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{{globalise/USA}}
{{History of computing}}
<!--A lack of inter-networking-->
In the fifties and early sixties, prior to the widespread inter-networking that led to the Internet, most communication networks were limited by their nature to only allow communications between the stations on the network. Some networks had [[Gateway (telecommunications)|gateways]] or [[Network bridge|bridges]] between them, but these bridges were often limited or built specifically for a single use. One prevalent computer networking method was based on the central [[Mainframe computer|mainframe]] method, simply allowing its terminals to be connected via long [[leased line]]s. This method was used in the 1950s by [[Project RAND]] to support researchers such as [[Herbert Simon]], in [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]], when collaborating across the continent with researchers in [[Santa Monica, California]], on [[automated theorem proving]] and [[artificial intelligence]].

===Three terminals and an ARPA===
Advanced Research Projects Agency was renamed to Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in 1972.
A fundamental pioneer in the call for a global network, [[J.C.R. Licklider]], articulated the idea in his January 1960 paper, [[Man-Computer Symbiosis]].
:''<nowiki>"A network of such [computers], connected to one another by wide-band communication lines" which provided "the functions of present-day libraries together with anticipated advances in information storage and retrieval and [other] symbiotic functions. "</nowiki>''—J.C.R.&nbsp;Licklider<ref>{{cite paper | author=[[J. C. R. Licklider]] | title=Man-Computer Symbiosis | date=1960}}</ref>
In October 1962, Licklider was appointed head of the [[United States Department of Defense]]'s [[DARPA]] information processing office, and formed an informal group within DARPA to further computer research. As part of the information processing office's role, three network terminals had been installed: one for [[System Development Corporation]] in [[Santa Monica, California|Santa Monica]], one for [[Project Genie]] at the [[University of California, Berkeley]] and one for the [[Multics]] project SHOPPING at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT). Licklider's need for inter-networking would be made evident by the problems this caused.

:''"For each of these three terminals, I had three different sets of user commands. So if I was talking online with someone at S.D.C. and I wanted to talk to someone I knew at Berkeley or M.I.T. about this, I had to get up from the S.D.C. terminal, go over and log into the other terminal and get in touch with them.''
:''I said,it's obvious what to do (But I don't want to do it): If you have these three terminals, there ought to be one terminal that goes anywhere you want to go where you have interactive computing. That idea is the ARPAnet."'' -[[Robert Taylor (computer scientist)|Robert W.&nbsp;Taylor]], co-writer with Licklider of "The Computer as a Communications Device", in an interview with the [[New York Times]]<ref>{{cite web | title=An Internet Pioneer Ponders the Next Revolution | work=An Internet Pioneer Ponders the Next Revolution | url=http://partners.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/12/biztech/articles/122099outlook-bobb.html?Partner=Snap | accessdate=November 25 | accessyear=2005}}</ref>

===Switched packets===
{{main|Packet switching}}
At the tip of the inter-networking problem lay the issue of connecting separate physical networks to form one logical network. During the 1960s, [[Donald Davies]] ([[National Physical Laboratory|NPL]]), [[Paul Baran]] ([[RAND]] Corporation), and [[Leonard Kleinrock]] (MIT) developed and implemented [[packet switching]]. The notion that the Internet was developed to survive a nuclear attack has its roots in the early theories developed by RAND. Baran's research had approached packet switching from studies of decentralisation to avoid combat damage compromising the entire network.<ref>{{cite web | title=About Rand | work=Paul Baran and the Origins of the Internet | url=http://www.rand.org/about/history/baran.html | accessdate=January 14 | accessyear=2006 }}</ref>

==Networks that led to the Internet==
===ARPANET===
{{main|ARPANET}}
[[Image:Leonard-Kleinrock-and-IMP1.png|thumb|300px|[[Leonard Kleinrock|Len Kleinrock]] and the first [[Interface Message Processor|IMP]].<ref>"The history of the Internet," http://www.lk.cs.ucla.edu/personal_history.html</ref>]]
Promoted to the head of the information processing office at [[Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency|ARPA]], Robert Taylor intended to realize Licklider's ideas of an interconnected networking system. Bringing in [[Larry Roberts]] from MIT, he initiated a project to build such a network. The first ARPANET link was established between the [[University of California, Los Angeles]] and the [[Stanford Research Institute]] on [[29 November]] [[1969]]. By [[5 December]] [[1969]], a 4-node network was connected by adding the [[University of Utah]] and the [[University of California, Santa Barbara]]. Building on ideas developed in [[ALOHAnet]], the ARPANET started in 1972 and was growing rapidly, by 1981 the number of hosts had grown to 213, with a new host being added approximately every twenty days.<ref>{{cite book | authorlink = Katie Hafner | last = Hafner | first = Katie | title = Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins Of The Internet | publisher = Simon & Schuster | year = 1998 | id = 0-68-483267-4 }}</ref><ref>{{cite paper | author=[[Ronda Hauben]] | title=From the ARPANET to the Internet | date=2001 | url=http://www.columbia.edu/~rh120/other/tcpdigest_paper.txt}}</ref>
ARPANET became the technical core of what would become the Internet, and a primary tool in developing the technologies used. ARPANET development was centered around the [[Request for Comments]] (RFC) process, still used today for proposing and distributing Internet Protocols and Systems. RFC 1, entitled "Host Software", was written by [[Steve Crocker]] from the [[University of California, Los Angeles]], and published on [[April 7]], [[1969]]. These early years were documented in the 1972 film [[Computer Networks: The Heralds of Resource Sharing]].
International collaborations on ARPANET were sparse. For various political reasons, European developers were concerned with developing the [[X.25]] networks. Notable exceptions were the [http://www.norsar.no/NORSAR/history/internet.html Norwegian Seismic Array] (NORSAR) in 1972, followed in 1973 by [[Sweden]] with satellite links to the [[Tanum]] Earth Station and [[University College London]].

===X.25 and public access===
{{main|X.25|Bulletin board system|FidoNet}}
Following on from ARPA's research, packet switching network standards were developed by the [[International Telecommunication Union]] (ITU) in the form of X.25 and related standards. In 1974, X.25 formed the basis for the [[SERCnet]] network between British academic and research sites, which later became [[JANET]]. The initial ITU Standard on X.25 was approved in March 1976. This standard was based on the concept of virtual circuits.
The [[General Post Office (United Kingdom)|British Post Office]], [[Western Union|Western Union International]] and [[Tymnet]] collaborated to create the first international packet switched network, referred to as the [[International Packet Switched Service]] (IPSS), in 1978. This network grew from Europe and the US to cover Canada, Hong Kong and Australia by 1981. By the 1990s it provided a worldwide networking infrastructure.<ref>{{cite web | title=Events in British Telecomms History | work=Events in British TelecommsHistory | url=http://www.sigtel.com/tel_hist_brief.html | accessdate=November 25 | accessyear=2005}}</ref>
Unlike ARPAnet, X.25 was also commonly available for business use. [[Telenet]] offered its Telemail electronic mail service, but this was oriented to enterprise use rather than the general email of ARPANET.

The first dial-in public networks used asynchronous [[Teleprinter | TTY]] terminal protocols to reach a concentrator operated by the public network. Some public networks, such as [[Compuserve]] used X.25 to multiplex the terminal sessions into their packet-switched backbones, while others, such as [[Tymnet]], used proprietary protocols. In 1979, [[CompuServe]] became the first service to offer [[e-mail|electronic mail]] capabilities and technical support to [[personal computer]] users. The company broke new ground again in 1980 as the first to offer [[online chat|real-time chat]] with its [[CB Simulator]]. There were also the [[America Online]] (AOL) and [[Prodigy (ISP)|Prodigy]] dial in networks and many [[bulletin board system]] (BBS) networks such as [[FidoNet]]. FidoNet in particular was popular amongst hobbyist computer users, many of them [[hackers]] and [[amateur radio operator]]s.

===UUCP===
{{main|UUCP|Usenet}}
In 1979, two students at [[Duke University]], [[Tom Truscott]] and [[Jim Ellis]], came up with the idea of using simple [[Bourne shell]] scripts to transfer news and messages on a serial line with nearby [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]]. Following public release of the software, the mesh of UUCP hosts forwarding on the Usenet news rapidly expanded. UUCPnet, as it would later be named, also created gateways and links between FidoNet and dial-up BBS hosts. UUCP networks spread quickly due to the lower costs involved, and ability to use existing leased lines, [[X.25]] links or even [[ARPANET]] connections. By 1981 the number of UUCP hosts had grown to 550, nearly doubling to 940 in 1984.

==Merging the networks and creating the Internet==
===TCP/IP===
{{main|Internet protocol suite}}
[[Image:Internet map in February 82.jpg|right|thumb|320px|Map of the [[TCP/IP]] test network in January 1982]] With so many different network methods, something was needed to unify them. [[Robert E. Kahn]] of [[DARPA]] and [[ARPANET]] recruited [[Vint Cerf]] of [[Stanford University]] to work with him on the problem. By 1973, they had soon worked out a fundamental reformulation, where the differences between network protocols were hidden by using a common [[internetwork protocol]], and instead of the network being responsible for reliability, as in the ARPANET, the hosts became responsible. Cerf credits [[Hubert Zimmerman]], Gerard LeLann and [[Louis Pouzin]] (designer of the [[CYCLADES]] network) with important work on this design.<ref>{{cite paper | author=[[Barry M. Leiner]], [[Vinton G. Cerf]], [[David D. Clark]], [[Robert E. Kahn]], [[Leonard Kleinrock]], [[Daniel C. Lynch]], [[Jon Postel]], [[Lawrence Roberts (scientist)|Larry G. Roberts]], [[Stephen Wolff]] | title=A Brief History of Internet | date=2003 | url=http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml }}</ref>

With the role of the network reduced to the bare minimum, it became possible to join almost any networks together, no matter what their characteristics were, thereby solving Kahn's initial problem. DARPA agreed to fund development of prototype software, and after several years of work, the first somewhat crude demonstration of a gateway between the [[Packet Radio]] network in the SF Bay area and the ARPANET was conducted. By November 1977 a three network demonstration was conducted including the ARPANET, the Packet Radio Network and the Atlantic Packet Satellite network—all sponsored by DARPA. Stemming from the first specifications of TCP in 1974, [[TCP/IP]] emerged in mid-late 1978 in nearly final form. By 1981, the associated standards were published as RFCs 791, 792 and 793 and adopted for use. DARPA sponsored or encouraged the development of TCP/IP implementations for many operating systems and then scheduled a migration of all hosts on all of its packet networks to TCP/IP. On [[1 January]] [[1983]], TCP/IP protocols became the only approved protocol on the ARPANET, replacing the earlier [[Network Control Program|NCP protocol]].<ref>[[Jon Postel]], NCP/TCP Transition Plan, RFC 801</ref>

