IT Essentials & Data Recovery For Your Online Businesses

T1 and T3

A Word Of Caution

Networking: The Intranet

Sharing Printers and Programs

About Sharing Programs

Protecting Yourself And Your Business

E-mail Issues

Computer Care And Maintenance

Protecting The Hardware

Software Maintenance

Chapter 1

The Beginning

When people hear the words «Information Technology,» the first things that come to mind are computers and the Internet. It may also bring up words like «network,» «intranet,» «server,» «firewall,» «security,» as well as more arcane expressions such as «router,» «T-1,» «Ethernet,» or the mysterious and exotic-sounding «VoIP» (pronounced «voyp»).

In fact, information technology is all of these things, and more. It’s hardly new, however. Information technology is as old as the brain itself, if you think of the brain as an information processor. As far as I.T. being a science, even that goes back as far as the earliest attempts to communicate and store information.

And that is essentially what information technology is: the communication and storage of information, along with the ability to process and make use of the information stored. In this chapter, we’ll begin with a brief history of I.T., what it comprises today, and the different major types of I.T. systems available today.

A Short History of Information Technology

As human societies have grown in size and complexity, so has the need to collect, store and transmit information. While it could be argued that brains represent a

form of «bio-information technology,» the Greek word «» – from which we get the word «technology» – really refers to scientific or mechanical knowledge, particularly that which involves the use of tools. Therefore, we’ll begin our journey with human’s first attempts to record and transmit knowledge through mechanical means.

might think of as «information technology.» Using a combination of tools that included manganese «crayons» and clay that was colored with various pigments, early humans left these images on the walls of a cave near Lascaux, France and on cliffs in the Algerian Sahara. These have been dated as being approximately 18,000 and 8,000 years old respectively. Unfortunately, there is no way to be certain exactly what message was being communicated (a problem our own descendants 15,000 years from now may very well encounter!)

Since the images depict animals that were commonly hunted at the time, and given the importance of game animals to a hunting-gathering culture, it’s possible that such images were attempts to present information about such game, or part of a rite designed to ensure a successful hunt.