Hobbes' Internet Timeline v1.3

        By Robert Hobbes Zakon (hobbes@hobbes.mitre.org)

        1956
        • USSR launches Sputnik, first artificial earth satellite. In response, US 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 (:amk:)
        1962
        • Paul Baran, RAND: On Distributed Communications Networks Packet-switching networks; no single outage point
        1967
        • ACM Symposium on Operating Principles Plan presented for a packet-switching network
        1968
        • Network presentation to the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)
        1969
        • ARPANET commissioned by DOD for research into networking.
        • First node at UCLA [Network Measurements Center - Xerox DSS 7:SEX] and soon after at: [legend = function - system:os] Stanford Research Institute (SRI) [NIC - SDS940/Genie] UCSB [Culler-Fried Interactive Mathematics - IBM 360/75:OS/MVT] U of Utah [Graphics (hidden line removal) - DEC PDP-10:Tenex]
        • Use of Information Message Processors (IMP) [Honeywell 516 mini computer with 12K of memory] developed by Bolt Beranek and Newman, Inc. (BBN)
        • First Request for Comment (RFC): Host Software by Steve Crocker
        1970
        • LOHAnet developed by Norman Abrahamson, U of Hawaii (:sk2:)
        • ARPANET hosts start using Network Control Protocol (NCP).
        1971
        • 15 nodes (23 hosts): UCLA, SRI, UCSB, U of Utah, BBN, MIT, RAND, SDC, Harvard, Lincoln Lab, Stanford, UIU(C), CWRU, CMU, NASA/Ames
        1972
        • International Conference on Computer Communications with demonstration of ARPANET between 40 machines organized by Bob Kahn.
        • InterNetworking Working Group (INWG) created to address need for establishing agreed upon protocols. Chairman: Vinton Cerf.
        • Ray Tomlinson of BBN invents E-mail program to send messages across a distributed network. (:amk:)
        1973
        • First international connections to the ARPANET: England and Norway
        • Bob Metcalfe's Harvard PhD Thesis outlines idea for Ethernet (:amk:)
        1974
        • Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn publish A Protocol for Packet Network Internetworking which specified in detail the design of a Transmission Control Program (TCP). (:amk:)
        • BBN opens Telenet, commercial version of ARPANET (:sk2:)
        1975
        • Operational management of Internet transferred to DCA (now DISA)
        • Jargon File, by Raphael Finkel at SAIL, first released (:esr:)
        • 1970s Store and Forward Networks Used electronic mail technology and extended it to conferencing
        • HM Elizabeth, Queen of the United Kingdom, sends out an E-mail message (anyone know the exact year?)
        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 (using 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 between Duke and UNC by Tom Truscott and Steve Bellovin.
        1981
        • BITNET, the Because Its Time NETwork. Started as a cooperative network at the City University of New York. Provides electronic mail and LISTSERV servers to distribute information. Unlike USENET, where client software is needed, electronic mail is the only tool necessary. CSNET (Computer Science NETwork) built by UCAR and BBN through seed money granted by NSF to provide networking services (specially E-mail) to university scientists with no access to ARPANET.
        • CSNET later becomes known as the Computer and Science Network. (:amk:) Minitel (Teletel) is deployed across France by French Telecom.
        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 definitions of an internet as a connected set of networks, specifically those using TCP/IP, and Internet as connected TCP/IP internets.
        • DoD declares TCP/IP suite to be standard for DoD (:vgc:)
        • EUnet (European UNIX Network) is created by EUUG to provide E-mail and USENET services. (:glg:)
        1983
        • Name server developed at U of Wisconsin, no longer requiring users to know the exact path to other systems.
        • Cutover from NCP to TCP/IP (1 January)
        • CSNET / ARPANET gateway put in place
        • ARPANET split into ARPANET and MILNET; the latter became integrated with the Defense Data Network created the previous year
        • 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:)
        • 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:)
        • EARN (European Academic and Research Network) established. Very similar to the way BITNET works.
        • FidoNet developed by Tom Jennings
        .
        1984
        • Domain Name Server (DNS) introduced. # of hosts breaks 1,000
        • JUNET (Japan Unix Network) established using UUCP.
        • JANET (Joint Academic Network) established in the UK using the Coloured Book protocols.
        1986
        • NSFNET created (backbone speed of 56Kbps)
        • NSF establishes 5 super-computing centers to provide high-computing power for all (JVNC@Princeton, PSC@ Pittsburgh, SDSC@UCSD, NCSA@UIUC, Theory Center @Cornell).
        • 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:)
        • Network News Transfer Protocl (NNTP) designed to enhance USENET News performance over TCP/IP.
        • Mail Exchanger (MX) records developed by Craig Partridge allowing non-IP network hosts to have domain addresses.
        1987
        • NSF signs a cooperative agreement to manage the NSFNET backbone with Merit Network, Inc. (IBM and MCI involvement was through an agreement with Merit). Merit, IBM, and MCI later founded ANS.
        • UUNET is founded with Usenix funds to provide commercial UUCP and USENET access.
        • 1000th RFC: Request For Comments reference guide
        • # of hosts breaks 10,000 # of BITNET hosts breaks 1,000
        • 1988 Internet worm burrows through the Net
        1989
        • # of hosts breaks 100,000
        • NSFNET backbone upgraded to T1 (1.544Mbps)
        • RIPE (Reseaux IP Europeens) formed (by European service providers) to ensure the necessary administrative and technical coordination to allow the operation of the pan-European IP Network. (:glg:)
        • First relay between a commercial electronic mail carrier (Compu-serve) and the Internet through Ohio State University (:jg1:)
        1990
        • ARPANET ceases to exist
        • Second relay between a commercial electronic mail carrier (MCI Mail) and the Internet through the Corporation for the National Research Initiative (CNRI)
        • Electronic Frontier Foundation is founded by Mitch Kapor
        1991
        • Commercial Internet eXchange (CIX) Association, Inc. formed by General Atomics (CERFnet), Performance Systems International, Inc. (PSInet), and UUNET Technologies, Inc. (AlterNet) (:glg:)
        • WAIS released by Thinking Machines Corporation
        • Gopher released by University of Minnesota
        • US High Performance Computing Act (Gore 1) establishes the National Research and Education Network (NREN)
        1992
        • World Wide Web released by CERN # of hosts breaks 1,000,000
        • Internet Society is chartered
        • NSFNET backbone upgraded to T3 (44.736Mbps)
        • First MBONE audio multicast (March) and video multicast (November)
        1993
        • InterNIC created by NSF to provide specific Internet services: (:sc1:)directory and database services (AT&T;) registration services (Network Solutions Inc.) information services (General Atomics/CERFnet)
        • US White House comes on-line: President Bill Clinton: president@whitehouse.gov Vice-President Al Gore: vice-president@whitehouse.gov First Lady Hillary Clinton: root@whitehouse.gov (-:rhz:-)
        • Internet Talk Radio begins broadcasting (:sk2:)
        • United Nations and World Bank come on-line (:vgc:)
        • US National Information Infrastructure Act Businesses and media really take notice of the Internet
        • Mosaic takes the Internet by storm; WWW proliferates at a 341,634% annual growth rate of service traffic. Gopher's growth is 997%.
        1994
        • Communities begin to be wired up directly to the Internet
        • US Senate and House provide information servers
        • First flower shop taking orders via the Internet
        • Shopping malls arrive on the Internet
        • Mass marketing finds its way to the Internet with mass E-mailings
        • Worms of a new kind find their way around the Net - WWW Worms (W4), joined by Spiders, Wanderers, Crawlers, and Snakes ...
        • A Day in the Life of the Internet begs to be published (:rhz:)

