such as video conferencing and distance learning. ICT also includes analog technology, such as paper communication, and any mode that transmits communication.[2]
ICT is a broad subject and the concepts are evolving.[3] It covers any product that will store, retrieve, manipulate, process, transmit, or receive information electronically in a digital form (e.g., personal computers including smartphones, digital television, email, or robots). Skills Framework for the Information Age is one of many models for describing and managing competencies for ICT professionals in the 21st century.[4]
The phrase "information and communication technologies" has been used by academic researchers since the 1980s.[5] The abbreviation "ICT" became popular after it was used in a report to the UK government by Dennis Stevenson in 1997,[6] and then in the revised National Curriculum for England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2000. However, in 2012, the Royal Society recommended that the use of the term "ICT" should be discontinued in British schools "as it has attracted too many negative connotations".[7] From 2014, the National Curriculum has used the word computing, which reflects the addition of computer programming into the curriculum.[8]
The money spent on IT worldwide has been estimated as US$3.8 trillion[10] in 2017 and has been growing at less than 5% per year since 2009. The estimated 2018 growth of the entire ICT is 5%. The biggest growth of 16% is expected in the area of new technologies (IoT, Robotics, AR/VR, and AI).[11]
The 2014 IT budget of the US federal government was nearly $82 billion.[12] IT costs, as a percentage of corporate revenue, have grown 50% since 2002, putting a strain on IT budgets. When looking at current companies' IT budgets, 75% are recurrent costs, used to "keep the lights on" in the IT department, and 25% are the cost of new initiatives for technology development.[13]
The average IT budget has the following breakdown:[13]
34% personnel costs (internal), 31% after correction
16% software costs (external/purchasing category), 29% after correction
33% hardware costs (external/purchasing category), 26% after correction
17% costs of external service providers (external/services), 14% after correction
The estimated amount of money spent in 2022 is just over US$6 trillion.[14]
The world's technological capacity to store information grew from 2.6 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 1986 to 15.8 in 1993, over 54.5 in 2000, and to 295 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 2007, and some 5 zettabytes in 2014.[15][16] This is the informational equivalent to 1.25 stacks of CD-ROM from the earth to the moon in 2007, and the equivalent of 4,500 stacks of printed books from the earth to the sun in 2014. The world's technological capacity to receive information through one-way broadcast networks was 432 exabytes of (optimally compressed) information in 1986, 715 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 1993, 1.2 (optimally compressed) zettabytes in 2000, and 1.9 zettabytes in 2007.[15] The world's effective capacity to exchange information through two-way telecommunication networks was 281 petabytes of (optimally compressed) information in 1986, 471 petabytes in 1993, 2.2 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 2000, 65 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 2007,[15] and some 100 exabytes in 2014.[17] The world's technological capacity to compute information with humanly guided general-purpose computers grew from 3.0 × 10^8 MIPS in 1986, to 6.4 x 10^12 MIPS in 2007.[15]
The ICT Development Index ranks and compares the level of ICT use and access across the various countries around the world.[19] In 2014 ITU (International Telecommunication Union) released the latest rankings of the IDI, with Denmark attaining the top spot, followed by South Korea. The top 30 countries in the rankings include most high-income countries where the quality of life is higher than average, which includes countries from Europe and other regions such as "Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Japan, Macao (China), New Zealand, Singapore, and the United States; almost all countries surveyed improved their IDI ranking this year."[20]
On 21 December 2001, the United Nations General Assembly approved Resolution 56/183, endorsing the holding of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing today's information society.[21] According to this resolution, the General Assembly related the Summit to the United Nations Millennium Declaration's goal of implementing ICT to achieve Millennium Development Goals. It also emphasized a multi-stakeholder approach to achieve these goals, using all stakeholders including civil society and the private sector, in addition to governments.
To help anchor and expand ICT to every habitable part of the world, "2015 is the deadline for achievements of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which global leaders agreed upon in the year 2000."[22]
Today's society shows the ever-growing computer-centric lifestyle, which includes the rapid influx of computers in the modern classroom.
There is evidence that, to be effective in education, ICT must be fully integrated into the pedagogy. Specifically, when teaching literacy and math, using ICT in combination with Writing to Learn[23][24] produces better results than traditional methods alone or ICT alone.[25] The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), a division of the United Nations, has made integrating ICT into education as part of its efforts to ensure equity and access to education. The following, which was taken directly from a UNESCO publication on educational ICT, explains the organization's position on the initiative.
