Protocols: Key to the future of computer communication

Minicomputers changed the corporate landscape during the 1970s, when individual computers could solve specific operational problems of department-sized organizations. Microprocessors followed in the 1980s, delivering computing power directly to individuals through their personal computers and workstations. When customers realized how powerful these discrete systems were, they began to look for ways to interconnect them. Interconnection would let their people distribute computing power and, at the same time, exchange data, share corporate databases, and communicate through electronic mail. It was clear, however, that applications operating in different environments would have to interact dynamically for the interconnections to work.