THE ORIGIN OF
INTERNET AND ITS
EVOLUTION
LIVING IN THE IT ERA
Introduction
Internet
- is a worldwide, publicly
accessible series of interconnected
computer networks that transmit
data by packet switching using the
standard Internet Protocol.
Creation
The Internet’s origin have their roots in
a military project, the Semi-Automatic
Ground Environment (SAGE) program,
which networked country-wide radar
systems together for the first time. This was
created around 1958 as part of an attempt
to regain the lead in technology from the
Soviet Union which had recently launched
Sputnik.
SAGE Computer Room
J.C.R. Licklider
- was selected to head
the committee which
controlled the SAGE project.
He envisioned universal
networking as a unifying
human revolution.
Lawrence Roberts
- was recruited by
Licklider to head a project
which implemented a network.
Roberts had worked with the
U.S. Air Force on a packet
switching system as opposed
to a circuit switching system.
Packet switching
- a mode of
data transmission in
which a message is
broken into a number
of parts which are
sent independently,
over whatever route
is optimum for each
packet, and
reassembled at the
destination.
Circuit switching
- is a switching
technique that
establishes a
dedicated path
between sender and
receiver. Once the
connection is
established, the
dedicated path will
remain to exist until
the connection is
terminated.
On October 29, 1969, Licklider and
Roberts interconnected the first two nodes
between University of California, Los
Angeles (UCLA) and Stanford Research
Institute (SRI) International at Menlo Park,
California. This was the beginning of the
Advanced Research Projects Agency
Network (ARPANET) which was one of the
key networks which our Internet today was
based off of. Soon after the first
international packet-switched network
service was created between U.S. and U.K.
Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn
- developed the first description of
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) in 1973.
“Internet”
- the term was first used in 1974 to
describe a single global Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) network
detailed in the first full specification of TCP
written by Cerf and his colleagues.
January 1, 1983
- the first TCP/IP-wide area network
was created when all hosts on the ARPANET
were switched over from the older protocols
to TCP/IP.
In 1984, the National Science
Foundation (NSF) commissioned the
construction of a 1.5 megabit/second
network which became known as NSFNET.
In 1989, the US Federal Networking
Council approved the interconnection of
the NSFNET to the commercial MCI Mail
system.
Soon after, other commercial e-mail
services were connected such as OnTyme,
Telemail, and CompuServe.
Three Internet Service Providers (ISPs) were also
created:
UNIX to UNIX Network (UUNET)
- founded by Rick Adams in 1897
Packet System Interface Network (PSINET)
- founded by Martin L. Schoffstall and William L.
Schrader in 1989
California Education and Research Federation
Network (CERFNET)
- founded by Susan Estrada in 1988.
More and more separate networks were
created that eventually interconnected with this
large, growing network of networks.
The ability of TCP/IP to work over virtually
any pre-existing communication networks
allowed for a great ease of growth, although
the rapid growth of the Internet was due
primarily to the availability of commercial
routers from companies such as Cisco
Systems, Proteon and Juniper, the availability
of commercial Ethernet equipment for local-
area networking and the widespread
implementation of TCP/IP on the UNIX
operating system.
Growth
On August 6, 1991, the European
Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN),
which straddles the border between France
and Switzerland, publicized the new World
Wide Web project. The web was invented by
English scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989.
WWW Logo
ViolaWWW
- is the early popular web browser.
Mosaic web browser
- eventually replaced the ViolaWWW in
popularity.
“Internet”
- by 1996, usage of this word had
become commonplace, and consequently,
had its use as a reference to the World Wide
Web.
Today’s Internet
Aside from the complex physical
connections that make up its infrastructure,
the Internet is facilitated by bi- or multi-lateral
commercial contracts and technical
specifications or protocols that describe how
to exchange data over the network. Indeed,
the Internet has severely matured since its
birth many years ago. Today almost 1.5 billion
people use the Internet. That’s almost a
quarter of the entire world (a lot of people).
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN)
- is the authority that coordinates the
assignment of unique identifiers on the Internet,
including:
domain names
Internet Protocol (IP) addresses
protocol port and parameter numbers
A globally unified namespace is essential for the
Internet to function. Because the Internet is a
distributed network comprising many voluntarily
interconnected networks, the Internet, as such, has no
governing body.
ICANN Headquarters
Some of the most common uses
people have for the Internet:
World Wide Web
E-mail
Remote access
File sharing