===ARPANET to Several Federal Wide Area Networks: MILNET, NSI, and NSFNet===
{{main|ARPANET|NSFNet}}
After the ARPANET had been up and running for several years, ARPA looked for another agency to hand off the network to; ARPA's primary mission was funding cutting-edge research and development, not running a communications utility. Eventually, in July 1975, the network had been turned over to the [[Defense Communications Agency]], also part of the [[Department of Defense]]. In 1983, the [[U.S. military]] portion of the ARPANET was broken off as a separate network, the [[MILNET]]. MILNET subsequently became the unclassified but military-only [[NIPRNET]], in parallel with the SECRET-level [[SIPRNET]] and [[JWICS]] for TOP SECRET and above. NIPRNET does have controlled security gateways to the public Internet.
The networks based around the ARPANET were government funded and therefore restricted to noncommercial uses such as research; unrelated commercial use was strictly forbidden. This initially restricted connections to [[military]] sites and [[universities]]. During the 1980s, the connections expanded to more educational institutions, and even to a growing number of companies such as [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] and [[Hewlett-Packard]], which were participating in research projects or providing services to those who were.
Several other branches of the [[U.S. government]], the [[National Aeronautics and Space Agency]] (NASA), the [[National Science Foundation]] (NSF), and the [[Department of Energy]] (DOE) became heavily involved in internet research and started development of a successor to ARPANET. In the mid 1980s all three of these branches developed the first [[Wide Area Networks]] based on TCP/IP. NASA developed the NASA Science Network, NSF developed CSNET and DOE evolved the Energy Sciences Network or ESNet.

More explicitly, NASA developed a TCP/IP based [[Wide Area Network]], NASA Science Network (NSN), in the mid 1980s connecting space scientists to data and information stored anywhere in the world. In 1989, the [[DECnet]]-based Space Physics Analysis Network (SPAN) and the TCP/IP-based NASA Science Network (NSN) were brought together at NASA Ames Research Center creating the '''first multiprotocol wide area network''' called the [[NASA Science Internet]], or NSI. NSI was established to provide a total integrated communications infrastructure to the NASA scientific community for the advancement of earth, space and life sciences. As a high-speed, multiprotocol, international network, NSI provided connectivity to over 20,000 scientists across all seven continents.

In 1984 NSF developed CSNET exclusively based on TCP/IP. CSNET connected with ARPANET using TCP/IP, and ran TCP/IP over [[X.25]], but it also supported departments without sophisticated network connections, using automated dial-up mail exchange. This grew into the NSFNet [[Internet backbone|backbone]], established in 1986, and intended to connect and provide access to a number of [[Supercomputers|supercomputing]] centers established by the NSF.<ref>{{cite paper | author=David Roessner, Barry Bozeman, Irwin Feller, Christopher Hill, Nils Newman | title=The Role of NSF's Support of Engineering in Enabling Technological Innovation | date=1997 | url=http://www.sri.com/policy/csted/reports/techin/inter2.html}}</ref>

===The transition toward an Internet===
The term "Internet" was adopted in the first RFC published on the TCP protocol (RFC 675: Internet Transmission Control Protocol, December 1974). It was around the time when ARPANET was interlinked with NSFNet, that the term [[Internet]] came into more general use,<ref>{{cite book | authorlink = Andrew S. Tanenbaum | last = Tanenbaum | first = Andrew S. | title = Computer Networks | publisher = Prentice Hall | year = 1996 | id = 0-13-394248-1 }}</ref> with "an internet" meaning any network using TCP/IP. "The Internet" came to mean a global and large network using TCP/IP. Previously "internet" and "internetwork" had been used interchangeably, and "internet protocol" had been used to refer to other networking systems such as [[Xerox Network Services]].<ref>{{cite newsgroup | author=[[Mike Muuss]]| title=TCP-IP Digest, Vol 1 #10 | date=5th January 1982 | newsgroup=fa.tcp-ip | id=anews. Aucbvax.5690 | url=http://groups.google.co.uk/group/fa.tcp-ip/msg/7cfa39961cf92d12?dmode=source }}</ref>
As interest in wide spread networking grew and new applications for it arrived, the Internet's technologies spread throughout the rest of the world. TCP/IP's network-agnostic approach meant that it was easy to use any existing network infrastructure, such as the [[International Packet Switched Service|IPSS]] X.25 network, to carry Internet traffic. In 1984, University College London replaced its transatlantic satellite links with TCP/IP over IPSS.
Many sites unable to link directly to the Internet started to create simple gateways to allow transfer of e-mail, at that time the most important application. Sites which only had intermittent connections used [[UUCP]] or [[FidoNet]] and relied on the gateways between these networks and the Internet. Some gateway services went beyond simple [[e-mail]] peering, such as allowing access to [[File Transfer Protocol|FTP]] sites via UUCP or e-mail.