Information and Communication Technology can contribute to universal access to education, equity in education, the delivery of quality learning and teaching, teachers' professional development and more efficient education management, governance, and administration. UNESCO takes a holistic and comprehensive approach to promote ICT in education. Access, inclusion, and quality are among the main challenges they can address. The Organization's Intersectoral Platform for ICT in education focuses on these issues through the joint work of three of its sectors: Communication & Information, Education and Science.[26]
OLPC Laptops at school in Rwanda
Despite the power of computers to enhance and reform teaching and learning practices, improper implementation is a widespread issue beyond the reach of increased funding and technological advances with little evidence that teachers and tutors are properly integrating ICT into everyday learning.[27] Intrinsic barriers such as a belief in more traditional teaching practices and individual attitudes towards computers in education as well as the teachers own comfort with computers and their ability to use them all as result in varying effectiveness in the integration of ICT in the classroom.[28]
School environments play an important role in facilitating language learning. However, language and literacy barriers are obstacles preventing refugees from accessing and attending school, especially outside camp settings.[29]
Mobile-assisted language learning apps are key tools for language learning. Mobile solutions can provide support for refugees' language and literacy challenges in three main areas: literacy development, foreign language learning and translations. Mobile technology is relevant because communicative practice is a key asset for refugees and immigrants as they immerse themselves in a new language and a new society. Well-designed mobile language learning activities connect refugees with mainstream cultures, helping them learn in authentic contexts.[29]
Representatives meet for a policy forum on M-Learning at UNESCO's Mobile Learning Week in March 2017.
ICT has been employed as an educational enhancement in Sub-Saharan Africa since the 1960s. Beginning with television and radio, it extended the reach of education from the classroom to the living room, and to geographical areas that had been beyond the reach of the traditional classroom. As the technology evolved and became more widely used, efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa were also expanded. In the 1990s a massive effort to push computer hardware and software into schools was undertaken, with the goal of familiarizing both students and teachers with computers in the classroom. Since then, multiple projects have endeavoured to continue the expansion of ICT's reach in the region, including the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, which by 2015 had distributed over 2.4 million laptops to nearly two million students and teachers.[30]
The inclusion of ICT in the classroom, often referred to as M-Learning, has expanded the reach of educators and improved their ability to track student progress in Sub-Saharan Africa. In particular, the mobile phone has been most important in this effort. Mobile phone use is widespread, and mobile networks cover a wider area than internet networks in the region. The devices are familiar to student, teacher, and parent, and allow increased communication and access to educational materials. In addition to benefits for students, M-learning also offers the opportunity for better teacher training, which leads to a more consistent curriculum across the educational service area. In 2011, UNESCO started a yearly symposium called Mobile Learning Week with the purpose of gathering stakeholders to discuss the M-learning initiative.[30]
Implementation is not without its challenges. While mobile phone and internet use are increasing much more rapidly in Sub-Saharan Africa than in other developing countries, the progress is still slow compared to the rest of the developed world, with smartphone penetration only expected to reach 20% by 2017.[30] Additionally, there are gender, social, and geo-political barriers to educational access, and the severity of these barriers vary greatly by country. Overall, 29.6 million children in Sub-Saharan Africa were not in school in the year 2012, owing not just to the geographical divide, but also to political instability, the importance of social origins, social structure, and gender inequality. Once in school, students also face barriers to quality education, such as teacher competency, training and preparedness, access to educational materials, and lack of information management.[30]
In modern society, ICT is ever-present, with over three billion people having access to the Internet.[31] With approximately 8 out of 10 Internet users owning a smartphone, information and data are increasing by leaps and bounds.[32] This rapid growth, especially in developing countries, has led ICT to become a keystone of everyday life, in which life without some facet of technology renders most of clerical, work and routine tasks dysfunctional.
The most recent authoritative data, released in 2014, shows "that Internet use continues to grow steadily, at 6.6% globally in 2014 (3.3% in developed countries, 8.7% in the developing world); the number of Internet users in developing countries has doubled in five years (2009–2014), with two-thirds of all people online now living in the developing world."[20]
However, hurdles are still large. "Of the 4.3 billion people not yet using the Internet, 90% live in developing countries. In the world's 42 Least Connected Countries (LCCs), which are home to 2.5 billion people, access to ICTs remains largely out of reach, particularly for these countries' large rural populations."[33] ICT has yet to penetrate the remote areas of some countries, with many developing countries dearth of any type of Internet. This also includes the availability of telephone lines, particularly the availability of cellular coverage, and other forms of electronic transmission of data. The latest "Measuring the Information Society Report" cautiously stated that the increase in the aforementioned cellular data coverage is ostensible, as "many users have multiple subscriptions, with global growth figures sometimes translating into little real improvement in the level of connectivity of those at the very bottom of the pyramid; an estimated 450 million people worldwide live in places which are still out of reach of mobile cellular service."[31]
Favourably, the gap between the access to the Internet and mobile coverage has decreased substantially in the last fifteen years, in which "2015 was the deadline for achievements of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which global leaders agreed upon in the year 2000, and the new data show ICT progress and highlight remaining gaps."[22] ICT continues to take on a new form, with nanotechnology set to usher in a new wave of ICT electronics and gadgets. ICT newest editions into the modern electronic world include smartwatches, such as the Apple Watch, smart wristbands such as the Nike+ FuelBand, and smart TVs such as Google TV. With desktops soon becoming part of a bygone era, and laptops becoming the preferred method of computing, ICT continues to insinuate and alter itself in the ever-changing globe.
