Internet services
The term ‘internet’ is often used to refer to both the networks of computers that physically make up the internet, and the services that people can access using this network.
However, there is a difference. The internet is the physical network of computers and the wires used to connect them together.
Internet services are computer programs or software – instructions telling computers what to do – which sit on the physical internet and are used to distribute and share information.
Some widely used internet services can be termed internet protocols.
These services have agreed global standards to ensure they work (almost) the same way on any computer or other device connected to the internet. They include the world-wide-web, email and File Transfer Protocol (FTP) amongst others.
To work, these services require special software and, often, hardware from the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and other organisations providing the physical infrastructure of the internet.
Application services, such as instant messaging, blogs and voice-over-IP telephony are provided by different companies and organisations in different ways.
While there may be global agreements on how they should work, often these services are not able to share information when provided by different organisations.
Most run on top of the internet protocols. For instance Wikis require the world-wide-web and Podcasting requires File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to work.
Internet protocols:
Internet services: