The Internet Phenomenon - Secure Java: For Web Application Development - page 3

Chapter 1

the Internet Phenomenon

he advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web has inspired a paradigm change in the way
enterprises conduct businesses. he new paradigm has created bountiful opportunities and new
markets but has also resulted in unforeseen concerns, problems, and issues on the security-related
aspects of business. Enterprises are, therefore, in a state of lux wherein they should not only lever-
age and sustain the new way of doing business but also fortify themselves against security threats,
and related issues of the new medium of business. New business requirements for enterprises are
challenging enough to invest in the innovations in security aspects of information technologies.
Such advancements are recursively pushing enterprises to new business challenges.

1.1 evolution of the Internet and the World Wide Web
he arrival of computers and evolution of related hardware, software, and communication tech-
nologies has inluenced business in a profound way, in the short span of just a few decades.
Enterprises, government departments, educational institutions, small and medium businesses
(SMB), and even many professionals have a business presence on the Internet, and the transaction
volume over the Internet and World Wide Web has been steadily increasing. From the advent of
computers until the arrival of the Internet and the World Wide Web, there have been several infor-
mation technology (IT)-related inventions and innovations in the areas of hardware, software, and
communications, which have inluenced all of us in a profound manner. hese innovations have
left the intervening time span with some clear demarcations, which are identiied as eras . his
time span can be roughly classiied into four eras—mainframe era, client/server era, distributed
computing era, and Internet and World Wide Web era.

1.1.1 Mainframe Era
1.1.1.1 Initial Mainframe Systems

his initial era in the history of computers shows a domination of mainframe computers. hese
mainframe computers ruled the world for a fairly long, drawn-out period. hey were big, expensive,

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