Information communication technologies play a role in facilitating accelerated pluralism in new social movements today. The internet according to Bruce Bimber is "accelerating the process of issue group formation and action"[34] and coined the term accelerated pluralism to explain this new phenomena. ICTs are tools for "enabling social movement leaders and empowering dictators"[35] in effect promoting societal change. ICTs can be used to garner grassroots support for a cause due to the internet allowing for political discourse and direct interventions with state policy[36] as well as change the way complaints from the populace are handled by governments. Furthermore, ICTs in a household are associated with women rejecting justifications for intimate partner violence. According to a study published in 2017, this is likely because "access to ICTs exposes women to different ways of life and different notions about women's role in society and the household, especially in culturally conservative regions where traditional gender expectations contrast observed alternatives."[37]
A review found that in general, outcomes of such ICT-use – which were envisioned as early as 1925[38] – are or can be as good as in-person care with health care use staying similar.[39]
Scholar Mark Warschauer defines a "models of access" framework for analyzing ICT accessibility. In the second chapter of his book, Technology and Social Inclusion: Rethinking the Digital Divide, he describes three models of access to ICTs: devices, conduits, and literacy.[40] Devices and conduits are the most common descriptors for access to ICTs, but they are insufficient for meaningful access to ICTs without third model of access, literacy.[40] Combined, these three models roughly incorporate all twelve of the criteria of "Real Access" to ICT use, conceptualized by a non-profit organization called Bridges.org in 2005:[41]
Physical access to technology
Appropriateness of technology
Affordability of technology and technology use
Human capacity and training
Locally relevant content, applications, and services
The most straightforward model of access for ICT in Mark Warschauer's theory is devices.[40] In this model, access is defined most simply as the ownership of a device such as a phone or computer.[40] Warschauer identifies many flaws with this model, including its inability to account for additional costs of ownership such as software, access to telecommunications, knowledge gaps surrounding computer use, and the role of government regulation in some countries.[40] Therefore, Warschauer argues that considering only devices understates the magnitude of digital inequality. For example, the Pew Research Center notes that 96% of Americans own a smartphone,[42] although most scholars in this field would contend that comprehensive access to ICT in the United States is likely much lower than that.
A conduit requires a connection to a supply line, which for ICT could be a telephone line or Internet line. Accessing the supply requires investment in the proper infrastructure from a commercial company or local government and recurring payments from the user once the line is set up. For this reason, conduits usually divide people based on their geographic locations. As a Pew Research Center poll reports, Americans in rural areas are 12% less likely to have broadband access than other Americans, thereby making them less likely to own the devices.[43] Additionally, these costs can be prohibitive to lower-income families accessing ICTs. These difficulties have led to a shift toward mobile technology; fewer people are purchasing broadband connection and are instead relying on their smartphones for Internet access, which can be found for free at public places such as libraries.[44] Indeed, smartphones are on the rise, with 37% of Americans using smartphones as their primary medium for internet access[44] and 96% of Americans owning a smartphone.[42]
In 1981, Sylvia Scribner and Michael Cole studied a tribe in Liberia, the Vai people, who have their own local script. Since about half of those literate in Vai have never had formal schooling, Scribner and Cole were able to test more than 1,000 subjects to measure the mental capabilities of literates over non-literates.[45] This research, which they laid out in their book The Psychology of Literacy,[45] allowed them to study whether the literacy divide exists at the individual level. Warschauer applied their literacy research to ICT literacy as part of his model of ICT access.
Scribner and Cole found no generalizable cognitive benefits from Vai literacy; instead, individual differences on cognitive tasks were due to other factors, like schooling or living environment.[45] The results suggested that there is "no single construct of literacy that divides people into two cognitive camps; [...] rather, there are gradations and types of literacies, with a range of benefits closely related to the specific functions of literacy practices."[40] Furthermore, literacy and social development are intertwined, and the literacy divide does not exist on the individual level.
