Practical TCP/IP and Ethernet Networking- P47 ppsx

212 Practical TCP/IP and Ethernet Networking
with whom they are working. It is possible to incorporate live action color video and
voice with shared workspace on the PC screen over the Internet.
VidCall uses anyone of over 25 inexpensive video capture boards (including digital
plug and play cameras) to transmit still and motion video.
Depending on the speed of the computer modem, VGA display and LAN/WAN, virtual
motion of up to 10 frames per second is achievable. Multi-point video and document
conferencing is available over LAN/WAN accommodating up to 10 participants who can
be located across the globe.
VidCall also supplies additional freeware for registered VidCall users on the Internet.
WhoIsThere enables individuals to setup their own user groups and to be informed as
soon as members of their group are logging in to the video conference.
13.10.2 Video networking
Another company providing video networking and video conferencing software is
BitField. BitField claims to be the first company to have provided a complete H320
compatible video codec on a single PC video adapter board. Their video communication
products turn PCs into video communication workstations, transferring full motion video
between standard PCs via ISDN, LANs, and other communication networks. Since the
products utilize existing PC and networking technology, they can be applied in many
areas where traditional video equipment is too expensive and flexible.
13.11 News
13.11.1 News push
The original approach to news via the Internet has been to search the World Wide Web
and ‘pull down’ relevant news items. This is not only time consuming but also costly for
an individual who has to connect through an ISP. On the other hand, products such as
PointCast aggregate news from more than 700 sources, process this in a central broadcast
facility and then broadcast it world-wide via the Internet. Only the news categories
selected by the user is PUSHED down for collection every morning.
PointCast delivers national, international, business, industry and company news, stock
quotes, sports scores, weather reports, entertainment news and more. Currently, it
acquires information from sources such as CNN, CNNfn, NY Times, Wall Street Journal,

Reuters, Business Wire, PR News Wire, Standard and Poor’s ComStock, Sports Ticker
and AccuWeather.
PointCast network will work with a dial-up connection, as long as the dial-up
connection assigns a valid IP Address. The PointCast network offers support for viewers
using CompuServe, Shiva, FTP and Windows 95 Internet dialers. As for the on-line
services, it depends on how they implement the Internet access. Currently, PointCast will
work with CompuServe, America On-line and MicroSoft Network.
From an enterprise point of view, PointCast allows management to selectively
broadcast news to all employees using the existing network infrastructure, keeping in
mind that PointCast is completely free thanks to commercial advertisers.
To help the system administrator customize the PointCast Network, PointCast offers a
suite of free tools, the so-called Intranet Broadcast Solution which allows the following:
• It ensures that important company news is widely seen and read by
broadcasting it directly to employees desktops via a private Intranet channel
on PointCast
The Internet for communications 213
• It allows the management to effectively communicate time sensitive
messages through special windows on employees’ desktops
• It empowers ‘knowledge workers’ by supplying all the news they need to be
competitive including news from customers, suppliers, competitors and
industry
13.11.2 News pull
Individual publications
The conventional pull services are still widely available with many private newspapers
maintaining their own webster. A particular case in point is the South African based East
London Daily Dispatch, which is widely read by Australian-based South African
expatriates living in Australia.
Collated news
IBM Internet Connection Services offers a news service to subscribers available in 10
different languages and utilizing a news search engine that pulls stories from over 250

news sources from over the globe. Topics include top stories in technology, politics,
business, culture news, CAN world news, TechWeb and USA today. It is also possible to
select world news on a regional basis.
13.11.3 News groups: USENET
While web (www) sites have received most of the attention from software developers and
the press, the Internet’s news and conferencing service, USENET, represents another
major Internet resource. USENET is based on news groups, such as comp.client.server or
misc.education.adult, that contain articles similar to e-mail messages. News groups exist
for virtually every conceivable professional and personal interest. Some news groups
serve as problem solving forums and as the ‘help desks’ of the Internet. Most news
groups are public and can be viewed anywhere the Internet reaches. Anyone with a news
client and an Internet connection can submit an article. Some news group’s subject
articles to a screening prior to publication, others automatically distribute all submissions.
World wide, over 300 000 articles are posted each day to over 50 000 news groups.
Because of the massive storage requirements, articles begin to disappear within a few
days of publication. Stand-alone news client software is available from several sources.
News clients are also built into Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. As
users of these web browsers become more experienced, they are able to ‘graduate’ to the
world of USENET news.
There are several packages available for dealing with USENET and many of them are
available as freeware. We will now deal with some of them:
13.11.4 Search agents
The question may well be asked: Why on earth would a company care about USENET
postings? Here are a few reasons:
• Find out who is mentioning your products
• Find out who is using or misusing your trademarks
• Discover people and companies looking for solutions that your organization
can provide
214 Practical TCP/IP and Ethernet Networking
• Find out what people are saying about your competitors’ products and

services
• Detect imposters forging messages that appear to originate from your
organization

