1) In order to have a better understanding of the technological infrastructure supporting e-commerce, explain how the Internet will utilize Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP) to affect network connections and data movement for your e-business. Give one example of an e-commerce transaction for your e-business and describe how TCP/IP will facilitate its completion.
2) Define Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and comment on how its phase-out to IPv6 will affect your e-business. What is the advantage of IPv4 over IPv6? Finally, in order to determine if the computer that you are currently using is IPv6-ready, click on the Google IPv6 Test link. What was the result of your test and what do the results mean?
3) Describe the purpose of an email server and how it will apply to your e-business. What is the difference between the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and the Post Office Protocol (POP)? Name at least one advantage and one disadvantage of using the Interactive Mail Access Protocol (IMAP) in place of POP. If you had a choice between IMAP and POP, which one would you select and why? Support your response.
4) Describe how the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Extensible Markup Language (XML) would be utilized in relation to your e-business and the related user Web interfaces. Also indicate the relationship between XML and the Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL). How do you envision using XBRL in relation to your e-business? Finally, what role does XML play in the Semantic Web project discussed in this module?