The History of the Internet

and
Basic Internet Terminology

Potential Origin and Beginning -- The History of the Internet

1957
The USSR launches Sputnik, the first artificial earth satellite. In response, the United
States forms the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) within the Department
of Defense (DoD) to establish US lead in science and technology applicable to the
military.
Backbones: None - Hosts: None
1962
Paul Baran, of the RAND Corporation (a government agency), was commissioned by
the U.S. Air Force to do a study on how it could maintain its command and control
over its missiles and bombers, after a nuclear attack. This was to be a military
research network that could survive a nuclear strike, decentralized so that if any
locations (cities) in the U.S. were attacked, the military could still have control of
nuclear arms for a counter-attack.
Baran's finished document described several ways to accomplish this. His final
proposal was a packet switched network.
"Packet switching is the breaking down of data into datagrams or packets that are
labeled to indicate the origin and the destination of the information and the
forwarding of these packets from one computer to another computer until the
information arrives at its final destination computer. This was crucial to the
realization of a computer network. If packets are lost at any given point, the
message can be resent by the originator."
Backbones: None - Hosts: None
1968
ARPA awarded the ARPANET contract to BBN Technologies. BBN had selected a
Honeywell minicomputer as the base on which they would build the switch. The
physical network was constructed in 1969, linking four nodes: University of
California at Los Angeles, SRI (in Stanford), University of California at Santa Barbara,
and University of Utah. The network was wired together via 50 Kbps circuits.
Backbones: 50Kbps ARPANET - Hosts: 4
1972
The first e-mail program was created by Ray Tomlinson of BBN.
The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) was renamed The Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (or DARPA)
ARPANET was currently using the Network Control Protocol or NCP to transfer data.
This allowed communications between hosts running on the same network.
Backbones: 50Kbps ARPANET - Hosts: 23
1973
Development began on the protocol later to be called TCP/IP, it was developed by a
group headed by Vinton Cerf from Stanford and Bob Kahn from DARPA. This new
protocol was to allow diverse computer networks to interconnect and communicate
with each other.

Backbones: 50Kbps ARPANET - Hosts: 23+

1974
First Use of term Internet by Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn in paper on Transmission
Control Protocol.
Backbones: 50Kbps ARPANET - Hosts: 23+
1976
Dr. Robert M. Metcalfe develops Ethernet, which allowed coaxial cable to move data
extremely fast. This was a crucial component to the development of LANs.
The packet satellite project went into practical use. SATNET, Atlantic packet Satellite
network, was born. This network linked the United States with Europe. Surprisingly,
it used INTELSAT satellites that were owned by a consortium of countries and not
exclusively the United States government.
UUCP (Unix-to-Unix CoPy) developed at AT&T Bell Labs and distributed with UNIX
one year later.
The Department of Defense began to experiment with the TCP/IP protocol and soon
decided to require it for use on ARPANET.
Backbones: 50Kbps ARPANET, plus satellite and radio connections - Hosts: 111+
1979
USENET (the decentralized news group network) was created by Steve Bellovin, a
graduate student at University of North Carolina, and programmers Tom Truscott
and Jim Ellis. It was based on UUCP.
The Creation of BITNET, by IBM, "Because its Time Network", introduced the "store
and forward" network. It was used for email and listservs.
Backbones: 50Kbps ARPANET, plus satellite and radio connections - Hosts: 111+
1981
National Science Foundation created backbone called CSNET 56 Kbps network for
institutions without access to ARPANET. Vinton Cerf proposed a plan for an internetwork connection between CSNET and the ARPANET.
Backbones: 50Kbps ARPANET, 56Kbps CSNET, plus satellite and radio connections Hosts: 213
1983
Internet Activities Board (IAB) was created in 1983.
On January 1st, every machine connected to ARPANET had to use TCP/IP. TCP/IP
became the core Internet protocol and replaced NCP entirely.
The University of Wisconsin created Domain Name System (DNS). This allowed
packets to be directed to a domain name, which would be translated by the server
database into the corresponding IP number. This made it much easier for people to
access other servers, because they no longer had to remember numbers.

