1960s Packet-switching networks
- Paul Baran, RAND: "On Distributed Communications 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
- Uses Network Control Protocol (NCP) through Information Message
Processors (IMP) developed by Bolt Beranek and Newman, Inc. (BBN)
- First node at UCLA and soon after at Stanford Research Institute
(SRI), UCSB, and the University of Utah.
First Request for Comment (RFC): "Host Software" by Steve Crocker
1970 ALOHAnet developed by Norman Abrahamson, U of Hawaii (:sk2:)
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.
1973 First international connections to the ARPANET: England and Norway
1975 Operational management of Internet transferred to DCA (now DISA)
BBN opens Telenet, commercial version of ARPANET (:sk2:)
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
(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.
1981 BITNET, the "Because Its Time (There) 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 s/w is needed, electronic mail is the
only tool necessary.
CSNET (Computer Science NETwork) comes into being providing a dial-up
capability to electronic mail. Many universities feeling left out
of ARPANET, join CSNET.
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.
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.
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.
# of hosts breaks 1,000
1986 NSFNET created (backbone speed of 56Kbps)
- NSF establishes 5 super-computing centers to provide high-computing
power for 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 signs a cooperative agreement to manage the NSFNET backbone with
IBM, MCI, and Merit Network, Inc.
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:)
1990 ARPANET ceases to exist
First relay between a commercial electronic mail carrier (MCI Mail)
and the Internet through the Clearinghouse for Networked Information
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
1992 Internet Society is chartered
World-Wide Web released by CERN
# of hosts breaks 1,000,000
NSFNET backbone upgraded to T3 (44,736Mbps)
1993 InterNIC created 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:)
Businesses and media take notice of the Internet
1994 Communities begin to be wired up directly to the Internet
(Lexington and Cambridge, Mass., USA)
US Senate and State of California provide information servers
Shopping malls arrive on the Internet
Arizona law firm of Canter & Siegel "spams" the Internet with email
advertising green card lottery services; Net citizens flame back
NSFNET traffic passes 10 trillion bytes/month
You can now order from Pizza Hut, online!
WWW edges out telnet to become 2nd most popular service on the Net
(behind ftp-data) based on % of packets and bytes traffic
distribution on NSFNET
Japanese Prime Minister on-line (http://www.kantei.go.jp/)
UK's HM Treasury on-line (http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/)
New Zealand's Info Tech Prime Minister on-line (http://www.govt.nz/)
First Virtual, the first cyberbank, open up for business
Radio stations start rockin' (rebroadcasting) round the clock on the Net:
WXYC at UofNC, WJHK at UofKS-Lawrence, KUGS at Western WA U.
1995 NSFNET reverts back to a research network. Main US backbone traffic is
now routed through interconnected network providers
Hong Kong police disconnect all but 1 of the colony's Internet providers
in search of a hacker. 10,000 people are left without Net access. (:api:)
Radio HK, the first 24 hr., Internet-only radio station starts broadcasting
WWW surpasses ftp-data in March as the service with greatest traffic on
NSFNet based on packet count, and in April based on byte count
Traditional online dial-up systems (Compuserve, American Online, Prodigy)
begin to provide Internet access
A number of Net related companies go public, with Netscape leading the pack
with the 3rd largest ever NASDAQ IPO share value (9 August)
Registration of domain names is no longer free. Beginning 14 September,
a $50 annual fee has been imposed, which up until now was subsidized by NSF.
NSF continues to pay for .edu registration, and on an interim basis for .gov
The Vatican comes on-line (http://www.vatican.va/)
The Canadian Goverment comes on-line (http://canada.gc.ca/)
The first official Internet wiretap was successful in helping the Secret
Service and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) aprehend three individuals who
were illegally manufacturing and selling cell phone cloning equipment and
electronic devices
Operation Home Front connects, for the first time, soldiers in the field
with their families back home via the Internet.
1996 The Internet 1996 World Exposition,
the first World's Fair to take place on the Internet
"A Day in the Life of the Internet" begs to be published (:rhz:)
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 | 01/94 2,217,000 20,539 30,000
| 10/94 3,864,000 37,022 56,000
| 01/95 4,852,000 39,410 71,000
| 07/95 6,642,000 61,538 120,000
| 01/96 9,472,000 93,671 240,000
USENET (News Groups) growth summary:
Date Sites ~MB ~Posts Groups | Date Sites ~MB ~Posts Groups
---- ----- --- ------ ------ + ---- ------- --- ------ ------
1979 3 2 3 | 1986 2200 2.0 946 241
1980 15 10 | 1987 5200 2.1 957 259
1981 150 0.05 20 | 1988 7800 4.4 1933 381
1982 400 35 | 1989
1983 600 120 | 1991
1984 900 225 | 1992 63,000 42 17,556
1985 1300 1.0 375 | 1993 69,000 50 19,362
| 1994 190,000 190 72,755
~ approximate: MB - megabytes per day, Posts - articles per day
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.
Q: Why did you compile Hobbes' Internet Timeline?
A: For use in the Internet courses I teach.
Q: How do I get Hobbes' Internet Timeline?
A: The Timeline is archived at: http://info.isoc.org/guest/zakon/Internet/History/HIT.html
If you prefer a copy via e-mail, send a blank message to timeline@hobbes.mitre.org
For comments or corrections please use hobbes@hobbes.mitre.org
Q: What do you do at MITRE?
A: I design the soccer shoe of the future (wrong MITRE :-) Actually, I wear the following hats: Net Evangelist, HCI Engineer, Systems Integrator, Information Engineer, NIDR Administrator, Lead Scientist, Instructor, He with the Most Toys...
Q: Is your license plate really NET SURF?
A: Yes, and there is a frame around it with INTERNET at the top, and my e-mail address at the bottom. (My wife is too embarrassed to drive it. :)
Oh, and the bumper sticker says "I'd Rather Be Net Surfing"
Q: Why don't you list the number of Internet users?
A: This is too controversial, and relatively inaccurate, an issue which the author does not want to get flamed or spammed for. His guess would be between 1 (himself) and 5 billion (but then again, one never knows if you're a dog on the Net).
Q: Can I re-print the Timeline or use parts of it for ... ?
A: Drop me an e-mail. The answer is most likely (though don't assume) 'yes' for non-profit use, and 'maybe' for for-profit; but to be sure you are not going to break any copyright laws, drop me an e-mail and wait for a reply.
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.
Hauben, Ronda. "From ARPANET to Usenet News." The Amateur Computerist, Volume 5, No. 3-4, Story 1.
Kulikowski, Stan II. "A Timeline of Network History." Unpublished?
Quarterman, John. "The Matrix: Computer Networks and Conferencing Systems Worldwide." Bedford, MA: Digital Press. 1990
Internet growth summary compiled from output of the zone program available at ftp://ftp.nisc.sri.com/pub/zone
glg - Gail L. Grant (grant@pa.dec.com)
mpc - Mellisa P. Chase (pc@mitre.org)
sc1 - Susan Calcari (susanc@is.internic.net)
sk2 - Stan Kulikowski (stankuli@uwf.bitnet) - see sources section