Why Was The Internet Developed?
The Internet is a fascinating tool and has changed how the world operates today. It’s transformed how business is done, and even made it possible to receive an education without leaving your house. Yet, how much do you know about the history of the Internet?
The United States Defense Department wanted to create a type of technology that could interlink and interconnect different computers and systems with each other. In 1973, the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA for short) began this research project.
The main goal was to interconnect packet networks for the purpose of inventing communication protocols that could allow computers to communicate with each other. To communicate with each other, the computers would use these packet networks.
When the project began, DARPA referred to it as the “Internetting project” because of the project’s purpose of interconnecting these various networks. For short, the product that emerged from this project was then referred to as the “Internet.” The product that was developed was a system of protocols, also known as the Transmission Control Protocol and the Internet Protocol.
Further Advancements of the Internet
The next major development in advancing the Internet occurred in 1986 by the United States National Foundation (also known as the NSF). The NSF began the NSFNET.
The NSFNET has become the most significant backbone communication service for the Internet. It can transmit information at forty-five megabits per second, and every month the NSFNET carries approximately twelve billion packets of information between various networks.
In addition to the creation of the NSFNET, NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy also created different versions of what would eventually serve as a backbone facility for the Internet. These backbone facilities were the NSINET (by NASA) and the ESNET (by the U.S. Department of Energy).
Internet Protocol
In the eighties, different public and commercial applications of the Transmission Control Protocol and the Internet Protocol began to develop. Further, additional protocols were created, and they soon amassed to about one hundred.
The Internet continued to grow and develop, and more and more computers were connected to this network. During the early nineties, OSI protocol applications were invented. The Internet had expanded so much that by the end of 1991, about five thousand networks existed. These five thousand networks involved about thirty six different countries, about seven hundred thousand computers, and approximately four million individuals.
Internet Activities Board
Additionally, one of the reasons that the Internet was able to develop into what it is today is because of the Internet Activities Board. The Internet Activities Board was formed in 1983. The purpose of this board was to guide the development and future of the Internet and the TCP and IP protocols.
The Internet Activities Board is broken into two branches:
- The Internet Engineering Task Force guides the development of the Internet
- The Internet Research Task Force attempts to find new advancements to the Internet
The Board is still in existence today, and it meets three times a year to ensure that the purpose of the Board is being met. Today, two additional functions of the Internet Activities Board have also evolved. These functions include:
- The publication of documents that describe the Internet
- The assignment of various duties that are needed for protocol operation
Without the start of the Internet Activities Board in the 1980s, the Internet could not have evolved into what it is today.
Although the Internet started as truly more of a federal government project, it quickly transformed into a commercial and public entity. It has come a long way since 1973!