Warschauer draws on Scribner and Cole's research to argue that ICT literacy functions similarly to literacy acquisition, as they both require resources rather than a narrow cognitive skill. Conclusions about literacy serve as the basis for a theory of the digital divide and ICT access, as detailed below:
There is not just one type of ICT access, but many types. The meaning and value of access varies in particular social contexts. Access exists in gradations rather than in a bipolar opposition. Computer and Internet use brings no automatic benefit outside of its particular functions. ICT use is a social practice, involving access to physical artifacts, content, skills, and social support. And acquisition of ICT access is a matter not only of education but also of power.[40]
Therefore, Warschauer concludes that access to ICT cannot rest on devices or conduits alone; it must also engage physical, digital, human, and social resources.[40] Each of these categories of resources have iterative relations with ICT use. If ICT is used well, it can promote these resources, but if it is used poorly, it can contribute to a cycle of underdevelopment and exclusion.[45]
In the early 21st century a rapid development of ICT services and electronical devices took place, in which the internet servers multiplied by a factor of 1000 to 395 million and its still increasing. This increase can be explained by Moore's law, which states, that the development of ICT increases every year by 16–20%, so it will double in numbers every four to five years.[46] Alongside this development and the high investments in increasing demand for ICT capable products, a high environmental impact came with it. Software and Hardware development as well as production causing already in 2008 the same amount of CO2 emissions as global air travels.[46]
There are two sides of ICT, the positive environmental possibilities and the shadow side. On the positive side, studies proved, that for instance in the OECD countries a reduction of 0.235% energy use is caused by an increase in ICT capital by 1%.[47] On the other side the more digitization is happening, the more energy is consumed, that means for OECD countries 1% increase in internet users causes a raise of 0.026% electricity consumption per capita and for emerging countries the impact is more than 4 times as high.
Currently the scientific forecasts are showing an increase up to 30700 TWh in 2030 which is 20 times more than it was in 2010.[47]
To tackle the environmental issues of ICT, the EU commission plans proper monitoring and reporting of the GHG emissions of different ICT platforms, countries and infrastructure in general. Further the establishment of international norms for reporting and compliance are promoted to foster transparency in this sector.[48]
Moreover it is suggested by scientists to make more ICT investments to exploit the potentials of ICT to alleviate CO2 emissions in general, and to implement a more effective coordination of ICT, energy and growth policies.[49] Consequently, applying the principle of the coase theorem makes sense. It recommends to make investments there, where the marginal avoidance costs of emissions are the lowest, therefore in the developing countries with comparatively lower technological standards and policies as high-tech countries. With these measures, ICT can reduce environmental damage from economic growth and energy consumption by facilitating communication and infrastructure.
^Ozdamli, Fezile; Ozdal, Hasan (May 2015). "Life-long Learning Competence Perceptions of the Teachers and Abilities in Using Information-Communication .Technologies". Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 182: 718–725. doi:10.1016/j.access=free.
^William Melody et al., Information and Communication Technologies: Social Sciences Research and Training: A Report by the ESRC Programme on Information and Communication Technologies, ISBN0-86226-179-1, 1986. Roger Silverstone et al., "Listening to a long conversation: an ethnographic approach to the study of information and communication technologies in the home", Cultural Studies, 5(2), pages 204–227, 1991.
^Blackwell, C.K., Lauricella, A.R. and Wartella, E., 2014. Factors influencing digital technology use in early childhood education. Computers & Education, 77, pp.82-90.
^Bimber, Bruce (1998-01-01). "The Internet and Political Transformation: Populism, Community, and Accelerated Pluralism". Polity. 31 (1): 133–160. doi:10.2307/3235370. JSTOR3235370. S2CID145159285.
^Hussain, Muzammil M.; Howard, Philip N. (2013-03-01). "What Best Explains Successful Protest Cascades? ICTs and the Fuzzy Causes of the Arab Spring". International Studies Review. 15 (1): 48–66. doi:10.1111/misr.12020. hdl:2027.42/97489. ISSN1521-9488.
^Cardoso LG, Sorenson SB. Violence against women and household ownership of radios, computers, and phones in 20 countries. American Journal of Public Health. 2017; 107(7):1175–1181.
^ abcdScribner and Cole, Sylvia and Michael (1981). The Psychology of Literacy. ISBN9780674433014.
^ abGerhard, Fettweis; Zimmermann, Ernesto (2008). "ITC Energy Consumption - Trends and Challenges". The 11th International Symposium on Wireless Personal Multimedia Communications (WPMC 2008) – via ResearchGate.
Feridun, Mete; Karagiannis, Stelios (2009). "Growth Effects of Information and Communication Technologies: Empirical Evidence from the Enlarged EU". Transformations in Business and Economics. 8 (2): 86–99.
The Web Method (IP) is the network layer communications method in the Web method collection for relaying datagrams across network limits. Its routing function enables internetworking, and essentially establishes the Net. IP has the task of delivering packets from the resource host to the location host entirely based upon the IP addresses in the packet headers. For this function, IP defines package structures that encapsulate the information to be provided. It likewise defines dealing with methods that are utilized to label the datagram with source and destination info. IP was the connectionless datagram solution in the original Transmission Control Program introduced by Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn in 1974, which was matched by a connection-oriented solution that ended up being the basis for the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The Net protocol suite is therefore frequently described as TCP/IP. The initial significant version of IP, Web Method version 4 (IPv4), is the leading procedure of the Web. Its follower is Internet Method version 6 (IPv6), which has been in enhancing implementation on the general public Internet since around 2006.
