(277) ------------------------------------------------ SUBJECT: Internet timeline -- MESSAGE from =roebuckr@cc.ims.disa.mil 31-JAN-94 22:16 From: "Roy Roebuck" <roebuckr@cc.ims.disa.mil> Date: Mon, 31 Jan 94 18:11:56 EST
Internet Timeline v1.0 by Robert H'obbes' Zakon hobbes@hobbes.mitre.org
1960s Packet-switching networks - Paul Boran, RAND: Distributed Communications - no single outage point
1967 ACM Symposium on Operating Principles - Plan presented for a packet-switching network
1968 Network details presented to the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)
1969 ARPANET commissioned by DOD for research into networking - Uses NCP (Network Control Protocol) through IMPs (Information Message Processors). IMP = Honeywell 516 mini computer with 12K of memory. - First node at UCLA and soon after at Stanford Research Institute, UCSB, and U of Utah.
1970 ALOHAnet developed by Norman Abrahamson, U of Hawaii (:sk2:)
1972 Network of Networks starts forming - International Conference on Computer Communications with demonstration of ARPANET between 40 machines. - InterNetworking Working Group (INWG) created to address need for establishing agreed upon protocols.
1975 Operational management of Internet transferred to DCA (now DISA)
1970s Store and Forward Networks - Used electronic mail technology and extended it to conferencing
1976 uucp (unix-to-unix copy) developed at AT&T Bell Labs and distributed with UNIX one year later
1977 THEORYNET created at U of Wisconsin providing electronic mail to over 100 researchers in computer science. (uses uucp)
1979 Meeting between U of Wisconsin, DARPA, NSF, and computer scientists from many universities to establish a Computer Science Department research computer network.
USENET established using uucp and client/server technology.
1981 BITNET, the "Because Its Time NETwork" - Started as a cooperative network at the City University of New York (CUNY). - Provides electronic mail and listserv servers to distribute information. - Unlike USENET, where client s/w is needed, electronic mail is only tool necessary.
1982 INWG establishes the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP), as the protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, for ARPANET. - This leads to one of the first definition of an "internet" as a connected set of networks, specifically those using TCP/IP. and "Internet" as connected TCP/IP internets.
CSNET (Computer Science NETwork) comes into being providing a dial-up capability to electronic mail. Many universities feeling left out of ARPANET, join CSNET.
1983 Name server developed at U of Wisconsin, no longer requiring users to know the exact path to other systems.
CSNET / ARPANET gateway put in place
ARPANET split into ARPANET and MILNET with the latter becoming integrated with the Defense Data Network created the previous year.
NSF takes over administering ARPANET backbone.
Desktop workstations come into being, many with Berkeley UNIX which includes IP networking software.
Need switches from having a single, large time sharing computer connected to Internet per site to connection of an entire local network.
Berkeley releases 4.2BSD incorporating TCP/IP (:mpc:)
1984 Domain Name Server (DNS) introduced. It would take 4 years for full implementation.
# of hosts breaks 1,000
1986 NSFNET created - NSF establishes 5 super-computing centers to provide high-computing power to all. - ARPANET bureaucracy keeps it from being used to interconnect centers and NSFNET comes into being with the aid of NASA and DOE. - This allows an explosion of connections, especially from universities.
Cleveland Freenet (start of NPTN) comes on-line (:sk2:)
1987 NSF awards NSFNET management contract to Merit Network, Inc., which ran Michigan's educational network in partnership with IBM and MCI.
RFC #1000 released - "Request For Comments reference guide"
# of hosts breaks 10,000
1988 Internet worm burrows through the Net
1989 # of hosts breaks 100,000
1990 ARPANET ceases to exist
1991 WAIS released by Thinking Machines Inc.
Gopher released by University of Minnesota
1992 Internet Society is chartered
World-Wide Web released by CERN
# of hosts breaks 1,000,000
1993 Management of NSFNET contracted out to: AT&T - directory and database services Network Solutions Inc. - registration services General Atomics/CERFnet - information services
US White House comes on-line
HRH Elizabeth, Queen of England, sends out an e-mail
Internet Talk Radio begins broadcasting (:sk2:)
Businesses and media take notice of the Internet
Internet growth summary:
Date Hosts | Date Hosts Networks Domains ----- --------- + ----- --------- -------- ------- 1969 4 | 07/89 130,000 3,900 04/71 23 | 10/89 159,000 06/74 62 | 10/90 313,000 9,300 03/77 111 | 01/91 376,000 08/81 213 | 07/91 535,000 16,000 05/82 235 | 10/91 617,000 18,000 08/83 562 | 01/92 727,000 10/84 1,024 | 04/92 890,000 20,000 10/85 1,961 | 07/92 992,000 6,569 16,300 02/86 2,308 | 10/92 1,136,000 7,505 18,100 11/86 5,089 | 01/93 1,313,000 8,258 21,000 12/87 28,174 | 04/93 1,486,000 9,722 22,000 07/88 33,000 | 07/93 1,776,000 13,767 26,000 10/88 56,000 | 10/93 2,056,000 16,533 28,000 01/89 80,000 |
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Comments/corrections should be sent to hobbes@hobbes.mitre.org.
Internet Timeline (c)1993-4 by Robert H Zakon. Permission is granted for use of this document in whole or in part for non commercial purposes as long as appropriate credit is given to the author/maintainer. For commercial uses, please contact the author at the address above.
--- The Internet Timeline was compiled from a number of sources, with some of the stand-outs being:
Hardy, Henry. "The History of the Net." Master's Thesis, School of Communications, Grand Valley State University.
Kulikowski, Stan II. "A Timeline of Network History." Unpublished?
Quaterman, John. "The Matrix: Computer Networks and Conferenceing Systems Worldwide." Bedford, MA: Digital Press. 1990
--- Contributors to the Internet Timeline have their initials next to the contributed items in the form (:zzz:) and are:
mpc - Mellisa P. Chase (pc@mitre.org) sk2 - Stan Kulikowski (stankuli@uwf.bitnet) - see sources section