History of the Internet
The Internet as we know today was not a concept that was quickly
enacted when it was
first thought up. It was a revolutionary process
that was the result of visionary people who painstakingly brought forth
the World Wide Web. These individuals saw a promising potential in
allowing computers to share information on
research and development in
scientific and military fields. This is all started in 1962 when the
U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) initiated a
research program. They selected J.C.R. Licklider of MIT to head the
work and develop it. Later Leonard Kleinrock of UCLA who
developed the
theory of packet switching, which was used to create the basis of
Internet connections. His thesis was titled Communications Networks:
Stochastic Flow and Delay. This thesis examined what packet-switching
networking could look like. Lawrence Roberts of NIT confirmed
Kleinrocks’ theory by connecting a Massachusetts computer with a
California computer over dial up telephone lines. This proved that it
could be done and when he later joined DARPA in 1966 he developed his
plan for ARPANET.
ARPANET, also known as the Internet “was brought online in 1965 under a
contract let by the renamed Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)”
(Howe 2). It originally connected UCLA, Stanford Research Institute,
UCSB, and the University of Utah. Soon after several other universities
connected to ARPANET. In order for ARPANET to communicate via the
telephone lines a series of protocols were developed Transmission
Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP) came first then
TCP/IP developed from these. These protocols communicated transparently
across multiple, linked packet networks.
The ultimate infrastructure was designed that if “sites were destroyed
by nuclear attack, routers would direct traffic around the network via
alternate routes. Since this was a initially founded by the government,
it was originally limited to research, education, and for government
use. In order to work the Internet a person had to learn a complex
system. “The Internet matured in the 70’s as a result of the TCP/IP
architecture first proposed by Bob Kahn at BBN and further developed by
Kahn and Vint Cerf at Stanford and others throughout the 70’s.”(Howe
3). It is interesting to note that at this time at Bell Labs the Unix
to Unix Copy Protocol (UUCP) was invented. Newsgroups and discussions
were exchanged through this means although it did not use TCP/IP.
Usenet is not considered a part of the Internet but it did help those
that used the Internet. It played a big part on creating the Internet
network and its community. “In 1986, the U.S. National Science
Foundation (NSF) initiated the development of the NSFNET which today,
provides a major backbone communication service for the Internet.”(ISOC
1). “In Europe, major international backbones such as NORDUNET and
others provide connectivity to over one hundred thousand computers on a
large number of networks. Commercial network providers in the U.S. and
Europe are beginning to offer Internet backbone and access support on a
competitive basis to any interested parties.”(ISOC 2). In the early
90’s commercial use on the Internet was allowed, before it was only
allowed to serve the goals of research and education. Because of this
lift commercial network use expanded beyond what anyone thought it
could be. As with all growth there are pains to be dealt with. Users
want quicker speed connections and wireless connectivity. The demand is
heralding a response for these needs and it seems there will be no
limit what to ask for.