An information technology system (IT system) is generally an information system, a communications system, or, more specifically speaking, a computer system — including all hardware, software, and peripheral equipment — operated by a limited group of IT users, and an IT project usually refers to the commissioning and implementation of an IT system.[3] IT systems play a vital role in facilitating efficient data management, enhancing communication networks, and supporting organizational processes across various industries. Successful IT projects require meticulous planning and ongoing maintenance to ensure optimal functionality and alignment with organizational objectives.[4]
Although humans have been storing, retrieving, manipulating, analysing and communicating information since the earliest writing systems were developed,[5] the term information technology in its modern sense first appeared in a 1958 article published in the Harvard Business Review; authors Harold J. Leavitt and Thomas L. Whisler commented that "the new technology does not yet have a single established name. We shall call it information technology (IT)."[6] Their definition consists of three categories: techniques for processing, the application of statistical and mathematical methods to decision-making, and the simulation of higher-order thinking through computer programs.[6]
Antikythera mechanism, considered the first mechanical analog computer, dating back to the first century BC.
Based on the storage and processing technologies employed, it is possible to distinguish four distinct phases of IT development: pre-mechanical (3000 BC – 1450 AD), mechanical (1450 – 1840), electromechanical (1840 – 1940), and electronic (1940 to present).[5]
Ideas of computer science were first mentioned before the 1950s under the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University, where they had discussed and began thinking of computer circuits and numerical calculations. As time went on, the field of information technology and computer science became more complex and was able to handle the processing of more data. Scholarly articles began to be published from different organizations.[7]
During the early computing, Alan Turing, J. Presper Eckert, and John Mauchly were considered some of the major pioneers of computer technology in the mid-1900s. Giving them such credit for their developments, most of their efforts were focused on designing the first digital computer. Along with that, topics such as artificial intelligence began to be brought up as Turing was beginning to question such technology of the time period.[8]
Devices have been used to aid computation for thousands of years, probably initially in the form of a tally stick.[9] The Antikythera mechanism, dating from about the beginning of the first century BC, is generally considered the earliest known mechanical analog computer, and the earliest known geared mechanism.[10] Comparable geared devices did not emerge in Europe until the 16th century, and it was not until 1645 that the first mechanical calculator capable of performing the four basic arithmetical operations was developed.[11]
Electronic computers, using either relays or valves, began to appear in the early 1940s. The electromechanicalZuse Z3, completed in 1941, was the world's first programmable computer, and by modern standards one of the first machines that could be considered a complete computing machine. During the Second World War, Colossus developed the first electronic digital computer to decrypt German messages. Although it was programmable, it was not general-purpose, being designed to perform only a single task. It also lacked the ability to store its program in memory; programming was carried out using plugs and switches to alter the internal wiring.[12] The first recognizably modern electronic digital stored-program computer was the Manchester Baby, which ran its first program on 21 June 1948.[13]
The development of transistors in the late 1940s at Bell Laboratories allowed a new generation of computers to be designed with greatly reduced power consumption. The first commercially available stored-program computer, the Ferranti Mark I, contained 4050 valves and had a power consumption of 25 kilowatts. By comparison, the first transistorized computer developed at the University of Manchester and operational by November 1953, consumed only 150 watts in its final version.[14]
By 1984, according to the National Westminster Bank Quarterly Review, the term information technology had been redefined as "the convergence of telecommunications and computing technology (...generally known in Britain as information technology)." We then begin to see the appearance of the term in 1990 contained within documents for the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).[25]
Innovations in technology have already revolutionized the world by the twenty-first century as people have gained access to different online services. This has changed the workforce drastically as thirty percent of U.S. workers were already in careers in this profession. 136.9 million people were personally connected to the Internet, which was equivalent to 51 million households.[26] Along with the Internet, new types of technology were also being introduced across the globe, which has improved efficiency and made things easier across the globe.
As technology revolutionized society, millions of processes could be completed in seconds. Innovations in communication were crucial as people increasingly relied on computers to communicate via telephone lines and cable networks. The introduction of the email was considered revolutionary as "companies in one part of the world could communicate by e-mail with suppliers and buyers in another part of the world...".[27]
Not only personally, computers and technology have also revolutionized the marketing industry, resulting in more buyers of their products. In 2002, Americans exceeded $28 billion in goods just over the Internet alone while e-commerce a decade later resulted in $289 billion in sales.[27] And as computers are rapidly becoming more sophisticated by the day, they are becoming more used as people are becoming more reliant on them during the twenty-first century.
