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History of the Internet

By JudiLykowski

  • ARPA research begins

    J.C.R. Licklider writes memos about his Intergalactic Network concept. Lick’ becomes the first head of the computer research program at ARPA, which he calls the Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO).

  • first synchronous communication satellite, is launched & ASCII is developed

    first synchronous communication satellite, is launched & ASCII is developed
    Licklider starts to talk with Larry Roberts of Lincoln Labs, director A joint industry-government committee develops ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange), the first universal standard for computers. It permits machines from different manufacturers to exchange data. 128 unique 7-bit strings stand for either a letter of the English alphabet, one of the Arabic numerals, one of an assortment of punctuation marks and symbols, or a special function, such as the carriage return.

  • 1st minicomputer

    1st minicomputer
    DEC unveils the PDP-8, the first commercially successful minicomputer. Small enough to sit on a desktop, it sells for $18,000 — one-fifth the cost of a low-end IBM/360 mainframe. The combination of speed, size, and cost enables the establishment of the minicomputer in thousands of manufacturing plants, offices, and scientific laboratories.
    With ARPA funding, Larry Roberts and Thomas Marill create the first wide-area network connection. They connect the TX-2 at MIT to the Q-32 in Santa Monica via

  • ARPANET

    ARPANET
    Larry Roberts convenes a conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to bring the ARPA researchers together. At the conclusion, Wesley Clark suggests that the network be managed by interconnected ‘Interface Message Processors’ in front of the major computers. Called IMPs, they evolve into today’s routers.
    Roberts puts together his plan for the ARPANET. The separate strands of investigation begin to converge. Donald Davies, Paul Baran, and Larry Roberts become aware of each other’s work at an ACM conferen

  • team gets to work on producing the software to enable its computers and the IMP to communicate

    team gets to work on producing the software to enable its computers and the IMP to communicate
    Frank Heart puts a team together to write the software that will run the IMPs and to specify changes in the Honeywell DDP- 516 they have chosen. The team includes Ben Barker, Bernie Cosell, Will Crowther, Bob Kahn, Severo Ornstein, and Dave Walden.
    Four sites are selected. At each, a team gets to work on producing the software to enable its computers and the IMP to communicate. At UCLA, the first site, Vint Cerf, Steve Crocker, and Jon Postel work with Kleinrock to get ready. On April 7, Crocke

  • The ARPANET begins the year with 14 nodes in operation.

    The ARPANET begins the year with 14 nodes in operation.
    The ARPANET begins the year with 14 nodes in operation. The ARPANET begins the year with 14 nodes in operation. BBN modifies and streamlines the IMP design so it can be moved to a less cumbersome platform than the DDP-516. BBN also develops a new platform, called a Terminal Interface Processor (TIP) which is capable of supporting input from multiple hosts or terminals.
    The Network Working Group completes the Telnet protocol and makes progress on the file transfer protocol (FTP) standard. At th

  • 1992

    By 1992, when this timeline ends, the Internet has one million hosts
    the ARPANET has ceased to exist
    computers are nine orders of magnitude faster
    network bandwidth is twenty million times greater.