==TCP/IP becomes worldwide==
The first ARPANET connection outside the US was established to NORSAR in Norway in 1973, just ahead of the connection to Great Britain. These links were all converted to TCP/IP in 1982, at the same time as the rest of the Arpanet.
===CERN, the European internet, the link to the Pacific and beyond===
Between 1984 and 1988 CERN began installation and operation of [[TCP/IP]] to interconnect its major internal computer systems, workstations, PC's and an accelerator control system. CERN continued to operate a limited self-developed system [[CERNET]] internally and several incompatible (typically proprietary) network protocols externally. There was considerable resistance in [[Europe]] towards more widespread use of [[TCP/IP]] and the CERN TCP/IP intranets remained isolated from the rest of the Internet until 1989.
In 1988 [[Daniel Karrenberg]], from [[Centrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica|CWI]] in [[Amsterdam]], visited [[Ben Segal]], [[CERN]]'s TCP/IP Coordinator, looking for advice about the transition of the European side of the UUCP Usenet network (much of which ran over X.25 links) over to TCP/IP. In 1987, Ben Segal had met with [[Len Bosack]] from the then still small company [[Cisco Systems|Cisco]] about purchasing some TCP/IP routers for CERN, and was able to give Karrenberg advice and forward him on to Cisco for the appropriate hardware. This expanded the European portion of the Internet across the existing UUCP networks, and in 1989 CERN opened its first external TCP/IP connections.<ref>{{cite paper | author=[[Ben Segal]] | title=A Short History of Internet Protocols at CERN | date=1995 | url=http://www.cern.ch/ben/TCPHIST.html}}</ref> This coincided with the creation of Réseaux IP Européens ([[RIPE]]), initially a group of IP network administrators who met regularly to carry out co-ordination work together. Later, in 1992, RIPE was formally registered as a [[cooperative]] in [[Amsterdam]].
At the same time as the rise of internetworking in Europe, adhoc networking to ARPA and in-between [[Australian]] universities formed, based on various technologies such as X.25 and [[UUCP]]Net. These were limited in their connection to the global networks, due to the cost of making individual international UUCP dial-up or X.25 connections. In 1989, Australian universities joined the push towards using IP protocols to unify their networking infrastructures. [[AARNet]] was formed in 1989 by the [[Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee]] and provided a dedicated IP based network for Australia.
The Internet began to penetrate Asia in the late 1980s. [[Japan]], which had built the UUCP-based network [[JUNET]] in 1984, connected to NSFNet in 1989. It hosted the annual meeting of the [[Internet Society]], INET'92, in [[Kobe]]. [[Singapore]] developed TECHNET in 1990, and [[Thailand]] gained a global Internet connection between Chulalongkorn University and UUNET in 1992.<ref>{{cite web | title=Internet History in Asia | work=16th APAN Meetings/Advanced Network Conference in Busan | url=http://www.apan.net/meetings/busan03/cs-history.htm | accessdate=December 25 | accessyear=2005}}</ref>

===A digital divide===
{{main|Digital divide}}
While developed countries with technological infrastructures were joining the Internet, developing countries began to experience a [[digital divide]] separating them from the Internet. On an essentially continental basis, they are building organizations for Internet resource administration and sharing operational experience, as more and more transmission facilities go into place.

==== Africa ====

At the beginning of the 1990s, African countries relied upon X.25 [[International Packet Switched Service|IPSS]] and 2400 baud modem UUCP links for international and internetwork computer communications. In 1996 a [[USAID]] funded project, the [http://www.usaid.gov/regions/afr/leland/chrono.htm Leland initiative], started work on developing full Internet connectivity for the continent. [[Guinea]], [[Mozambique]], [[Madagascar]] and [[Rwanda]] gained [[satellite earth station]]s in 1997, followed by [[Côte d'Ivoire]] and [[Benin]] in 1998.

Africa is building an Internet infrastructure. [[AfriNIC]], headquartered in Mauritius, manages IP address allocation for the continent. As do the other Internet regions, there is an operational forum, the Internet Community of Operational Networking Specialists <ref>[http://icons.afrinic.net/ ICONS webpage]</ref>.

There are a wide range of programs both to provide high-performance transmission plant, and the western and southern coasts have undersea optical cable. High-speed cables join North Africa and the Horn of Africa to intercontinental cable systems. Undersea cable development is slower for East Africa; the original joint effort between [[NEPAD| New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) ]] and the East Africa Submarine System (Eassy) has broken off and may become two efforts <ref>[http://www.fmtech.co.za/telecoms/nepad-eassy-partnership-ends-in-divorce Nepad, Eassy partnership ends in divorce],(South African) Financial Times FMTech, 2007</ref>.

