Computer Science · Ch 10 — Computer Networks
Evolution of Networking
Evolution of Networking
The story of computer networking begins not with the internet we know today, but with a military research project in the 1960s. The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Defence. Its goal was to connect academic and research institutions at different locations so that scientists could collaborate.
The very first message was sent between the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Stanford Research Institute (SRI). This single communication marked the birth of a functional network. Over time, more organisations joined ARPANET, and many independent, smaller networks began to form.
The journey from that first message to today's internet is marked by several key milestones. The timeline below captures the most important developments in the evolution of computer networks.
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1961 | The idea of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) is conceptualised. |
| 1969 | ARPANET becomes functional by connecting UCLA and SRI. |
| 1971 | Roy Tomlinson develops network messaging, or email. The symbol @ comes to mean "at". |
| 1974 | The term "Internet" is coined. The first commercial use of ARPANET begins under the name Telenet. |
| 1982 | TCP/IP is introduced as the standard protocol on ARPANET. |
| 1983 | The Domain Name System (DNS) is introduced. |
| 1986 | The National Science Foundation launches its NSFNET program, bringing connectivity to more people. |
| 1990 | Tim Berners-Lee at CERN develops HTML and URL, giving birth to the World Wide Web (WWW). |
| 1997 | The first version of the Wi-Fi standard (802.11) is introduced. |
Drawn by us to help you understand the concept clearly, and verified to make sure it's accurate. For exams, practice from your textbook's own diagram.
Computer networking didn't appear all at once — it grew step by step over more than three decades. This timeline picks out the milestones: the idea of ARPANET in 1961, its first real connection in 1969, network email in 1971, the word "Internet" itself in 1974, the TCP/IP protocol that everything still runs on today in 1982, the Domain Name System in 1983, wider public connectivity through NSFNET in 1986, the World Wide Web in 1990, and finally Wi-Fi in 1997. …