Internet
In the 1960s, computer scientists began developing systems for time-sharing of computer resources. F. J. Corbató and his team at MIT published The Compatible Time-Sharing System A Programmer's Guide in 1963 to document these early efforts. J. C. R. Licklider proposed the idea of a universal network while working at Bolt Beranek & Newman before leading the Information Processing Techniques Office at ARPA. Research into packet switching started with Paul Baran at RAND in the early 1960s and Donald Davies at the United Kingdom's National Physical Laboratory in 1965. After the Symposium on Operating Systems Principles in 1967, packet switching from the NPL network was incorporated into ARPANET design. ARPANET development began with two nodes connected between UCLA and Stanford Research Institute on the 29th of October 1969. By the end of 1971, fifteen sites were connected to this young network.
In 1982, the Internet Protocol Suite TCP/IP was standardized, which facilitated worldwide proliferation of interconnected networks. Vint Cerf at Stanford University and Bob Kahn at DARPA published their proposal for A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication in 1974. TCP/IP network access expanded again in 1986 when the National Science Foundation Network provided access to supercomputer sites in the United States. The NSFNet initially operated at speeds of 56 kbit/s before reaching 1.5 Mbit/s and later 45 Mbit/s. Commercial Internet service providers emerged in 1989 in both the United States and Australia. The ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990 after serving as a backbone for regional academic and military networks since its inception. In 1988-89, the NSFNet expanded into academic and research organizations across Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.
Tim Berners-Lee began writing WorldWideWeb, the first web browser, after two years of lobbying CERN management in mid-1989. By Christmas 1990, Berners-Lee had built all tools necessary for a working Web including HTTP 0.9, HTML, the first Web browser, and the first HTTP server software known as CERN httpd. The first high-speed T1 link between the NSFNET and Europe was installed between Cornell University and CERN in March 1990. In 1991, the Commercial Internet eXchange was founded to allow PSInet to communicate with other commercial networks like CERFnet and Alternet. Stanford Federal Credit Union became the first financial institution to offer online Internet banking services to all members in October 1994. By 1995, the Internet was fully commercialized in the United States when the NSFNet was decommissioned, removing restrictions on carrying commercial traffic.
By 2014, the world's Internet users surpassed three billion or forty-four percent of the global population. Asia alone accounted for fifty-one percent of all Internet users by 2018, with 2.2 billion out of 4.3 billion total users. China's Internet users surpassed a major milestone in 2018 when the country announced it had 802 million users. India followed with some 700 million users while the United States ranked third with 275 million users. In 2022, 54% of the world's Internet users were based in Asia compared to fourteen percent in Europe and seven percent in North America. Mobile Internet connectivity has played an important role in expanding access especially in Asia and the Pacific region. The number of unique mobile cellular subscriptions increased from 3.9 billion in 2012 to 4.8 billion in 2016 representing two-thirds of the world's population.
According to International Data Corporation, worldwide e-commerce equated to sixteen trillion dollars in 2013 when combining business-to-business and consumer transactions. A report by Oxford Economics estimated the total size of the digital economy at twenty point four trillion dollars equivalent to roughly thirteen point eight percent of global sales. Brick-and-mortar retailers employ forty-seven people for every ten million dollars in sales according to a 2013 Institute for Local Self-Reliance report. Amazon employs only fourteen people per ten million dollars in sales while Airbnb was valued at ten billion dollars in 2014 despite having just 700 employees. Uber employed one thousand full-time employees but was valued at eighteen point two billion dollars about the same as Avis Rent a Car and Hertz combined which together employed almost sixty thousand people. In 2011, Internet advertising revenues in the United States surpassed those of cable television and nearly exceeded broadcast television revenue.
The technical underpinning and standardization of core protocols is an activity of the Internet Engineering Task Force IETF a non-profit organization open to any individual contributing technical expertise. The principal name spaces of the Internet are administered by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ICANN governed by an international board of directors from across technical business academic and other communities. Regional Internet registries were established for five regions including AfriNIC for Africa ARIN for North America APNIC for Asia and Pacific LACNIC for Latin America and Caribbean RIPE NCC for Europe Middle East and Central Asia. IPv4 defines an IP address as a thirty-two-bit number designed in 1981 to address up to approximately four point three billion hosts. IPv6 uses one hundred twenty-eight bits for addresses and was standardized in 1998 providing vastly larger addressing capabilities than its predecessor.
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Common questions
When did ARPANET development begin with two nodes connected between UCLA and Stanford Research Institute?
ARPANET development began on the 29th of October 1969. This initial connection linked two nodes located at UCLA and Stanford Research Institute.
Who proposed the idea of a universal network while working at Bolt Beranek & Newman before leading the Information Processing Techniques Office at ARPA?
J. C. R. Licklider proposed the idea of a universal network while working at Bolt Beranek & Newman. He later led the Information Processing Techniques Office at ARPA.
What year was the Internet Protocol Suite TCP/IP standardized to facilitate worldwide proliferation of interconnected networks?
The Internet Protocol Suite TCP/IP was standardized in 1982. This standardization facilitated the worldwide proliferation of interconnected networks.
How many unique mobile cellular subscriptions existed globally by 2016 representing two-thirds of the world's population?
The number of unique mobile cellular subscriptions reached 4.8 billion in 2016. This figure represented two-thirds of the world's population.
Which organization administers the principal name spaces of the Internet governed by an international board of directors from across technical business academic and other communities?
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ICANN administers the principal name spaces of the Internet. It is governed by an international board of directors from across technical business academic and other communities.