isr.co.ro : glossary Backbone As applied to the Internet, the total collection of high-speed links and exchange points that connect individual host computers or systems across the country and around the world. In theory, you're better off if you have fewer links between your computer and the backbone and if each of those links is a particularly fast one. However, the Internet supports a range of connections rather than a single hierarchical pathway. Individual companies or government organizations often have their own nationwide links with multiple connection points. So the exact performance you'll get with a particular set of links is hard to predict without continuing field experiments.