Internet services

Definition of Internet services in The Network Encyclopedia.

What is Internet services?

Any of a number of technologies for making information accessible to users over the Internet. Each Internet service is defined by a protocol, such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and is enabled using client/server applications, such as Web browsers and Web servers. Internet protocols are defined in the Request for Comments (RFC) documents published by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

Internet services include Telnet, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Gopher, Wide Area Information Server (WAIS), Archie, Veronica, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP), and Internet Relay Chat (IRC).

Some of these services have remained popular (such as NNTP), while others have faded in popularity (such as Gopher). The most popular Internet service by far is the relatively new World Wide Web (WWW), which is based on HTTP.