Backbones: 50Kbps ARPANET, 56Kbps CSNET, plus satellite and radio connections Hosts: 562

1984
The ARPANET was divided into two networks: MILNET and ARPANET. MILNET was to
serve the needs of the military and ARPANET to support the advanced research
component, Department of Defense continued to support both networks.
Upgrade to CSNET was contracted to MCI. New circuits would be T1 lines,1.5 Mbps
which is twenty-five times faster than the old 56 Kbps lines. IBM would provide
advanced routers and Merit would manage the network. New network was to be
called NSFNET (National Science Foundation Network), and old lines were to remain
called CSNET.
Backbones: 50Kbps ARPANET, 56Kbps CSNET, plus satellite and radio connections Hosts: 1024
1985
The National Science Foundation began deploying its new T1 lines, which would be
finished by 1988.
Backbones: 50Kbps ARPANET, 56Kbps CSNET, 1.544Mbps (T1) NSFNET, plus satellite
and radio connections - Hosts: 1961
1986
The Internet Engineering Task Force or IETF was created to serve as a forum for
technical coordination by contractors for DARPA working on ARPANET, US Defense
Data Network (DDN), and the Internet core gateway system.
Backbones: 50Kbps ARPANET, 56Kbps CSNET, 1.544Mbps (T1) NSFNET, plus satellite
and radio connections - Hosts: 2308
1987
BITNET and CSNET merged to form the Corporation for Research and Educational
Networking (CREN), another work of the National Science Foundation.
Backbones: 50Kbps ARPANET, 56Kbps CSNET, 1.544Mbps (T1) NSFNET, plus satellite
and radio connections - Hosts: 28,174
1988
Soon after the completion of the T1 NSFNET backbone, traffic increased so quickly
that plans immediately began on upgrading the network again.
Backbones: 50Kbps ARPANET, 56Kbps CSNET, 1.544Mbps (T1) NSFNET, plus satellite
and radio connections - Hosts: 56,000
1990
Merit, IBM and MCI formed a not for profit corporation called ANS, Advanced
Network & Services, which was to conduct research into high speed networking. It
soon came up with the concept of the T3, a 45 Mbps line. NSF quickly adopted the
new network and by the end of 1991 all of its sites were connected by this new
backbone.
While the T3 lines were being constructed, the Department of Defense disbanded
the ARPANET and it was replaced by the NSFNET backbone. The original 50Kbs lines
of ARPANET were taken out of service.

Tim Berners-Lee and CERN in Geneva implemented a hypertext system to provide

efficient information access to the members of the international high-energy physics
community.
Backbones: 56Kbps CSNET, 1.544Mbps (T1) NSFNET, plus satellite and radio
connections - Hosts: 313,000
1991
CSNET (which consisted of 56Kbps lines) was discontinued having fulfilled its
important early role in the provision of academic networking service. A key feature
of CREN is that its operational costs are fully met through dues paid by its member
organizations.
The NSF established a new network, named NREN, the National Research and
Education Network. The purpose of this network is to conduct high speed
networking research. It was not to be used as a commercial network, nor was it to
be used to send a lot of the data that the Internet now transfers.
Backbones: Partial 45Mbps (T3) NSFNET, a few private backbones, plus satellite and
radio connections - Hosts: 617,000
1992
Internet Society is chartered.
World-Wide Web released by CERN.
NSFNET backbone upgraded to T3 (44.736Mbps)
Backbones: 45Mbps (T3) NSFNET, private interconnected backbones consisting
mainly of 56Kbps, 1.544Mbps, plus satellite and radio connections - Hosts:
1,136,000
1993
InterNIC created by NSF to provide specific Internet services: directory and database
services (by AT&T), registration services (by Network Solutions Inc.), and
information services (by General Atomics/CERFnet).
Marc Andreessen and NCSA and the University of Illinois develop a graphical user
interface to the WWW, called "Mosaic for X".
Backbones: 45Mbps (T3) NSFNET, private interconnected backbones consisting
mainly of 56Kbps, 1.544Mbps, and 45Mpbs lines, plus satellite and radio
connections - Hosts: 2,056,000
1994
No major changes were made to the physical network. The most significant thing
that happened was the growth. Many new networks were added to the NSF
backbone. Hundreds of thousands of new hosts were added to the INTERNET during
this time period.
ATM (Asynchronous Transmission Mode, 145Mbps) backbone is installed on NSFNET.
Backbones: 145Mbps (ATM) NSFNET, private interconnected backbones consisting
mainly of 56Kbps, 1.544Mbps, and 45Mpbs lines, plus satellite and radio
connections - Hosts: 3,864,000

