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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

et: The Intern How we g Back on Lookin e world cted to th got conne

Summer 2004

Standards and Protocols: Making sure the Message the Birth of the Gets Through • 1963—American Standard Code for While some may think primary owner of high- to link the Nation’s Information Interchange (ASCII) the Internet is a new powered , it scientists and engi- adopted. This was the first universal communication tool, its was in association with neers via a cross- standard to allow computers from history is remarkably simi- the Nation’s SAGE air- country different manufacturers to exchange lar to other areas of com- defense system that the network. A 1965 test data. munication: first sharing of computer of a wide area net- • 1969— power occurred. work (known as the • People had some- (RFC) first issued. The RFC is a “Experimental Net- thing to share; But early experiments in series of standards for computer net- work”) between MIT sharing the Nation’s com- working. RFC 1 detailed the operat- • Common languages and Stanford showed puting power didn’t sat- ing standards of ARPANET, the developed; and that such a nation- world’s first net- isfy all the growing • The common lan- wide network was work. Today there are nearly 4000 needs. So, researchers guages were trans- possible. RFC’s. mitted across physical working with DOD’s Ad- media. vanced Research Project Building upon this, • 1974—Transmission Control Proto- Agency (ARPA) built and other similar tests, col (TCP-RFC 793) proposed. This In Internet terms, the ele- upon the early 1960s in 1967 Lincoln Lab standard allowed network-to- ments to be shared were development of packet scientists working network connections. In 1978 the information and comput- switching theory and vi- with ARPA put for- (IP-RFC 791) ing time, the common sions of a “Galactic Net- ward plans for con- joined TCP. Together, these languages were data work” to figure out a way necting most of the (continued on page 4) communications proto- cols, and phone circuits (continued on page 3) carried it all. FCC: A Long-Term INTEREST As computer use spread after WWII, it didn’t take • 1966—Computer I Notice of Inquiry. services and long for people with lim- • 1973—Agency approves first applica- unregulated information services. ited computer access to tion for value-added carrier to pro- want to tap into the ex- • 1985—Computer III proceeding re- vide specialized communication ser- leased. cess capacity of those vices to computer users (Telenet). with computers. • 1998—FCC affirms that Internet Ser- • 1980—Computer II Final Order estab- vice Providers will continue to be Since, in the 1950s, the lishes distinction between regulated treated as “end users,” thus paying U. S. government was the lower access fees. (continued on page 3)

1970 1962 1964 1969 ALOHAnet, 1958 U.S. airlines ARPANET 1971 Galactic 1965 a packet net- 1st commercial launch 1st begins —1st Network U.S.’s 1st work that used @ symbol — commercial packet switch- proposed wide area waves for proposed for 300 bps time -sharing ing network network transmission, of computers established with SABRE P AGE 2 T HE INTERNET:

Broadband-AT-HOME: where the speeds up Broadband Subscribers

14 A technology in operation for less automation, or even patient health than 10 years would not usually remotely through the Web. The Cable 12 qualify for historical treatment. high speed and high volume that 10 However, in the case of residential broadband offers could Cable broadband , the ex- also be used for bun- 8 plosive growth of this technology dled service where, Cable 6 may be rewriting all the rules re- for example, cable DSL garding the history of new tech- , video-on- DSL 4 DSL In millions nologies. demand, voice, 2 data, and other Sat Sa S Begun in 1996, when Rogers Com- elli te ate 0 services are all te llite llite munications introduced the first offered over a single service in Canada, line. In truth, it is possible that many broadband encompasses several of the applications that will best Interestingly, these studies also find digital technologies (cable, satellite, exploit the technological capabili- that adults between the ages of 55 phone lines, power line, and wire- ties of broadband, while also cap- and 64 are more active adopters of less) that provide consumers inte- turing the imagination of consum- broadband than young adults. Re- grated access to voice, high-speed ers, have yet to be developed.” searchers don’t know if this is an (faster than 200 Kbps) data, video- indication of pricing issues or that on-demand, and interactive delivery But despite these many advantages, young people already accept services. as late as 1999, when the FCC is- broadband. But, it does indicate sued its first report on broadband, it that getting fast access to the Inter- The Congressional Research Service reported that "the consumer broad- net is no longer just a fad for the says that “broadband access, along band market is in the early stages of young. And, since broadband Inter- with the content and services it development.” net users tend to spend more time might enable, has and visit more pages online, access- the potential to But broad- ing the Internet via broadband is transform the band did also beginning to show up as an Internet—both The first attempt, in 1969, to connect not stay in alternative to entertainment alter- what it offers and computers at the first two ARPANET universities its early natives such as watching tv. how it is used. For stages for example, a two- crashed the system. On the second try the long. The Besides continuing growth in way, high-speed connection was made successfully and the broadband acceptance, new ways connection could Internet’s predecessor was begun. Report, of using and delivering broadband be used for based on are opening new vistas and creat- interactive Nielsen// ing new challenges. Ideas ranging applications such NetRatings from using electric lines as a broad- as online surveys, band to plac- classrooms, showrooms, or health finds that between 2000 and 2001 ing long distance phone calls via clinics, where teacher and student broadband subscriptions rose over broadband may offer more services (or customer and salesperson, 50%; and, there was another 48% at lower prices—but, will also re- doctor and patient) can see and growth in 2003. Today, it is esti- quire flexible and creative thinking hear each other through their mated that over 27 million busi- about many of our traditional utility nesses and households (45% of computers. An “always on” and communication services. connection could be used to Internet households) use broad- band to access the Internet. monitor home security, home

1977 1981 1978 1979 Desktop 1973 The term 1979 IP protocol joins personal a “internetting” begins 1982 TCP as common newsgroups computers local area net- to be used to de- standard for -) -( grow from introduced work essential, scribe connections System created. net-to-net first suggested work at proposed between various by RFC 819 networks connections Duke University T HE INTERNET: LOOKING BACK PAGE 3

FCC: A Long-Term INTEREST (continued from page 1)

• 1999—FCC releases Local Com- 2. Promote competition across • 2003—FCC Voice over IP petition and Broadband Report different platforms for broad- Forum. and Order. band services.

3. Ensure that broadband ser- • 2002—FCC proceedings on vices exist in a minimal Internet Access over Cable and regulatory environment Internet Access over DSL find that promotes investment The ARPANET experienced its first virus in 1980. that these methods of Internet and innovation. This virus shut down the ARPANET for a short access are information services. These proceedings also set 4. Develop an analytical while. The first worm struck in 1988 and forth four guiding principles in framework that is consis- infected 10% of ARPANET hosts. regard to broadband: tent, to the extent possible, across multiple platforms. 1. Encourage the ubiquitous availability of broadband Internet access to all Ameri- cans.

The birth of the internet (continued from page 1)

Nation’s research computers over with different equipment and differ- mil, gov, edu, org), and phone circuits. This plan was car- ent operating systems—to talk to ried out in 1969 when the ARPA- each other some common lan- • Upgrades to the transmission NET, using 50 Kbps circuits, con- guage had to be developed. backbone. nected computers at four universi- But most of these improvements ties in and . The ARPANET initially used the Net- work Control Program (NCP) as this were known only to academics, But the commercial sector did not common transmission language. government employees, and gov- allow the ability to network com- However, in 1983 ARPANET ernment-sponsored researchers and puters to belong only to academics changed its common language to contractors until the late-. and scientists for very long. By the Transmission Control Protocol/ The Internet we know today began 1974 the FCC had already ap- Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). TCP/IP to seem possible in 1989 when the proved three applications for what remains today’s most commonly first commercial email carriers (MCI were called “value-added carriers.” used protocol because of its reliabil- Mail and CompuServe) began busi- These organizations added equip- ity and proven track record. ness. That same year the first com- ment to leased transmission lines in mercial dial-up Internet Service Pro- order to provide services to com- Many additional improvements in vider (World Comes on Line) also puter users. Telenet became the what came to be known as the started operating. And, in 1991, all first packet data service to go public Internet (a loose federation of net- restrictions on commercial use of in 1974. works) continued during the 1970s and 1980s. These included: the Internet were lifted. With more and more networks de- At that time there were more than • Standards for email and - veloping around the world 100,000 Internet hosts. Less than groups, (ARPANET, ALOHAnet, MERIT, SAT- three years later, there were over a NET, Telenet, Tymnet, Transpac), • Protocols for managing net- million Internet hosts. In January the idea to interconnect or “inter- works (SNMP), 2004, there were over 250 million net” the various networks took hosts. hold. But, for different networks— • Establishment of domains (com,