====Asia and Oceania ====
The [[APNIC| Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC)]], headquartered in Mauritius, manages IP address allocation for the continent. APNIC sponsors an operational forum, the Asia-Pacific Regional Internet Conference on Operational Technologies (APRICOT) <ref>[http://www.apricot.net/ APRICOT webpage]</ref>.
In 1991, the [[People's Republic of China]] saw its first [[TCP/IP]] college network, [[Tsinghua University|Tsinghua University's]] TUNET. The PRC went on to make its first global Internet connection in 1995, between the [[Beijing Electro-Spectrometer Collaboration]] and [[Stanford University]]'s Linear Accelerator Center. However, China went on to implement its own digital divide by implementing a country-wide [[Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China|content filter]].<ref>{{cite web | title=A brief history of the Internet in China | work=China celebrates 10 years of being connected to the Internet | url=http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;854351844;pp;2;fp;2;fpid;1 | accessdate=December 25 | accessyear=2005}}</ref>

====Latin America====

As with the other regions, [[LACNIC|the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (LACNIC)]] manages the IP address space and other resources for its area. LACNIC, headquartered in Uruguay, operates DNS root, reverse DNS, and other key services.

==Opening the network to commerce==
The interest in commercial use of the Internet became a hotly debated topic. Although commercial use was forbidden, the exact definition of commercial use could be unclear and subjective. [[UUCP]]Net and the X.25 IPSS had no such restrictions, which would eventually see the official barring of UUCPNet use of [[ARPANET]] and [[NSFNet]] connections. Some UUCP links still remained connecting to these networks however, as administrators cast a blind eye to their operation.
[[Image:Number of internet hosts.svg|right|300px]] During the late 1980s, the first [[Internet service provider]] (ISP) companies were formed. Companies like [[PSINet]], [[UUNET]], [[Netcom (USA)|Netcom]], and [[Portal Software]] were formed to provide service to the regional research networks and provide alternate network access, UUCP-based email and [[Usenet|Usenet News]] to the public. The first dial-up in the West Coast, was Best Internet[http://web.archive.org/web/19961219235009/www.best.com/pr/pr960710.html] - now Verio Communications, opened in 1986. The first dialup ISP in the East was [[The World (internet service provider)|world.std.com]], opened in 1989.
This caused controversy amongst university users, who were outraged at the idea of noneducational use of their networks. Eventually, it was the commercial Internet service providers who brought prices low enough that junior colleges and other schools could afford to participate in the new arenas of education and research.
By 1990, ARPANET had been overtaken and replaced by newer networking technologies and the project came to a close. In 1994, the NSFNet, now renamed ANSNET (Advanced Networks and Services) and allowing non-profit corporations access, lost its standing as the backbone of the Internet. Both government institutions and competing commercial providers created their own backbones and interconnections. Regional [[network access point]]s (NAPs) became the primary interconnections between the many networks and the final commercial restrictions ended.
===The IETF and a standard for standards===
{{main|IETF}}
The Internet has developed a significant subculture dedicated to the idea that the Internet is not owned or controlled by any one person, company, group, or organization. Nevertheless, some standardization and control is necessary for the system to function.
The liberal [[Request for Comments]] (RFC) publication procedure engendered confusion about the Internet standardization process, and led to more formalization of official accepted standards. The [[IETF]] started in January of 1985 as a quarterly meeting of U.S. government funded researchers. Representatives from non-government vendors were invited starting with the fourth IETF meeting in October of that year.
Acceptance of an RFC by the RFC Editor for publication does not automatically make the RFC into a standard. It may be recognized as such by the IETF only after experimentation, use, and acceptance have proved it to be worthy of that designation. Official standards are numbered with a prefix "STD" and a number, similar to the RFC naming style. However, even after becoming a standard, most are still commonly referred to by their RFC number.
In 1992, the [[Internet Society]], a professional membership society, was formed and the IETF was transferred to operation under it as an independent international standards body.

===NIC, InterNIC, IANA and ICANN===
{{main|InterNIC|Internet Assigned Numbers Authority|ICANN}}
The first central authority to coordinate the operation of the network was the [[Network Information Centre]] (NIC) at [[Stanford Research Institute]] (SRI) in [[Menlo Park, California|Menlo Park]], [[California]]. In 1972, management of these issues was given to the newly created [[Internet Assigned Numbers Authority]] (IANA). In addition to his role as the RFC Editor, [[Jon Postel]] worked as the manager of IANA until his death in 1998.
As the early ARPANET grew, hosts were referred to by names, and a HOSTS.TXT file would be distributed from [[SRI International]] to each host on the network. As the network grew, this became cumbersome. A technical solution came in the form of the [[Domain Name System]], created by [[Paul Mockapetris]]. The Defense Data Network—Network Information Center (DDN-NIC) at SRI handled all registration services, including the [[top-level domain]]s (TLDs) of [[.mil]], [[.gov]], [[.edu]], [[.org]], [[.net]], [[.com]] and [[.us]], [[root nameserver]] administration and Internet number assignments under a [[United States Department of Defense]] contract.<ref>{{cite web | title=DDN NIC | work=IAB Recommended Policy on Distributing Internet Identifier Assignment | url=http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1174.txt | accessdate=December 26 | accessyear=2005}}</ref> In 1991, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) awarded the administration and maintenance of DDN-NIC (managed by SRI up until this point) to Government Systems, Inc., who subcontracted it to the small private-sector [[Network Solutions|Network Solutions, Inc.]]<ref>{{cite web | title=GSI-Network Solutions | work=TRANSITION OF NIC SERVICES | url=http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1261.txt | accessdate=December 26 | accessyear=2005}}</ref>
Since at this point in history most of the growth on the Internet was coming from non-military sources, it was decided that the [[Department of Defense]] would no longer fund registration services outside of the .mil TLD. In 1993 the U.S. [[National Science Foundation]], after a competitive bidding process in 1992, created the [[InterNIC]] to manage the allocations of addresses and management of the address databases, and awarded the contract to three organizations. Registration Services would be provided by [[Network Solutions]]; Directory and Database Services would be provided by [[AT&T]]; and Information Services would be provided by [[General Atomics]].<ref>{{cite web | title=NIS Manager Award Announced | work=NSF NETWORK INFORMATION SERVICES AWARDS | url=http://www.ripe.net/ripe/maillists/archives/lir-wg/1992/msg00028.html | accessdate=December 25 | accessyear=2005}}</ref>
In 1998 both IANA and InterNIC were reorganized under the control of [[ICANN]], a [[California]] [[non-profit corporation]] contracted by the [[US Department of Commerce]] to manage a number of Internet-related tasks. The role of operating the DNS system was privatized and opened up to competition, while the central management of name allocations would be awarded on a contract tender basis.