Electronic data processing or business information processing can refer to the use of automated methods to process commercial data. Typically, this uses relatively simple, repetitive activities to process large volumes of similar information. For example: stock updates applied to an inventory, banking transactions applied to account and customer master files, booking and ticketing transactions to an airline's reservation system, billing for utility services. The modifier "electronic" or "automatic" was used with "data processing" (DP), especially c. 1960, to distinguish human clerical data processing from that done by computer.[28][29]
Early electronic computers such as Colossus made use of punched tape, a long strip of paper on which data was represented by a series of holes, a technology now obsolete.[30] Electronic data storage, which is used in modern computers, dates from World War II, when a form of delay-line memory was developed to remove the clutter from radar signals, the first practical application of which was the mercury delay line.[31] The first random-access digital storage device was the Williams tube, which was based on a standard cathode ray tube.[32] However, the information stored in it and delay-line memory was volatile in the fact that it had to be continuously refreshed, and thus was lost once power was removed. The earliest form of non-volatile computer storage was the magnetic drum, invented in 1932[33] and used in the Ferranti Mark 1, the world's first commercially available general-purpose electronic computer.[34]
IBM card storage warehouse located in Alexandria, Virginia in 1959. This is where the United States government kept storage of punched cards.
IBM introduced the first hard disk drive in 1956, as a component of their 305 RAMAC computer system.[35]: 6 Most digital data today is still stored magnetically on hard disks, or optically on media such as CD-ROMs.[36]: 4–5 Until 2002 most information was stored on analog devices, but that year digital storage capacity exceeded analog for the first time. As of 2007[update], almost 94% of the data stored worldwide was held digitally:[37] 52% on hard disks, 28% on optical devices, and 11% on digital magnetic tape. It has been estimated that the worldwide capacity to store information on electronic devices grew from less than 3 exabytes in 1986 to 295 exabytes in 2007,[38] doubling roughly every 3 years.[39]
All DMS consist of components; they allow the data they store to be accessed simultaneously by many users while maintaining its integrity.[43] All databases are common in one point that the structure of the data they contain is defined and stored separately from the data itself, in a database schema.[40]
Data transmission has three aspects: transmission, propagation, and reception.[46] It can be broadly categorized as broadcasting, in which information is transmitted unidirectionally downstream, or telecommunications, with bidirectional upstream and downstream channels.[38]
XML has been increasingly employed as a means of data interchange since the early 2000s,[47] particularly for machine-oriented interactions such as those involved in web-oriented protocols such as SOAP,[45] describing "data-in-transit rather than... data-at-rest".[47]
Hilbert and Lopez identify the exponential pace of technological change (a kind of Moore's law): machines' application-specific capacity to compute information per capita roughly doubled every 14 months between 1986 and 2007; the per capita capacity of the world's general-purpose computers doubled every 18 months during the same two decades; the global telecommunication capacity per capita doubled every 34 months; the world's storage capacity per capita required roughly 40 months to double (every 3 years); and per capita broadcast information has doubled every 12.3 years.[38]
Massive amounts of data are stored worldwide every day, but unless it can be analyzed and presented effectively it essentially resides in what have been called data tombs: "data archives that are seldom visited".[48] To address that issue, the field of data mining — "the process of discovering interesting patterns and knowledge from large amounts of data"[49] — emerged in the late 1980s.[50]
A woman sending an email at an internet cafe's public computer.
The technology and services IT provides for sending and receiving electronic messages (called "letters" or "electronic letters") over a distributed (including global) computer network. In terms of the composition of elements and the principle of operation, electronic mail practically repeats the system of regular (paper) mail, borrowing both terms (mail, letter, envelope, attachment, box, delivery, and others) and characteristic features — ease of use, message transmission delays, sufficient reliability and at the same time no guarantee of delivery. The advantages of e-mail are: easily perceived and remembered by a person addresses of the form user_name@domain_name (for example, somebody@example.com); the ability to transfer both plain text and formatted, as well as arbitrary files; independence of servers (in the general case, they address each other directly); sufficiently high reliability of message delivery; ease of use by humans and programs.
The disadvantages of e-mail include: the presence of such a phenomenon as spam (massive advertising and viral mailings); the theoretical impossibility of guaranteed delivery of a particular letter; possible delays in message delivery (up to several days); limits on the size of one message and on the total size of messages in the mailbox (personal for users).
A search system is software and hardware complex with a web interface that provides the ability to look for information on the Internet. A search engine usually means a site that hosts the interface (front-end) of the system. The software part of a search engine is a search engine (search engine) — a set of programs that provides the functionality of a search engine and is usually a trade secret of the search engine developer company. Most search engines look for information on World Wide Web sites, but there are also systems that can look for files on FTP servers, items in online stores, and information on Usenet newsgroups. Improving search is one of the priorities of the modern Internet (see the Deep Web article about the main problems in the work of search engines).
