Internet History Essays - Computing, Technology,

Internet History Starting out as a small military experiment some 35 years ago, the Internet is quickly becoming one of the most popular forms of communication. With a present population of about 40 million users world wide, it seems to have a very promising future. Uncensored and almost impossible to monitor, it's a breeding ground for all sorts of offensive and derogatory information. On the other hand, it is probably the biggest single source of data in the world brought home into your personal computer. Will this form of communication survive in the future, or will it simply die out like many others have in the past? History The first nodes of the Internet were built 36 years ago by the RAND corporation. They faced the problem of keeping communication between U.S. authorities active in the aftermath of a nuclear war. The country needed a command-and-control network. The biggest problem was protecting the main server, which could be knocked out by a single atomic warhead. RAND came up with the solution in 1964. The new network would have no central authority, and secondly, it would be designed to operate in shambles. " During the 60s, this intriguing concept of a decentralized, blastproof, packet-switching network was kicked around by RAND, MIT and UCLA. The National Physical Laboratory in Great Britain set up the first test network on these principles in 1968. Shortly afterward, the Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency decided to fund a larger, more ambitious project in the USA. The nodes of the network were to be high-speed supercomputers (or what passed for supercomputers at the time). These were rare and valuable machines which were in real need of good solid networking, for the sake of national research- and-development projects." (Sterling 1-2) The first was put in place during the fall of 1969. By December of the same year four nodes were installed. They were connected by dedicated high-speed transmission lines. This allowed the computers to communicate and be programmed from one of the other computers. In the year of 1971 there were 15 nodes, and by 72 there were 37. This number kept increasing rapidly as the years passed. The network was also becoming more of a person to person way of communicating. Many military personnel began using it as a way to gossip with friends instead of a way to transmit documents and projects. This became even more evident in the following years. How it works The Internet may seem a very complex form of communication but that is not really the case. First, you must have a reasonably fast computer (80386 or higher) with a modem and a phone line. The next step is to contact your local Internet provider and get him to give you a password and an SLIP address. At this time you will also be given the software to get you started. All of this costs about 140 dollars, depending on how many hours you wish to purchase. "We charge using an hourly rate because it gives our users more flexibility with their time. When run on a monthly payment, you are limited to an hour a day, whereas with our system you can use any amount of time whenever you want" (Schulmeister). The costs are as follows: 10 hrs-$30.00 20 hrs-$50.00 40 hrs-$80.00 60 hrs-$90.00 Once you have your software installed and want to start "surfing the net," you must first login to the server (located at the Northwest Community College) by dialling in its phone number using a specific program. The two local numbers are 638-1543 and 638-1593. Even with the two numbers, the server is often busy because of the constantly increasing number of users in our area. These numbers can be used by a number of people at a time, not just two. Once connected to the college server, you travel down to a larger server in Vancouver, and from there you can access any other computer connected as long as your server has permission to do so. Diagram: How the Internet works Impact on Society The Internet is just starting to have a large impact on society. It seemed to come out of nowhere, popping up in magazines and on the news. The Internet is now becoming an influential communications medium to

A Comparison of the Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning Strategies of Nivea Beiersdorf in the UK and Thailand Essay Example

A Comparison of the Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning Strategies of Nivea Beiersdorf in the UK and Thailand Essay Example A Comparison of the Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning Strategies of Nivea Beiersdorf in the UK and Thailand Paper A Comparison of the Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning Strategies of Nivea Beiersdorf in the UK and Thailand Paper Apart from the operating procedures being done by the Nivea Beiersdorf joint, the need for an efficient analysis of the marketing plans employed the multinational firm is important for the success of its operations in the United Kingdom and Thailand. Both countries exhibit a different set of cultures, as well as a varying array of demographics which greatly affects the STP strategies being used by any company who wishes to successfully penetrate both markets (Kotler, 2003). Nivea Beiersdorf has its foothold in Europe and penetrating the British Market would not be that hard given that the cosmetics and lifestyle company has been there for about sixty years. Nevertheless, the company presence in Thailand, given its totally different demographics than that of the UK, as well as its highly competitive cosmetics market would pose as a challenge in the positioning strategy of Nivea Beiersdorf (2007). The STP strategies to be utilized for both countries should be analyzed with utmost considerations. These considerations will in turn fall under three main parts: the concentrated, undifferentiated, and the differentiated strategies (Kotler, 2003). Concentrated Strategies Under this type of marketing strategy, the company, Nivea Beiersdorf needs to concentrate its resources within specific market segments of the UK and Thailand (2006c). With this in mind, the firm needs to determine which segment of the two different markets have the better need of market penetration strategies. Although Thailand has a grater need of marketing penetration strategies since Nivea’s presence there is recent and the market growth is more competitive as compared to that of the British market, the concentrated strategy can be more efficiently is used in the British market since the company has been there for quite long. Under this type of marketing strategy, competition is currently recognized and small to medium-sized firms which offer the same marketing mix like Marks and Spencer have the capability to compete with the company given that Nivea Beiersdorf was already able to position itself above the cosmetics market as a premiere cosmetics company. On the other hand, the concentrated targeting strategy being employed by Nivea Beiersdorf in the UK is more on the maintenance and improvement of the market share in the country as well as coping up with the market growth factors that are involved (Kotler, 2003). Undifferentiated Strategies Along with the current concentrated strategies used by Nivea Beiesdorf in the UK and Thailand, under the undifferentiated strategy, the company positioning is not much taken seriously in the UK out of the already established reputation and is more concerned on the savings that the company could achieve. However, this target marketing strategy can be best employed in the Thai market out of the high level of nationalism of the locals towards their local products. Using this specific strategy, Nivea has to position itself as a local brand yet of foreign origin. That is, Nivea will have to establish itself as a product that is not much different from the local ones. This specific strategy is currently being employed by the company to date with a local factory as well as local employees being employed. This way, appreciation of the products of the company is simplified and savings on marketing can be used for other purposes. Although, this type of strategy is more susceptible to competiti on, the right amount of company vigilance of the Thai demographics must be carefully monitored (Kotler, 2003). Differentiated Strategies Under this type, the company is producing several types of products that would specifically cater to the needs of the different market segments present in both countries. A specific example of this is the range of products offered by Nivea aside from the usual white cream up to sun tan lotions, body sprays, etc. The targeting strategies being used here is a product based on the thorough analysis of the demographic factors that are present in the UK and Thailand. For example, the British market is composed of a high adult market segment with a high disposable income (2006b). The range of products to be developed for them suits the characteristics of this particular domain. On the Thai market on the other hand, there are a lot of the housewife segment with a middle-sized income who is obsessed with having white skin, hence, a different set of product offerings ought to be made for them (2006a). Company positioning therefore can be dictated by the product offerings that will be utilized by the company.