1987 1986 NSFnet begins. 1983 1983 1984 A severed fiber Within 3 years it 1988 DOD mandates Computer is 1984 optic cable, con- T1 lines will become the The Computer use of TCP/IP Time’s The term taining 7 ARPA- (1.544 Mbps) civilian replace- Emergency for the ARPA- “cyberspace” NET trunk lines, “Man of the introduced ment for Response NET 1st used cuts most of the Year” ARPANET Team (CERT) U.S. off developed P AGE 4 Standards and Protocols T HE INTERNET: LOOKING BACK 1,000,000 (continued from page1) Growth of the 900,000 standards moved from character-based transmissions to the packet switching approach by defining how packets are ad- Internet 800,000 dressed and routed. 1,000,000 • 1977—RFC 733 established international standards for elec- 700,000 tronic mail. E-mail programs, originally considered a frill, first appeared in 1971. This single standard has now been 600,000 replaced by numerous RFC’s. • 1984—Domain Name (RFC 897) convention imple- 500,000 mented. This established domains like .gov, .mil, .net, .com, which meant Internet users no longer had to know an exact 400,000 path to another computer. By using the DNS name, com- N puters look up the exact address and route the mail to the umber of I nternet Hos 300,000 correct destination. ts • 1986—Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) formally es- 200,000 tablished to develop consensus on Internet engineering issues.

100,000 4 25 0 100 100,000 1969 1000 1972 1975 Source: Hobbes Internet Timeline 1978 1981 1984 1987 1990 1992 Do you Know how fast you are going? BPS—A measure of data transmission ISDN—Integrated Services Digital Network into 2/3rd’s of American homes, a cable speed between two computers over a is an international standard for transmit- modem is a digital device that connects a modem. Original computer terminal ac- ting voice, video, and data over phone computer to the Internet at speeds cur- cess to the Internet occurred at 300 bps. lines. ISDN supports transfer rates of 64 rently up to 3 Mbps. Today’s typical dial-up modem is 56 kilo- Kbps. bits per second (Kbps). One Kbps is 1,000 Dial-up Modem—short for Modula- bits per second. DSL and cable DSL—a category of digital subscriber lines tor/Demodulator, this device or computer (broadband) often transmit in where sophisticated schemes are used to program converts a computer’s digital the megabits per second (Mbps) range— transmit data through copper phone lines. signals into analog signals that can be or 1million bits per second. A T1 phone DSL supports download speeds up to 1.5 sent over a standard phone line. And, the line supports data transmissions of 1.544 Kbps today.. modem reverses the process (analog to Mbps. digital) when receiving data. POTS—Plain Old Service or Backbone—the primary transmission lines PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Net- Test Your Speed: that connect the various networks that work) provides Internet access for most These sites are just two of many that offer collectively make up the Internet. The American households via a dial-up service free speed tests for your Internet connec- is largely comprised of provider. These non-digital lines are gen- tion. DS3 lines supporting data transmission erally limited to 56 Kbps. rates of about 43 Mbps. • http://www.zdnet.com.au/supercentre/ Cable modem—tapping into the coaxial broadband/speedtest/ Bandwidth—the amount of data that can cable that is already bringing television be transmitted within a certain period of • http://bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/ time. index.php

1995 1998 1991 1995 ICANN estab- Maintenance of 1996 1999 lished to man- 1990 Restrictions on the U.S. Internet 1st Internet Internet 1st North age the Inter- commercial use backbone moves ser- backbone ARPANET American net’s address- of Internet lifted from the federal vice offered upgraded to formally cable modem ing, naming, government to the 2.5 Gbps decommissioned private sector service offered and protocol resources.