1995
The National Science Foundation announced that as of April 30, 1995 it would no
longer allow direct access to the NSF backbone. The National Science Foundation
contracted with four companies that would be providers of access to the NSF
backbone (Merit). These companies would then sell connections to groups,
organizations, and companies.
$50 annual fee is imposed on domains, excluding .edu and .gov domains which are
still funded by the National Science Foundation.
Backbones: 145Mbps (ATM) NSFNET (now private), private interconnected
backbones consisting mainly of 56Kbps, 1.544Mbps, 45Mpbs, 155Mpbs lines in
construction, plus satellite and radio connections - Hosts: 6,642,000
1996
Most Internet traffic is carried by backbones of independent ISPs, including MCI,
AT&T, Sprint, UUnet, BBN planet, ANS, and more.
The Internet Society, the group that controls the INTERNET, researches new TCP/IP
technology that will be able to have more than the approximately 4.3 billion
addresses currently available. The problem that has arisen is that it is not known
how both the old and the new addressing systems will be able to work at the same
time during a transition period.
Internet2 is established.
Backbones: 145Mbps (ATM) NSFNET (now private), private interconnected
backbones consisting mainly of 56Kbps, 1.544Mbps, 45Mpbs,and 155Mpbs lines,
plus satellite and radio connections - Hosts: over 15,000,000, and growing rapidly
1996-2000
Commercial development of the world wide web exploded over the course of these
four years.
The Present and The Future
A new technology recommendation called IPv6 is suggested to replace the current
IPv4 technology. IPv4 allows for fewer than 4.3 billion directly connected Internet
devices, problematic because the world population (as of 2009) is well over 6.5
billion (theoretically, if ever human had a computer and mobile phone, we'd need
13 billion addresses, which is something IPv6 can easily accomplish).
In 1999, a wireless technology called 802.11b, more commonly referred to as Wi-Fi,
is standardized. Over the years that follow, this technology begins appearing as a
built-in feature of portable computers and many handheld devices.
In 2005, the One Laptop Per Child project begins. In an attempt to provide low cost,
education-designed laptops to children around the world for a low cost (US$100 per
unit) this project helps spark the netbook industry. Netbooks are small portable
computers with extended battery life and built-in Wi-Fi connectivity.
Multi-touch technology begins to appear in handheld devices, tablet computers, and
netbooks. This technology supplements traditional touch-screen technology by
allowing advanced gesturing (several fingers moving on a screen instead of just

one). Multi-touch technology is seen as a possible alternative to traditional keyboard

and mouse (touchpad) systems.
In December 2009, the first multi-touch website is reported.
In December 2010, 4G Wireless Networks are launched in the United States,
allowing for high-speed connections to devices such as cell phones, tablet
computers, netbooks, and laptops.
In 2011, technology companies are working with educators and independent
developers to provide for immersive experiences, applying the best learning
techniques with technology to improve the education system. (Kristula, 2009)

