Wiring up the world
Mapping the Internet
When I began as an IT adviser at Business Link in 2001, most Somerset businesses were struggling to manage their ecommerce websites with a 28.8 or, at best, 56kbs line. The lucky few had ISDN. Connection speeds were painfully slow, but most web developers accepted it philosophically. When the Asymmetric digital subscriber line system (ADSL) was developed by BT, the thinking at the time was that most customers would need an Asymmetric service more than a symmetrical one. But of course YouTube and online data back-up services have shown us that we push as much content onto the web as we pull down. We still have a long way to go but the global brain is rapidly developing. The BBC news website shows just how far we have progressed in eight years.