What Is Legacy Network?
Legacy networks are just like the elderly—they're everywhere. They've been around for a long time, and even though we don't use them as often anymore, they're still there. Some think legacy networks are more common than TCP/IP-based networks. They're right! As of their age and widespread use, legacy networks have been around longer than TCP/IP-based ones by a long shot. What exactly is a legacy network? Well, it's like asking what an older person looks like: one can be tall or short, fat or thin, male or female—and so on! Generally speaking, people who work with computers will tell you that legacy networks are proprietary to individual vendors (i.e., if you want to use one of these devices or services on your network, you need to buy from that vendor). Another thing about legacy networks is that they're not part of the TCP/IP protocol suite! That means if someone wants to use one of these devices or services on their network today. The Internet is a prominent place, and it's grown a lot since it was first conceived. Where did it all begin? The Internet as we know it today was born out of ARPANet—a small project started by DARPA. Their goal was to create a network connecting several military installations spread over a wide geographical area so they could share information across their distributed locations. Two requirements were that there should be no central point of control (and therefore no central point of failure) and that all the network devices at all stations must be able to communicate. The latter requirement led to the developing of an independent protocol suite known as TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) around 1973. Later expanded and refined with support from manufacturers and software vendors, it became today's computing protocol suite known as TCP/IP.
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