A History of the Internet

By Sudeep Desai

Introduction
Early Networks

ARPANET
CSNET
NSFNET
CERN

Recent Developments

High Speeds
INTERNET

References

Introduction

Starting in the late 1950's, ideas for a network of computers to share information began being developed. University researchers as well as corporations began working to find a way to connect computers. Arpanet, CSNET, and NSFNET were some of the earlier networks. CERN, located in Europe, developed their own internet with TCP/IP.

Through the late 1980's and early 1990's, the internet grew with the inventions of the Uniform Resource Locator(URL) and Hypertext Markup Language(HTML). Graphics and audio began to be able to be displayed over the internet and file-sharing became very popular. In addition, many search engines were built during the late 1990's. The internet has now developed into a global network for file-sharing and communication that the pioneers may never have dreamed of.

ARPANET

J.C.R. Licklider, of MIT, wrote in 1960 about a network of compusers connected by broadband communication lines that could help with storage and transferring files. The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) was a section of the US Department of Defense, where many research experiments were held based on his paper. The resulting ARPANET first connected UCLA, Stanford, UCSB, and the University of Utah. It was very influential because it showed how Leonard Kleinrock's theory packet switching could be used instead of traditional circuit switching. Packet switching was useful because it allowed for more efficient use of bandwidth, which meant that data could be transferred much faster. E-mail came to the system in 1972 and Ray Tomlinson chose @ to connect the username and address, much as we do now. Libraries were also using the complicated networks for cataloguing books. The ARPANET continued to be researched for years and was an important first step for networking.

CSNET

The Computer Science Network(CSNET) was created in the early 1980's by the National Science to connect computer science departments as an alternative to ARPANET. It connected to ARPANET using TCP/IP but also connected to simpler networks. BitNET, which was a system that first connected the City University of New York and Yale, and CSNET merged in 1989 to form CREN. In two years, CSNET became almost useless with new advances in the internet. However, it was another important network because it was the basis of the NSFNET.

NSFNET

In the mid-1980's, the National Science Foundation became more interested in developing TCP/IP networks. Their NSFNET was created in 1986 to connect computers to sumpercomputing centers in Princenton, UCSD, Pittsburgh, UIUC, and Cornell. At the end of the 1980's, ARPANET research was stopped and the NSFNET became the priority. In 1995, the NSF became archaic as a system with Network Access Points(NAP's) came into use. NSFNET was the network that brought about one of the greatest bursts in internet usage.

CERN

CERN, one of the most advance research facilities in the world, decided to invest time and research into TCP/IP internet during the mid-1980's as well. The CERNET had been around for a while was not connected to the internet, but it was rather the center's own network, used for sharing their research. Soon, they connected with some other networks and were able to offer connections from outside of CERN.

High Speeds

T1, a 1.544Mbps line, was the type used for the backbone of the NSFNET. In 1990, to deal with increasing demands, IBM, MCI, and Merit formed a company called ANS that developed the ideas ofa 45Mbps line known as T3. In 1994, NSFNET upgraded to the Asynchronous Transmission Mode (ATM), with a speed of 145Mbps. Each new speed brought about high increases in usage and connections.

INTERNET

Our currnet internet has developed from a variety of ideas, two of the most important being the Uniform Resource Locator(URL) and Hypertext Markup Language(HTML). The URL was a simple path to a file on a network. HTML is the language used to code basic pages. It could make a structured document and give hyperlinks to other URL's. Eventually, support for graphics was developed and browsers such as Viola and Mosaic became popular. Nowadays, the Internet has become a huge database of information, both useful and pointless. Search engines such as Google and Yahoo are required to find pages and with higher connection speeds available to individual users, people can watch video and listen to music online. In addition, large files can be easily transferred. It has become a truly amazing invention.

References