==Use and culture==
===Email and Usenet—The growth of the text forum===
{{main|e-mail|Usenet}}
[[E-mail]] is often called the [[killer application]] of the Internet. However, it actually predates the Internet and was a crucial tool in creating it. E-mail started in 1965 as a way for multiple users of a [[time-sharing]] [[mainframe computer]] to communicate. Although the history is unclear, among the first systems to have such a facility were [[System Development Corporation|SDC]]'s [[Q32]] and MIT's [[CTSS]].<ref>{{cite web | title=The Risks Digest | work=Great moments in e-mail history | url=http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/20.25.html#subj3 | accessdate=April 27 | accessyear=2006}}</ref>
The ARPANET computer network made a large contribution to the evolution of e-mail. There is one report<ref>{{cite web | title=The History of Electronic Mail | work=The History of Electronic Mail | url=http://www.multicians.org/thvv/mail-history.html | accessdate=December 23 | accessyear=2005}}</ref> indicating experimental inter-system e-mail transfers on it shortly after ARPANET's creation. In 1971 [[Ray Tomlinson]] created what was to become the standard Internet e-mail address format, using the [[@|@ sign]] to separate user names from host names.<ref>{{cite web | title=The First Network Email | work=The First Network Email | url=http://openmap.bbn.com/~tomlinso/ray/firstemailframe.html | accessdate=December 23 | accessyear=2005}}</ref>
A number of protocols were developed to deliver e-mail among groups of time-sharing computers over alternative transmission systems, such as [[UUCP]] and [[IBM]]'s [[VNET]] e-mail system. E-mail could be passed this way between a number of networks, including [[ARPANET]], [[BITNET]] and [[NSFNet]], as well as to hosts connected directly to other sites via UUCP.
In addition, UUCP allowed the publication of text files that could be read by many others. The News software developed by [[Steve Daniel]] and [[Tom Truscott]] in 1979 was used to distribute news and bulletin board-like messages. This quickly grew into discussion groups, known as [[newsgroup]]s, on a wide range of topics. On ARPANET and NSFNet similar discussion groups would form via [[Electronic mailing list|mailing lists]], discussing both technical issues and more culturally focused topics (such as [[science fiction]], discussed on the [http://www.sflovers.org/ sflovers] mailing list).

===A world library—From gopher to the WWW===
{{main|History of the World Wide Web|World Wide Web}}
As the Internet grew through the 1980s and early 1990s, many people realized the increasing need to be able to find and organize files and information. Projects such as [[Gopher (protocol)|Gopher]], [[Wide area information server|WAIS]], and the FTP Archive list attempted to create ways to organize distributed data. Unfortunately, these projects fell short in being able to accommodate all the existing data types and in being able to grow without bottlenecks. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}
One of the most promising [[user interface]] [[paradigm]]s during this period was [[hypertext]]. The technology had been inspired by [[Vannevar Bush]]'s "[[Memex]]"<ref>{{cite paper | author=[[Vannevar Bush]] | title=As We May Think | date=1945 | url=http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/194507/bush}}</ref> and developed through [[Ted Nelson]]'s research on [[Project Xanadu]] and [[Douglas Engelbart]]'s research on [[NLS (computer system)|NLS]].<ref>{{cite paper | author=[[Douglas Engelbart]] | title=Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework | date=1962 | url=http://www.bootstrap.org/augdocs/friedewald030402/augmentinghumanintellect/ahi62index.html}}</ref> Many small self-contained hypertext systems had been created before, such as Apple Computer's [[HyperCard]].
In 1991, [[Tim Berners-Lee]] was the first to develop a network-based implementation of the hypertext concept. This was after Berners-Lee had repeatedly proposed his idea to the hypertext and Internet communities at various conferences to no avail—no one would implement it for him. Working at [[CERN]], Berners-Lee wanted a way to share information about their research. By releasing his implementation to public use, he ensured the technology would become widespread.<ref>{{cite web | title=The Early World Wide Web at SLAC | work=The Early World Wide Web at SLAC : Documentation of the Early Web at SLAC | url=http://www.slac.stanford.edu/history/earlyweb/history.shtml | accessdate=November 25 | accessyear=2005}}</ref> Subsequently, Gopher became the first commonly-used hypertext interface to the Internet. While Gopher menu items were examples of hypertext, they were not commonly perceived in that way. One early popular web browser, modeled after [[HyperCard]], was [[ViolaWWW]].