Companies in the information technology field are often discussed as a group as the "tech sector" or the "tech industry."[51][52][53] These titles can be misleading at times and should not be mistaken for "tech companies," which are generally large scale, for-profit corporations that sell consumer technology and software. From a business perspective, information technology departments are a "cost center" the majority of the time. A cost center is a department or staff which incurs expenses, or "costs," within a company rather than generating profits or revenue streams. Modern businesses rely heavily on technology for their day-to-day operations, so the expenses delegated to cover technology that facilitates business in a more efficient manner are usually seen as "just the cost of doing business." IT departments are allocated funds by senior leadership and must attempt to achieve the desired deliverables while staying within that budget. Government and the private sector might have different funding mechanisms, but the principles are more or less the same. This is an often overlooked reason for the rapid interest in automation and artificial intelligence, but the constant pressure to do more with less is opening the door for automation to take control of at least some minor operations in large companies.
Many companies now have IT departments for managing the computers, networks, and other technical areas of their businesses. Companies have also sought to integrate IT with business outcomes and decision-making through a BizOps or business operations department.[54]
In a business context, the Information Technology Association of America has defined information technology as "the study, design, development, application, implementation, support, or management of computer-based information systems".[55][page needed] The responsibilities of those working in the field include network administration, software development and installation, and the planning and management of an organization's technology life cycle, by which hardware and software are maintained, upgraded, and replaced.
Information services is a term somewhat loosely applied to a variety of IT-related services offered by commercial companies,[56][57][58] as well as data brokers.
U.S. Employment distribution of computer systems design and related services, 2011[59]
U.S. Employment in the computer systems and design related services industry, in thousands, 1990–2011[59]
U.S. Occupational growth and wages in computer systems design and related services, 2010–2020[59]
U.S. projected percent change in employment in selected occupations in computer systems design and related services, 2010–2020[59]
U.S. projected average annual percent change in output and employment in selected industries, 2010–2020[59]
The field of information ethics was established by mathematician Norbert Wiener in the 1940s.[60]: 9 Some of the ethical issues associated with the use of information technology include:[61]: 20–21
Breaches of copyright by those downloading files stored without the permission of the copyright holders
Employers monitoring their employees' emails and other Internet usage
Research suggests that IT projects in business and public administration can easily become significant in scale. Research conducted by McKinsey in collaboration with the University of Oxford suggested that half of all large-scale IT projects (those with initial cost estimates of $15 million or more) often failed to maintain costs within their initial budgets or to complete on time.[62]
^On the later more broad application of the term IT, Keary comments: "In its original application 'information technology' was appropriate to describe the convergence of technologies with application in the vast field of data storage, retrieval, processing, and dissemination. This useful conceptual term has since been converted to what purports to be of great use, but without the reinforcement of definition ... the term IT lacks substance when applied to the name of any function, discipline, or position."[2]
^
Chandler, Daniel; Munday, Rod (10 February 2011), "Information technology", A Dictionary of Media and Communication (first ed.), Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0199568758, retrieved 1 August 2012, Commonly a synonym for computers and computer networks but more broadly designating any technology that is used to generate, store, process, and/or distribute information electronically, including television and telephone..
^Henderson, H. (2017). computer science. In H. Henderson, Facts on File science library: Encyclopedia of computer science and technology. (3rd ed.). [Online]. New York: Facts On File.
^Cooke-Yarborough, E. H. (June 1998), "Some early transistor applications in the UK", Engineering Science & Education Journal, 7 (3): 100–106, doi:10.1049/esej:19980301 (inactive 12 July 2025), ISSN0963-7346citation: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link).
^US2802760A, Lincoln, Derick & Frosch, Carl J., "Oxidation of semiconductive surfaces for controlled diffusion", issued 13 August 1957
^Information technology. (2003). In E.D. Reilly, A. Ralston & D. Hemmendinger (Eds.), Encyclopedia of computer science. (4th ed.).
^Stewart, C.M. (2018). Computers. In S. Bronner (Ed.), Encyclopedia of American studies. [Online]. Johns Hopkins University Press.
^ abNorthrup, C.C. (2013). Computers. In C. Clark Northrup (Ed.), Encyclopedia of world trade: from ancient times to the present. [Online]. London: Routledge.
^Universität Klagenfurt (ed.), "Magnetic drum", Virtual Exhibitions in Informatics, archived from the original on 21 June 2006, retrieved 21 August 2011.
^Proctor, K. Scott (2011), Optimizing and Assessing Information Technology: Improving Business Project Execution, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN978-1-118-10263-3.
^Bynum, Terrell Ward (2008), "Norbert Wiener and the Rise of Information Ethics", in van den Hoven, Jeroen; Weckert, John (eds.), Information Technology and Moral Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, ISBN978-0-521-85549-5.
^Reynolds, George (2009), Ethics in Information Technology, Cengage Learning, ISBN978-0-538-74622-9.