Basic Internet Terms and Terminology

Internet, a network of networks and an enormous information base is a complex
structure of physical and logical entities. Here is a look at the basic Internet terms
and the Internet terminology. Read on...
Internet, by definition is a network of networks that interact with each other
through exchange of data packets. The Internet hosts an enormous information
base and carries numerous information resources and services. Here is a look at the
buzzwords of the world of Internet.
List of Internet Terminology
Internet Terminology - The Structure and Design of the Internet
Here is a list of the terms associated with the structure and design of the Internet.
You may want to take a quick look at the basic of Internet technology before going
ahead.
ARPANET: The acronym stands for Advanced Research Projects Agency Network.
ARPA of the United States Department of Defense developed ARPANET, which
became the world's first packet switching network. Internet is the successor of
ARPANET.
Internet Service Provider: A company, which provides users with an access to
the Internet, is known as an Internet service provider or Internet access provider.
ISP, as it is called, offers email accounts and other services like remote storage of
files for its customers.
OSI Model: The Open System Interconnection Model is used to describe a layered
communication and network protocol design of a network. It is composed of seven
layers, each of which performs certain functions and provides the layers above it
with some services.
Internet Protocol Suite: It is a set of communication protocols, which are used for
the Internet. Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP) were the
two pioneering protocols to be introduced in the Internet protocol standard. The
Internet protocol suite is composed of a set of layers wherein; each layer provides a
service to the upper layers in the set. The upper layers deal with abstract data while
the lower layer protocols translate data into physically transmittable forms.
PPP: Point-to-Point protocol (PPP) is a data link protocol that facilitates the
establishment of a direct connection between two nodes on a network.

IP Address: It is a way of numerically identifying an entity on a computer network.

The original addressing system known as IPv4, used 32 bit addresses. With the
growth of the Internet, IPv6 came to be used wherein the addresses are composed
of 128 bits. You might want to know how to find your IP address.
MAC Address: Media Access Control address (MAC) is the physical hexadecimal
address assigned to each device on a network.
Domain Name System: DNS, as it is called, refers to the hierarchical naming
system used for computers, resources and services on the Internet. It translates the
computer hostnames to IP addresses. By way of the implementation of DNS, the
domain name 'www.buzzle.com' translates to its IP address, say, 208.70.178.150.
With the help of DNS, domain names can be assigned to Internet users.
Cyberspace: This term coined by William Gibson, is used to refer to the computer
networks connected to each other and the content they host. It is often used to
refer to the Internet.
WWW: It is a collection of interlinked documents that are accessible over the
Internet. It consists of millions of web pages that contain text, images, voice and
videos. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist working at CERN, created the World
Wide Web.
W3C: It is the acronym used for the World Wide Web Consortium, which develops
standards for the web community.
Website: A website is a set of web pages consisting of text, audio and video. Web
servers host websites.
URL: It specifies the location of a resource on the Internet. It consists of the basic
address and path.
Web Page: Web pages are resources of information. They are generally created in
the HTML format and provide the web users with navigational abilities through
hyperlinks to other web pages on the web.
Home Page: The term home page is used to refer to the page that is the default
page of any website. It is the main page of a complex website.
Proxy Server: Client machines on a network connect to the proxy server, which
forwards the client requests to other servers and returns responses to the clients.
Web Server: A web server is a computer program that accepts HTTP requests from
web clients and provides them with HTTP responses.

Web Browser: A web browser is a software application that facilitates user

interaction with the text, audio, video and other information that is located on the
web.
Cache: Web browsers maintain a cache of recently visited web pages. Some of
them use an external proxy web cache, which is a server program through which
web requests pass. This enables the browsers to cache frequently visited pages.
Even search engines make available already indexed web pages through their
caches.
HTTP: Hypertext Transfer Protocol, abbreviated as HTTP, is a communications
protocol used for the transfer of information over the Internet. A client makes an
HTTP request using a web browser to which an HTTP response is sent from the
server.
Web Cookie: Also known as an HTTP cookie, it is piece of text that is exchanged
between the web client and the web server. It is sent by the web server to the web
client and returned unchanged by the client each time it accesses the server. You
might want to know how do websites use cookies?
Session: It is an exchange of information between a computer and its user. It is
established for a certain period of time after which it ends.
Hyperlink: A reference in a document to another section of the document or to
another document is termed as a hyperlink. Hyperlinks are used to redirect the user
from one section of a page content to another.
Web 2.0: It is used to describe the changes in the www technology and web
design. The term deals with the idea of the development of interactivity and
connectivity of the web content.
Internet security: It is one of the major concerns today. As the Internet acts as a
communication platform that can be accessed by millions of users around the world,
it becomes necessary that proper measures be implemented. Issues like Internet
safety that deal with the content that is made accessible over the Internet are
equally important. Internet privacy relates to safeguarding the privacy of the web
users and the sensitive information on the web from hackers and stalkers.
Internet - A communication Platform
Internet serves as one of the most efficient means of communication. Computers
from different parts of the world can be connected to each other to exchange
information, thanks to the Internet. Emails and chats are excellent means of
communication over the Internet. Blogs and online forums give the Internet users a

