Note: Many topics at this site are reduced versions of the text in "The Encyclopedia of Networking and Telecommunications." Search results will not be as extensive as a search of the book's CD-ROM.

The World Wide Web (or "Web") is a hypertext and hypermedia information system built on top of the Internet. Web clients and Web servers communicate via HTTP and exchange documents and information that is formatted with HTML and XML. The Web browser interface has made a world of information available to everyone. Hypermedia and hypertext is nonlinear information, presented to users in a way that lets them jump from one reference to another with the click of a button. This has created a global library of instantly available information.

On the application development side, distributed object computing technologies and Web-based languages such as Java have changed the way that applications are designed and developed. Wireless technologies are making the Web more available to people wherever they are. Bluetooth and wireless PANs (personal area networks) let people in the same vicinity create spontaneous wireless networks to exchange information. This is "edge-of-the-Internet" networking. Collaborative computing, messaging, groupware systems, unified messaging, instant messaging, videoconferencing and related technologies help people stay in touch and work together over long distances.

Web appliances, Webcasting, embedded systems, and voice telephony, along with improved bandwidth and many other new technologies are making the Web more exciting. Refer to the following topics for more information.

Browsers; Client/Server Computing; Collaborative Computing; Content Distribution; Distributed Computer Networks; Embedded Systems; HTML (Hypertext Markup Language); HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol); Java; Microsoft.NET; Network Appliances; Servers; Terminal Services; Thin Clients; Web Caching

Collaborative Computing; Electronic Mail; Groupware; Instant Messaging; Internet Radio; IRC (Internet Relay Chat); Multicasting; Multimedia; Unified Messaging; Videoconferencing; Voice over IP (VoIP); Web3D; Webcasting; WebDAV; WebTV Networks; Workflow Management; XML (Extensible Markup Language)

CIFS (Common Internet File System); Electronic Commerce; File Sharing; File Systems; Handle System; Peer-to-Peer Communications; Search and Discovery Services; Service Advertising and Discovery; URI (Uniform Resource Identifier); URN (Uniform Resource Name); WebNFS (Network File System)

Certificates and Certification Systems; Cryptography; Digital Signatures; Electronic Commerce; Hash Functions; PKI (Public-Key Infrastructure); Public-Key Cryptography; Security; SET (Secure Electronic Transaction); S-HTTP (Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol); SSL (Secure Sockets Layer); TLS (Transport Layer Security); VPN (Virtual Private Network); X.509 Certificates

ActiveX; COM (Component Object Model); Content Distribution; Distributed Applications; Distributed Computer Networks; Distributed Object Computing; Java; Microsoft.NET; Middleware and Messaging; Multitiered Architectures; Object Technologies; ORB (Object Request Broker); RPC (Remote Procedure Call); SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol); Transaction Processing; Web3D; Web Caching; WebDAV; XML (Extensible Markup Language)

Bluetooth; Home Networking; Infrared Technologies; Mobile Computing; Packet Radio Data Networks; SMR (Specialized Mobile Radio); SMS (Short Messaging Service); WAP (Wireless Application Protocol); Wireless Communications; Wireless LANs; Wireless Mobile Communications; Wireless PANs (Personal Area Networks)

IEEE 802 Standards; Internet; Internet Architecture and Backbone; Internet Organizations and Committees; Internet Protocol Suite; Internet Standards; IP (Internet Protocol); ISO (International Organization for Standardization); ITU (International Telecommunications Union); OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) Model; Standards Groups, Associations, and Organizations; W3C (World Wide Web Consortium)

Copyright (c) 2001 Tom Sheldon and Big Sur Multimedia.
All rights reserved under Pan American and International copyright conventions.