Lavington, Simon (1980), Early British Computers, Manchester University Press, ISBN978-0-7190-0810-8
Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2nd ed.), The British Computer Society, ISBN978-1-902505-01-5
Pardede, Eric (2009), Open and Novel Issues in XML Database Applications, Information Science Reference, ISBN978-1-60566-308-1
Ralston, Anthony; Hemmendinger, David; Reilly, Edwin D., eds. (2000), Encyclopedia of Computer Science (4th ed.), Nature Publishing Group, ISBN978-1-56159-248-7
van der Aalst, Wil M. P. (2011), Process Mining: Discovery, Conformance and Enhancement of Business Processes, Springer, ISBN978-3-642-19344-6
Ward, Patricia; Dafoulas, George S. (2006), Database Management Systems, Cengage Learning EMEA, ISBN978-1-84480-452-8
Weik, Martin (2000), Computer Science and Communications Dictionary, vol. 2, Springer, ISBN978-0-7923-8425-0
Wright, Michael T. (2012), "The Front Dial of the Antikythera Mechanism", in Koetsier, Teun; Ceccarelli, Marco (eds.), Explorations in the History of Machines and Mechanisms: Proceedings of HMM2012, Springer, pp. 279–292, ISBN978-94-007-4131-7
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that utilizes the Internet procedure collection (TCP/IP) to communicate in between networks and gadgets. It is a network of networks that consists of exclusive, public, scholastic, business, and government networks of local to global range, linked by a broad range of electronic, wireless, and optical networking modern technologies. The Web lugs a huge range of details resources and solutions, such as the interlinked hypertext papers and applications of the Net (WWW), e-mail, internet telephone, and file sharing. The origins of the Internet go back to study that allowed the time-sharing of computer resources, the advancement of packet switching in the 1960s and the layout of local area network for information interaction. The set of rules (communication procedures) to enable internetworking on the net emerged from r & d commissioned in the 1970s by the Protection Advanced Study Projects Firm (DARPA) of the USA Department of Defense in collaboration with universities and scientists throughout the USA and in the UK and France. The ARPANET at first worked as a backbone for the affiliation of regional scholastic and armed forces networks in the United States to enable resource sharing. The funding of the National Science Foundation Network as a new backbone in the 1980s, along with private funding for various other commercial expansions, motivated around the world engagement in the growth of brand-new networking innovations and the merger of many networks using DARPA's Net protocol suite. The connecting of commercial networks and ventures by the very early 1990s, along with the introduction of the Net, marked the beginning of the shift to the contemporary Internet, and created continual exponential growth as generations of institutional, individual, and mobile computers were attached to the internetwork. Although the Net was commonly made use of by academia in the 1980s, the succeeding commercialization of the Web in the 1990s and beyond integrated its services and innovations right into virtually every element of modern life. The majority of conventional interaction media, consisting of telephone, radio, tv, paper mail, and papers, are improved, redefined, or even bypassed by the Net, bring to life new services such as e-mail, Web telephone, Web radio, Web tv, on-line music, electronic newspapers, and audio and video streaming internet sites. Newspapers, books, and various other print publishing have actually adjusted to web site technology or have been reshaped right into blogging, web feeds, and online news collectors. The Internet has made it possible for and increased brand-new forms of individual communication via instant messaging, Net online forums, and social networking solutions. On-line buying has grown tremendously for major stores, small companies, and business owners, as it enables firms to prolong their "traditional" visibility to offer a larger market or even sell goods and services entirely online. Business-to-business and monetary services on the web affect supply chains across entire sectors. The Web has no single central governance in either technological application or plans for accessibility and use; each constituent network establishes its own plans.The overarching meanings of the two principal name spaces on the net, the Web Method address (IP address) room and the Domain Name System (DNS), are routed by a maintainer organization, the Internet Company for Assigned Labels and Figures (ICANN). The technological base and standardization of the core methods is an activity of the Internet Engineering Job Force (IETF), a charitable organization of loosely affiliated international participants that any person may associate with by contributing technological know-how. In November 2006, the Net was included on United States Today's list of the New 7 Wonders.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What are managed IT services?
Managed IT services involve outsourcing your company’s IT support and infrastructure to a professional provider. This includes monitoring, maintenance, data security, and tech support, allowing you to focus on your business while ensuring your systems stay secure, updated, and running smoothly.
![U.S. Employment distribution of computer systems design and related services, 2011[59]](https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3AComputerSystemsEmployment_distribution_.png)
![U.S. Employment in the computer systems and design related services industry, in thousands, 1990–2011[59]](https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3AEmploymentComputerSystems.png)
![U.S. Occupational growth and wages in computer systems design and related services, 2010–2020[59]](https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3AComputerSystemsOccupationalGrowthWages.png){kind=small}
![U.S. projected percent change in employment in selected occupations in computer systems design and related services, 2010–2020[59]](https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3AProjectedEmploymentChangeComputerSystems.png)
![U.S. projected average annual percent change in output and employment in selected industries, 2010–2020[59]](https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3AProjectedAverageAnnualEmploymentChangeSelectedIndustries.png)