platform to reach out to the masses. Here is a list of the basic Internet terms
associated with the Internet as a communication platform.
Email: It is a store-and-forward method of writing, sending and receiving written
messages. Electronic mail is an Internet e-mail system that uses network-based
protocols to exchange messages between network subsystems.
Email Address: It identifies the network location to which an email can be
delivered. An email address is a combination of the user name of the mail user and
the host name of the mailing system. It is of the form, 'username@domain-name'.
An email alias is a forwarding email address. It simply forwards emails to specific
email addresses.
Spamming: The act of sending unsolicited bulk messages over an email system is
known as spamming. It is an undesirable use of the electronic messaging systems.
Phishing: It is a fraudulent activity of acquiring the sensitive information by the use
of a fake identity during electronic communication. It is implemented by means of
emails and instant messages wherein a user is lured to enter his/her details, which
are actually captured by a fraudulent website.
Hacking: Hacking is the activity of programmatically gaining access to a computer
application that is otherwise inaccessible. The act of gaining an unauthorized access
to a computer is known as hacking. Hacking of passwords that leads to breach of
email privacy is a threat to communication over the Internet. Internet crime refers
to all the criminal activities that are carried over the Internet.
Email Scams: With the increase in the use of email systems, its security needs also
rose. Fraudulent users started tampering with the email systems to breach security.
Email Virus: It is a computer code that is transmitted through an email in the form
of an attachment. The email attachment causes the destruction of some of the files
on the receiver computer's hard disk and is programmatically emailed to the
contacts in the address book of the receiver.
Email Client: It is also known as a mail user agent (MUA). An email client is a frontend computer program or an agent that acts as a client for the email server.
Mail Server: It can also be called Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) and is responsible for
receiving incoming email from local users and forwarding outgoing mails for
delivery. A mail server application forms the heart of a messaging system that
performs all the functions to keep the mails moving over the network.
SMTP: Short for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, SMTP is the standard for the
transmission of electronic mails. The electronic mail server software uses SMTP to

send and receive mail messages. ESMTP, that is known as extended or enhanced
SMTP refers to the protocol extensions made to SMTP and is widely used today.
POP3: Short for Post Office Protocol, POP3 is an application layer Internet standard
protocol. It is used to retrieve mails from a remote server.
IMAP: Internet Message Access Protocol, as it is called, is another Internet standard
protocol used for retrieval of emails.
Internet Chat: It is a real-time Internet chat or synchronous conferencing that is
used for group communication as well as one-to-one communication over the
Internet. Jarkko Oikarinen, a Ph.D. from the University of Oulu is the developer of
the first Internet chat network. He developed the client and server programs for
Internet Relay Chat in August 1988.
Social Networking: Social networking is about building online communities of likeminded people. Serving as an excellent platform for sharing of information, social
networking is a rage today.
ADSL: Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line, abbreviated as ADSL, is used for the
transmission of digital information using high bandwidths on existing phone lines.
ADSL technology is characterized by high download and low upload rates.
Dial-up: It is the means to connect to the Internet using the copper phone lines and
a modem. Dial-up connections are capable of sending information from the client's
end at very slow speeds of about 56kbps.
Modem: It is a device that modulates analog carrier signals to encode digital
information and demodulates carrier signals to decode information. A cable modem
provides access to data signals sent over the cable television infrastructure.
Modems are commonly used for facilitating Internet access.
Communication Bandwidth: It refers to the data that can be transferred between
two points in a given period of time. It is expressed in terms of bits per second. It is
commonly known as the bit rate.
Blogs: Blogs are the expressions of the common masses about social or political
issues or simply anything. Blogs can often be in the form of creative write-ups by
writers in different parts of the world.
Internet Forums: It is a bulletin board that serves as a platform for group
discussion. Registered users are free to contribute to the issues raised in forums
thus making them open discussion platforms.