A good example of a USENET search agent is NewsMonger by TechSmith
Corporation. NewsMonger constructs the search query for you, or allows you to create
the query yourself. It searches public USENET groups for each of your active queries
using Digital’s Alta Vista engine. It removes duplicate articles and identifies new
submissions. It then notifies you via e-mail when articles matching your criteria
are discovered.
A similar product is OUI (off-line user interface), which has the ability to locate,
retrieve, download and post information to and from news groups.
Upload utilities
AutoPost is a program, which is capable UUEncoding files, and automatically uploading
them to a new server, i.e. it automates the process of posting large volumes of files to
news services.
Retrieval programs
There are several downloading programs for USENET, available as either shareware or
freeware. Programs worth noting are:
• Agent
• Free Agent
• News XPress
• Pluckit 3
• SBNews; NewsRobot

Functions of these packages include on-line/off-line news reading, e-mail functionality,
built-in viewers for graphics files, and the ability to launch URLs, firewall protection,
spam elimination, and automatic encryption to protect sensitive images. The prospective
user will have to peruse the specifications and make a decision as to the most suitable
package for a particular application.

13.12 Additional information
Additional details about products mentioned in this chapter can be obtained from the
following web sites.
13.12.1 Internet telephony
PGPfone (Pretty Good Privacy Phone):
Net2Phone:
FreeTel:
Internet Phone Release 5:
Internet Phone Call Waiting:
Aplio (Voice over IP):
NetPhone IPBX:
WebPhone:
Net2Phonepro: http:/www.net2phonepro.com
The Internet for communications 215
13.12.2 Video conferencing
VidCall:
PictureTel:
BitField:
VidCall has a ‘continuously running’ demo system with IP Address 205.157.131.91.
First download and register the demo program, then ping the demo system to make sure it
is running, then follow the steps supplied on the screen.
13.12.3 Paging
SMS (Small Message Services):
13.12.4 Fax
Net2Fax:
VocalTec PASSaFAX:
13.12.5 Voice communication via web page link
Click2Talk:
Click2CallMe:
Mini WebPhone:

13.12.6 Voice mail
Internet Voice Mail:
QualComm:
BitWare:
13.12.7 News services
NewsMonger:
PointCast:
Commercial News Services on the Internet (listing) :
WebGate:
CNN Interactive:
UseNet News Readers:
East London Daily Dispatch:
13.12.8 PPP servers
Foray PPP Remote Access Server:
13.12.9 E-mail
Hotmail:
Eudora Webmail:
Eudora Lite:
Voice e-mail:

14
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When you have completed study of this chapter you should be able to:
• Explain the security problem
• Define the ways of controlling access to a network
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Although people tend to refer to the ‘Internet’ as one global entity, there are in fact three
clearly defined subsets of this global network. Four, in fact, if one wishes to include the
so-called ‘community network’. It just depends on where the conceptual boundaries are

drawn.
• In the center is the in-house corporate ‘intranet’, primarily for the benefit of
the people within the organization
• The intranet is surrounded by the ‘extranet’, exterior to the organization yet
restricted to access by business partners, customers and preferred suppliers
• Third, and this is optional, there can be a ‘community’ layer around the
extranet. This space is shared with a particular community of interest, e.g.
industry associations
• Finally, these three layers are surrounded by the global Internet as we know
it, which is shared by prospective clients/customers and the rest of the world

This expansion of the Internet into organizations, in fact right down to the factory floor,
has opened the door to incredible opportunities. Unfortunately it has also opened the door
to pirates and hackers. Therefore, as the use of the Internet, intranets, and extranets has
grown, so has the need for security. The TCP/IP protocols and network technologies are
inherently designed to be open in order to allow interoperability. Therefore, unless proper
precautions are taken, data can readily be intercepted and altered – often without either
the sending or the receiving party being aware of the security breach. Because dedicated