        About the Timeline

        Comments/corrections should be sent to hobbes@hobbes.mitre.org. Hobbes' Internet Timeline Copyright (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 first. Hobbes' Internet Timeline was compiled from a number of sources, with some of the stand-outs being:

        • Cerf, Vinton (as told to Bernard Aboba). How the Internet Came to Be. This article appears in The Online User's Encyclopedia, by Bernard Aboba. Addison-Wesley, 1993.
        • Hardy, Henry. The History of the Net. Master's Thesis, School of Communications, Grand Valley State University. ftp://umcc.umich.edu/pub/users/seraphim/doc/nethist#.txt
        • Hauben, Ronda and Michael. The Netizens and the Wonderful World of the Net. Kulikowski, Stan II. A Timeline of Network History.
        • Quarterman, John. The Matrix: Computer Networks and Conferencing Systems Worldwide. Bedford, MA: Digital Press.
        • 1990 Internet growth summary compiled from: Zone program reports maintained by Mark Lottor at: ftp://ftp.nw.com/pub/zone Connectivity table maintained by Larry Landweber at: ftp://ftp.cs.wisc.edu/connectivity_table
        • USENET growth summary compiled from Quarterman and Hauben sources above

        Contributors to Hobbes' Internet Timeline have their initials next to the contributed items in the form (:zzz:) and are: amk - Alex McKenzie ( mckenzie@bbn.com) esr - Eric S. Raymond (esr@locke.ccil.org) glg - Gail L. Grant (grant@pa.dec.com) jg1 - Jim Gaynor (gaynor@agvax.ag.ohio.state.edu) mpc - Mellisa P. Chase (pc@mitre.org) sc1 - Susan Calcari (susanc@is.internic.net) sk2 - Stan Kulikowski (stankuli@uwf.bitnet) - see sources section vgc - Vinton Cerf (vcerf@isoc.org) - see sources section

        Help the Author

        The author is on an eternal genealogical search. If you know of someone whose last name is Zakon or could spare 1 minute to check your local phone book, please e-mail any info (i.e., name, phone, address, city) to rhz@po.cwru.edu; your help is greatly appreciated.



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