Anisha Kaul Course: CS 125 - Computer Networks ​ Abstract Due Date: 09/09/19 ​ Date: 09/08/19 ​ Article Title: A Brief History of the Internet ​ Journal: Internet Society ​

This article provides an overview of the evolution and development of the Internet in four aspects: it’s technical evolution, management as a major method of global communication, social development, and monetization. In 1966-1967, Lawrence G. Roberts developed his computer networking concept and his initial plan for ARPANET. The initial line speed in this design was 2.4 kbps, but was upgraded to 50 kbps after he presented his paper.

In August 1968, the structure and specifications of the ARPANET were set, which included the development of packet switches called Interface Message Processors (IMP’s). The first IMP was installed at UCLA where the first host computer was connected in September 1969.Standford Research Institute provided the second computer that was connected; in the following months and years, several more computers were added to the ARPANET.

In December 1970, the Network Working Group finished the initial ARPANET host-to-host protocol called Network Control Protocol (NCP) which allowed network users to begin developing applications. In 1972, Ray Tomlinson developed email software for the initial purpose of providing an easy communication mechanism amongst ARPANET developers.

Bob Kahn first introduced the idea of open-architecture networking in 1972. This design allows for individual networks to be designed uniquely for their own environment and user needs. This design was also not compatible with the previous design of NCP, since NCP relied on ARPANET to provide reliability and itself had no error control. This motivated Kahn to develop a new protocol for an open-architecture network environment, which would come to be known as Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). Kahn worked with Vint Cer to develop the two TCP and IP protocols: TCP handled service features including flow control and lost packet recovery while IP simply handled addressing and forwarding of individual packets.

The definition of three network classes (A, B, and C) was created to accommodate the range and number of networks. As the Internet evolved and grew to support a large number of networks, the previous system of manually tracking hosts with a single table was no longer practical. This motivated Paul Mockapetris to invent the Domain Name System (DNS) in 1983, which allowed a scalable mechanism for mapping host names to Internet addresses. In 1985, the NSFNET program was launched, with Dennis Jennings in charge. He, along with the surrounding community mandated that TCP/IP protocols would be mandatory in the program. The NSFNET Backbone had begun as 6 nodes with 56 kbps links, and had grown to 21 nodes with multiple 45 Mbps links in 8 ½ years. By 1990 when the ARPANET was decommissioned, TCP/IP had become the main computer network protocol worldwide. In fact, the protocol was such a standardized network-handling protocol that it was specifically included in the Federal Networking Council’s resolution defining the Internet in 1995.

S. Crocker established the Request for Comments (RFC) note series that allowed for an informal mechanism for idea sharing. The open access of RFCs (given a connection to the Internet) has been important to the improvement and development of the Internet and its related protocols. In fact, the very task of communicating RFCs gave way to the development of information sharing via networks.

While reading this article, I was surprised at myself that none of the names mentioned were familiar to me. The Internet is so central to how we operate in our day-to-day lives that I am surprised that more aspects of its conception are not regularly taught in history courses.