ARPANET
ARPANET
The ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) was the basic founder of the internet. The created the first network ever called the ARAPNET. The first node on ARPANET was created at the University California Los Angeles (UCLA) on September 2, 1969. At the end of the year there were four nodes on the ARPANET. These were the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), and the University of Utah and the Stanford Research Institute (SRI). The ARPA NETWORK grew rapidly as more sites are connected. The map above shows the ARPANET in September 1971 and the one below is from October 1980, which includes a packet satellite link UCL in London. Soon after this many more Nodes were connected on and the it became known as the internet very shortly. A very important protocol that was introduced around this time is something known as TCP/IP. TCP IP is the protocol used to identify a computer on the network. Without TCP/IP files cannot be sent because they wont know where to connect to so they can be sent. An IP number is usually in the form of XX.XXX.XXX.XX. There are limitations on these numbers though. In the near future the Government is going to change this to a HEXA-DECIMAL Standard, so it will no longer be numbers but instead, letters and numbers. In 1972 the ARPA became known as the DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency).
During the late 1970’s and early 80, many new networks started to form. Some of the new networks were CSNET(Computer Science Research Network), BITnet (Because it’s time network), SPAN (Space Physics Analysis Network), CDnet (Canadian Network) and one of the largest: the NSFnet or National Science Foundation Network. At the end of the 70’s most people were using the new TCP/IP protocol but not until January the 1st 1983 that ARPAnet changed over to the new Protocol, this day became the official birth date of the Internet. That is the BASIC history of ARPANET!