Usenet: Usenet can be considered as a worldwide bulletin board. Usenet

newsgroups serve as a repository of messages posted from users around the world.
Internet - A Search Platform
Internet that hosts an ocean of information has also become an excellent platform
for information retrieval. The Internet search engines, which crawl and index web
pages, organize the information on the Internet and the web directories link to
information on the network. Here is a list of the Internet terms related to the
Internet as a search platform.
Internet Search Engine: It is an information retrieval system that is designed to
help find information over the Internet. Search engines use algorithms to scan the
huge information base of the Internet and sort it making it retrievable for the web
users.
Web Crawler: Popularly known as a spider, a web crawler is a program that
browses the World Wide Web in an automated manner. Search engines use the
crawling technologies to index pages on the web.
Search Engine Optimization: The process of organizing the content of a website
with intent to increase its relevance with respect to keywords and search engines.
The process of optimization involves editing website content and HTML coding to
support search engine strategies of ranking and indexing.
Internet Bookmark: The Internet browsers of the modern times aim at enabling
the users to organize the web pages they access. Links once visited can be saved in
the favorites or preferences categories. Bookmarks are usually integrated into
browsers. Social bookmarking is a method used by Internet users to store and
manage web pages.
Web Directories: It is a directory, which links to other websites and organizes
those links. They should not be mistaken as being search engines.
Other Terms
Router: A router connects two or more logical subnets and performs the functions
of routing and forwarding information.
Intranet: It is a relatively smaller private network that uses the Internet protocols
and connectivity. It is an extension of the Internet and is privately used by
organizations.

Extranet: It is a private network that uses Internet technology to share a part of

the business information and operations with suppliers and customers. It can be a
part of a company's intranet that provides access to the users outside the company.
Virtual Private Network: It is a private network that allows the exchange of
information between computers over a shared or a public network.
Wireless Networking: It refers to computer networking that is carried out over the
wireless media.
Broadband Internet: Broadband connectivity to the Internet provides the users
with a high-speed Internet access.
Dial-up Internet: In this type of access to the Internet, the user's computer is
attached to a modem connected to a telephone line. Dial-up Internet access
involves a modem that dials into an Internet service provider to establish a
connection.
Satellite Internet: Internet services that make use of the satellite communication
media are termed as satellite Internet services. They are used in locations that are
mobile thus making terrestrial Internet connectivity, an impossibility.
Googling: The Google search engine, being the most popularly used one, has made
the word, 'google' synonymous to the concept of search engines. Searching the
Internet by using the Google search engine is known as googling.
Copypasta: If text is copy pasted from somewhere and posted in a forum, it is
termed as a copypasta. The source is often unknown in such cases.
Egosurfer: The web users who search over the Internet for themselves fall under
the class of egosurfers. I am sure most of you play an egosurfer once in a while.
Netiquette: This term is short for net etiquette and refers to the principles of
courtesy and consideration for the people using the Internet. It refers to certain
basic principles to adhere to while using the Internet. The general ethical principles
to be followed in relation to using mailing systems of the Internet are termed as
email etiquette.
Trasher: The users who search over the Internet using all possible means,
sometimes even risking the Internet security are known as trashers.
Troll: Trolls are the users who try to become infamous on chat by introducing
disturbing links, mimicking other users' posts and profiles and fighting with others.

Youtuber: A person who is addicted to watching videos on the Internet is referred

to as a youtuber.
(Oak, 2011)

Bibliography
Kristula, D. (2009). Davesite. Retrieved from The History of the Internet:
http://www.davesite.com/webstation/net-history.shtml
Oak, M. (2011, 9 21). Basic Internet Terms and Terminology. Retrieved from Buzzle:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/basic-internet-terms-and-terminology.html