Up to this time, the Internet connected only mainframe computers. In 1992, Guatemalan computer scientist [[Luis Furlán]] devised how to connect personal computers to the Internet.

Scholars generally agree,{{Fact|date=August 2007}} however, that [[Mosaic (web browser)#Importance of Mosaic|the turning point for the World Wide Web began with the introduction]]<ref>http://www.livinginternet.com/w/wi_mosaic.htm</ref> of the [[Mosaic (web browser)]]<ref>http://www.totic.org/nscp/demodoc/demo.html</ref> in 1993, a graphical browser developed by a team at the [[National Center for Supercomputing Applications]] at the [[University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign]] (NCSA-UIUC), led by [[Marc Andreessen]]. Funding for Mosaic came from the ''High-Performance Computing and Communications Initiative'', a funding program initiated by then-Senator [[Al Gore contributions to the internet and technology|Al Gore]]'s ''[[High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991]]'' also known as the ''[[Gore Bill]]''.<ref>http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/lazowska/faculty.lecture/innovation/gore.html</ref>. Indeed, Mosaic's graphical interface soon became more popular than Gopher, which at the time was primarily text-based, and the WWW became the preferred interface for accessing the Internet.

Mosaic was eventually superseded in 1994 by Andreessen's [[Netscape|Netscape Navigator]], which replaced Mosaic as the world's most popular browser. Competition from [[Internet Explorer]] and a variety of other browsers has almost completely displaced it. Another important event held on [[January 11]],[[1994]], was ''[[The Superhighway Summit]]'' at [[UCLA]]'s Royce Hall. This was the "first public conference bringing together all of the major industry, government and academic leaders in the field [and] also began the national dialogue about the ''[[Information Superhighway]]'' and its implications."<ref>http://www.digitalcenter.org/webreport94/apph.htm</ref>

===Finding what you need—The search engine===
{{main|Search engine}}
Even before the World Wide Web, there were search engines that attempted to organize the Internet. The first of these was the [[Archie search engine]] from McGill University in 1990, followed in 1991 by [[Wide area information server|WAIS]] and Gopher. All three of those systems predated the invention of the World Wide Web but all continued to index the Web and the rest of the Internet for several years after the Web appeared. There are still Gopher servers as of 2006, although there are a great many more web servers.
As the Web grew, [[search engine]]s and [[Web directory|Web directories]] were created to track pages on the Web and allow people to find things. The first full-text Web search engine was [[WebCrawler]] in 1994. Before WebCrawler, only Web page titles were searched. Another early search engine, [[Lycos]], was created in 1993 as a university project, and was the first to achieve commercial success. During the late 1990s, both Web directories and Web search engines were popular—[[Yahoo!]] (founded 1995) and [[Altavista]] (founded 1995) were the respective industry leaders.

By August 2001, the directory model had begun to give way to search engines, tracking the rise of [[Google]] (founded 1998), which had developed new approaches to [[relevance (information retrieval)|relevancy ranking]]. Directory features, while still commonly available, became after-thoughts to search engines.

Database size, which had been a significant marketing feature through the early 2000s, was similarly displaced by emphasis on relevancy ranking, the methods by which search engines attempt to sort the best results first. Relevancy ranking first became a major issue circa [[1996]], when it became apparent that it was impractical to review full lists of results. Consequently, [[algorithm]]s for relevancy ranking have continuously improved. Google's [[PageRank]] method for ordering the results has received the most press, but all major search engines continually refine their ranking methodologies with a view toward improving the ordering of results. As of [[2006]], search engine rankings are more important than ever, so much so that an industry has developed ("[[search engine optimization|search engine optimizers]]", or "SEO") to help web-developers improve their search ranking, and an entire body of [[case law]] has developed around matters that affect search engine rankings, such as use of [[trademarks]] in [[metatags]]. The sale of search rankings by some search engines has also created controversy among librarians and consumer advocates.

===The dot-com bubble===
{{main|Dot-com bubble}}
The suddenly low price of reaching millions worldwide, and the possibility of selling to or hearing from those people at the same moment when they were reached, promised to overturn established business dogma in [[advertising]], [[mail-order]] sales, [[customer relationship management]], and many more areas. The web was a new [[killer app]]&mdash;it could bring together unrelated buyers and sellers in seamless and low-cost ways. Visionaries around the world developed new business models, and ran to their nearest [[venture capitalist]]. Of course a proportion of the new entrepreneurs were truly talented at business administration, sales, and growth; but the majority were just people with ideas, and didn't manage the capital influx prudently. Additionally, many dot-com business plans were predicated on the assumption that by using the Internet, they would bypass the distribution channels of existing businesses and therefore not have to compete with them; when the established businesses with strong existing brands developed their own Internet presence, these hopes were shattered, and the newcomers were left attempting to break into markets dominated by larger, more established businesses. Many did not have the ability to do so.
The dot-com bubble burst on [[March 10]], [[2000]], when the technology heavy [[NASDAQ|NASDAQ Composite]] index peaked at [http://dynamic.nasdaq.com/dynamic/IndexChart.asp?symbol=IXIC&desc=NASDAQ+Composite&sec=nasdaq&site=nasdaq&months=84 5048.62] (intra-day peak 5132.52), more than double its value just a year before. By 2001, the bubble's deflation was running full speed. A majority of the dot-coms had ceased trading, after having burnt through their [[venture capital]], often without ever making a gross [[profit]].

