Evolution of the network protocols used today

Progression in Network Protocols

A network protocol is a mandatory official guideline to exchange data and it belongs from the smallest
Local Area Network upto Internet. As the internet continued to advance, these protocols progressed
with it; as technology evolved and developed so did changes in demand, security challenges etc. This
document is a time-line of various significant events in the evolution network protocols that lead to
contemporary networking.
1. A Primer: The Inception of ARPANET and TCP/IP
These present day network protocols are rooted to the 1960s ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects
Agency Network) developed by US Department of Defense's DARPA. A key to ARPANET's success was
the early decision to implement packet switching as a means of controlling collisions.
A key evolution from ARPANET was the following addition of Transmission Command Protocol (TCP)
along with Internet protocol address (IP), designed to jointly as TCP/IP. TCP/IP was born in the 1970s,
creating a powerful model for network communication. IP primarily handled the routing of data packets,
while TCP was concerned with making sure these packets arrived safely. When ARPANET changed over
to TCP/IP in 1983, it was the beginning of today's modern internet.
2. Building a Framework: The OSI Model and the Birth of IP Versions
When networks became more complex, a need arose for de facto standard way how protocols should
be developed and implemented. This requirement caused the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) to create the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model in 1980s. The OSI model
segmented these tasks into seven layers, where each of the two communicating devices interacts with
one or more elements in each layer on its journey across network channels from physical bits (Layer 1)
to applications services (Layer7). Though TCP/IP became the dominant protocol suite, the OSI model
was still important as a reference for designing and understanding network protocols.
At that time the Internet Protocol version 4 also known as IPv4 present in practice for network
addressing. IPv4 supported 232 unique addresses using a single 32 bit wide address space. With the
growth of Internet, it became clear that IPv4 has some limitations and so new standards — called as
next-generation IP or Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) were proposed in late year 1990s. Typifying a
128-bit address space, IPv6 considerably expanded the number of available addresses to accommodate
the burgeoning cornucopia of connected devices.
3. How Application Layer Protocols Grew
Having built the base with TCP/IP, they now decided to work on creating highly featured applications
(Layer 7 in OSI model). These represented as protocols, were made to service different models of
communicating between apps. Key examples include:
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP/HTTPS): Originally developed in the early 1990s, HTTP quickly
became a universally accepted protocol for transferring hypertext and later HTTPS was added as well to
facilitate secure communication over computer networks.
SMTP: developed in the 1980s, SMTP was designed to be a fundamental protocol for an early Internet
— with additional protocols IMAP and POP emerging over time to support email retrieval and
management.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP): An older protocol, FTP was developed in the 1970s and allowed for file
transfers between computers over networks. Although its use is less every year, it was important in the
early days of the internet
Domain Name System (DNS): Launched in the 1980s, DNS made it possible to turn human-
understandable domain names like www. example. com) to the matching IP address, making a more
user-friendly space on internet.
4. Privacy and encryption
Physical Security Mobile devices are a hot target and the more they can be tailored as computer
replacements, like most wearables claiming to do so; This space is moving towards wearable computing
in any case.
One of the notable instances where security has gained a lot more importance is on the expansion and
relevance that internet gain. And it spawned a range of next generation protocols, designed to keep
network communications secure. Key examples include:
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Security Layer (TLS): SSL is a standard from the 1990s for
providing an encrypted connection over the internet, primarily to secure web browsing. The eventual
successor to SSL was TLS, and it soon became the industry standard for encrypted communications.
Secure Shell (SSH): SSH was developed in the mid 1990s with an aim to provide secure alternative to old
protocols like telnet for remote server access and management.
Virtual Private Network (VPN) Protocols: Developed to enable secure, encrypted communication over
public networks enabling private connections.
5. Novel Phantasmagoria: SDN and Beyond
The evolution of networking protocols has continued through the 21st century with innovations such as
Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV). SDN Misses the Target
in Some Cases Software Defined Networking (SDN) is a network architecture where the control plane,
that decides how data packets should be sent to their destination, and therefore manages routing tables
for routers based on an overall view of all possible routes throughout the network; is separated from
underneath devices known as switches or controllers handling traffic forwarding. SDN architectures are
supported by protocols such as OpenFlow
Moreover, the sophistication of devices in the realm of IoT led to even thinner protocols such as MQTT
(Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) or CoAP(Constrained Application Protocol), zeroing on massive
throughput and scarce device resources.
6. Conclusion
The ever-changing nature of technology has been beautifully illustrated with the evolution of network
protocols and demands in communication. Every evolution — from the prototypical protocols of the
early ARPANET days, to where we are today with a myriad of modern secure and scalable protocols in
use — has shaped how our digital world looks now. In a way, that is the beauty of these terms: As
networks continue to reshape themselves by virtue of technologies like IoT and SDN coming our way;
new protocols will sprout forth in their defense, so enable the internet to stand into future generations
as reliable stronghold.
Reference:
Cerf, Vinton G., and Robert E. Kahn. "A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication." IEEE
Transactions on Communications, 1974
Zimmermann, Hubert. "OSI Reference Model—The ISO Model of Architecture for Open Systems
Interconnection." IEEE Transactions on Communications, 1980
ISO/IEC. "OSI Reference Model—The ISO Model of Architecture for Open Systems Interconnection."
ISO/IEC 7498-1, 1994
Deering, Stephen, and Robert Hinden. "Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6) Specification." RFC 2460, 1998
Dierks, Tim, and Christopher Allen. "The TLS Protocol Version 1.0." RFC 2246, 1999
Berners-Lee, Tim, et al. "Hypertext Transfer Protocol--HTTP/1.0." RFC 1945, 1996