==Trends and statistics==
===Worldwide Online Population Forecast===
In its "Worldwide Online Population Forecast, 2006 to 2011," JupiterResearch anticipates that a 38 percent increase in the number of people with online access will mean that, by 2011, 22 percent of the Earth's population will surf the Internet regularly.

JupiterResearch says the worldwide online population will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 6.6 percent during the next five years, far outpacing the 1.1 percent compound annual growth rate for the planet's population as a whole. The report says 1.1 billion people currently enjoy regular access to the Web.

North America will remain on top in terms of the number of people with online access. According to JupiterResearch, online penetration rates on the continent will increase from the current 70 percent of the overall North American population to 76 percent by 2011. However, Internet adoption has "matured," and its adoption pace has slowed, in more developed countries including the United States, Canada, Japan and much of Western Europe, notes the report.

As the online population of the United States and Canada grows by about only 3 percent, explosive adoption rates in China and India will take place, says JupiterResearch. The report says China should reach an online penetration rate of 17 percent by 2011 and India should hit 7 percent during the same time frame. This growth is directly related to infrastructure development and increased consumer purchasing power, notes JupiterResearch.

By 2011, Asians will make up about 42 percent of the world's population with regular Internet access, 5 percent more than today, says the study.

Penetration levels similar to North America's are found in Scandinavia and bigger Western European nations such as England and Germany, but JupiterResearch says a number of Central Europe countries "are relative Internet laggards."

Brazil "with its soaring economy," is predicted by JupiterResearch to experience a 9 percent compound annual growth rate, the fastest in Latin America, but China and India are likely to do the most to boost the world's online penetration in the near future.

For the study, JupiterResearch defined "online users" as people who regularly access the Internet by "dedicated Internet access" devices. Those devices do not include cell phones. <ref>[http://clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3626274 Brazil, Russia, India and China to Lead Internet Growth Through 2011]</ref>

==Footnotes==
<div class="references-small"><references /></div>

==References==
<div class="references-small">
* Campbell-Kelly, Martin; Aspray, William. ''[[Computer: A History of the Information Machine]].'' New York: BasicBooks, 1996.
*Graham, Ian S. ''[[The HTML Sourcebook: The Complete Guide to HTML]]''. New York: [[John Wiley and Sons]], 1995.
* [[Ed Krol|Krol, Ed]]. ''[[Hitchhiker's Guide to the Internet]],'' 1987.
* [[Ed Krol|Krol, Ed]]. ''[[Whole Internet User's Guide and Catalog]].'' [[O'Reilly & Associates]], 1992.
*''[[Scientific American Special Issue on Communications, Computers, and Networks]]'', September, 1991
</div>

==External links==
*{{cite web | title=The History Of The Internet | work=The History Of The Internet | url=http://historyoftheinternet.org/ | accessdate=January 30 | accessyear=2007}}
*{{cite paper | author=[[Thomas Greene]], [[Larry Landweber]], [[George Strawn]] | title=A Brief History of NSF and the Internet | date=2003 | url=http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/03/fsnsf_internet.htm}}
*{{cite web | title=Internet History:People | work=Internet History People | url=http://www.unc.edu/depts/jomc/academics/dri/pioneers2d.html | accessdate=July 03 | accessyear=2006}}
*{{cite web | title=Internet History Timeline | work=Internet History Timeline | url=http://www.computerhistory.org/exhibits/internet_history/ | accessdate=November 25 | accessyear=2005}}
*{{cite web | title=Internet History | work=Internet History | url=http://www.mkaz.com/ebeab/history/ | accessdate=November 25 | accessyear=2005}}
*{{cite web | title=Hobbes' Internet Timeline v8.1 | url=http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/ | accessdate=November 25 | accessyear=2005}}
*[http://www.searchandgo.com/articles/internet/net-explained-1.php The Internet Explained] Comprehensive history of the Internet with future summary
*[http://inventors.about.com/od/istartinventions/a/internet.htm The History of the Internet] at [[About.com]]
*[http://www.eff.org/Net_culture/overhearing_the_internet.article.txt "Overhearing the Internet" ]—by Robert Wright, ''The New Republic'', 1993
*[http://www.livinginternet.com "LivingInternet.com --The Living Internet" -- web site devoted to multidimensional look at Internet history and technology ]

[[Category:Digital Revolution]]
[[Category:Telecommunications history]]
[[Category:Internet history| ]]

[[ca:Història d'internet]]
[[de:Geschichte des Internets]]
[[es:Historia de Internet]]
[[fa:تاریخ اینترنت]]
[[fr:Histoire d'Internet]]
[[it:Storia di Internet]]
[[lv:Interneta vēsture]]
[[lt:Interneto istorija]]
[[nl:Geschiedenis van het internet]]
[[pl:Historia Internetu]]
[[pt:História da Internet]]

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