Editing History of the Internet (section)

==1973–1989: Merging the networks and creating the Internet==
[[File:Internet map in February 82.png|thumb|200px|Map of the [[TCP/IP]] test network in February 1982]]

===TCP/IP===
{{Main|Internet protocol suite}}
{{See also|Transmission Control Protocol|Internet Protocol}}
[[File:First Internet Demonstration, 1977.jpg|thumb|First Internet demonstration, linking the [[ARPANET]], [[PRNET]], and [[SATNET]] on November 22, 1977]]
With so many different networking methods seeking interconnection, a method was needed to unify them. [[Louis Pouzin]] initiated the [[CYCLADES]] project in 1972,<ref name=":21">{{Cite conference |last=Pouzin |first=Louis |date=1973 |title=Presentation and major design aspects of the CYCLADES computer network |url=http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=800280.811034 |language=en |publisher=ACM Press |pages=80–87 |doi=10.1145/800280.811034 |doi-access=free |book-title=DATACOMM '73: Proceedings of the third ACM symposium on Data communications and Data networks}}</ref> building on the work of [[Donald Davies]] and the ARPANET.<ref name="Pelkey8.3">{{cite book |last=Pelkey |first=James |title=Entrepreneurial Capitalism and Innovation: A History of Computer Communications 1968–1988 |chapter=8.3 CYCLADES Network and Louis Pouzin 1971–1972 |chapter-url=https://historyofcomputercommunications.info/section/8.3/CYCLADES-Network-and-Louis-Pouzin-1971-1972/}}</ref> An [[International Network Working Group]] formed in 1972; active members included [[Vint Cerf]] from [[Stanford University]], Alex McKenzie from [[Bolt Beranek & Newman|BBN]], Donald Davies and [[Roger Scantlebury]] from [[National Physical Laboratory (United Kingdom)|NPL]], and Louis Pouzin and [[Hubert Zimmermann]] from [[French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation|IRIA]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McKenzie|first=Alexander|date=2011|title=INWG and the Conception of the Internet: An Eyewitness Account|journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing|volume=33|issue=1|pages=66–71|doi=10.1109/MAHC.2011.9|s2cid=206443072 }}</ref><ref name="ieee201703">{{cite journal |last1=Russell |first1=A. L. |title=The internet that wasn't |journal=IEEE Spectrum |date=August 2013 |volume=50 |issue=8 |pages=39–43 |doi=10.1109/MSPEC.2013.6565559 |s2cid=11259224 |url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/osi-the-internet-that-wasnt }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Vinton Cerf: How the Internet Came to Be|url=http://www.netvalley.com/archives/mirrors/cerf-how-inet.html|access-date=2021-12-21|website=www.netvalley.com}}</ref> Pouzin coined the term ''[[catenet]]'' for concatenated network. [[Robert Metcalfe|Bob Metcalfe]] at [[PARC (company)|Xerox PARC]] outlined the idea of [[Ethernet]] and [[PARC Universal Packet]] (PUP) for [[internetworking]]. [[Robert E. Kahn|Bob Kahn]], now at [[DARPA]], recruited Vint Cerf to work with him on the problem. By 1973, these groups had worked out a fundamental reformulation, in which the differences between network protocols were hidden by using a common [[internetworking]] protocol. Instead of the network being responsible for reliability, as in the ARPANET, the hosts became responsible.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5">{{cite journal |last=Hauben |first=Ronda |year=2004 |title=The Internet: On its International Origins and Collaborative Vision |url=http://www.ais.org/~jrh/acn/ACn12-2.a03.txt |journal=Amateur Computerist |volume=12 |issue=2 |access-date=May 29, 2009}}</ref>

Cerf and Kahn published their ideas in May 1974,<ref name=":7">{{cite journal |last1=Cerf |first1=V. |last2=Kahn |first2=R. |title=A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication |journal=IEEE Transactions on Communications |date=May 1974 |volume=22 |issue=5 |pages=637–648 |doi=10.1109/TCOM.1974.1092259 |quote=The authors wish to thank a number of colleagues for helpful comments during early discussions of international network protocols, especially R. Metcalfe, R. Scantlebury, D. Walden, and H. Zimmerman; D. Davies and L. Pouzin who constructively commented on the fragmentation and accounting issues; and S. Crocker who commented on the creation and destruction of associations.}}</ref> which incorporated concepts implemented by Louis Pouzin and Hubert Zimmermann in the CYCLADES network.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Green |first=Lelia |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/504280762 |title=The internet: an introduction to new media |date=2010 |publisher=Berg |isbn=978-1-84788-299-8 |series=Berg new media series |page=31 |oclc=504280762 |quote=The original ARPANET design had made data integrity part of the IMP's store-and-forward role, but Cyclades end-to-end protocol greatly simplified the packet switching operations of the network. ... The idea was to adopt several principles from Cyclades and invert the ARPANET model to minimise international differences.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=13 December 2013|title=The internet's fifth man|work=Economist|url=https://www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21590765-louis-pouzin-helped-create-internet-now-he-campaigning-ensure-its|access-date=11 September 2017|quote=In the early 1970s Mr Pouzin created an innovative data network that linked locations in France, Italy and Britain. Its simplicity and efficiency pointed the way to a network that could connect not just dozens of machines, but millions of them. It captured the imagination of Dr Cerf and Dr Kahn, who included aspects of its design in the protocols that now power the internet.}}</ref> The specification of the resulting protocol, the [[Transmission Control Program]], was published as {{IETF RFC|675}} by the Network Working Group in December 1974.<ref>{{cite ietf |author1=[[Vint Cerf]] |author2=[[Yogen Dalal]] |author3=Carl Sunshine |date=December 1974 |RFC=675 |title=Specification of Internet Transmission Control Protocol}}</ref> It contains the first attested use of the term ''internet'', as a shorthand for internetwork. This software was monolithic in design using two [[simplex communication]] channels for each user session.

With the role of the network reduced to a core of functionality, it became possible to exchange traffic with other networks independently from their detailed characteristics, thereby solving the fundamental problems of internetworking. DARPA agreed to fund the development of prototype software. Testing began in 1975 through concurrent implementations at Stanford, BBN and [[University College London]] (UCL).<ref name=":4" /> After several years of work, the first demonstration of a gateway between the [[PRNET|Packet Radio network]] (PRNET) in the SF Bay area and the ARPANET was conducted by the [[SRI International|Stanford Research Institute]]. On November 22, 1977, a three network demonstration was conducted including the ARPANET, the SRI's [[Packet Radio Van]] on the Packet Radio Network and the [[Atlantic Packet Satellite Network]] (SATNET) including a node at UCL.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.computerhistory.org/about/press_relations/releases/20071101/ |access-date=November 22, 2007 |title=Computer History Museum and Web History Center Celebrate 30th Anniversary of Internet Milestone  }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.cnet.com/Internet-van-helped-drive-evolution-of-the-Web/2100-1033_3-6217511.html|title='Internet van' helped drive evolution of the Web|first=Erica|last=Ogg|work=[[CNET]]|date=2007-11-08|access-date=2011-11-12}}</ref>

The software was redesigned as a modular protocol stack, using full-duplex channels; between 1976 and 1977, [[Yogen Dalal]] and Robert Metcalfe among others, proposed separating TCP's [[routing]] and transmission control functions into two discrete layers,<ref name="Panzaris">{{cite book|last1=Panzaris|first1=Georgios|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9yMhAQAAIAAJ|title=Machines and romances: the technical and narrative construction of networked computing as a general-purpose platform, 1960–1995|date=2008|publisher=[[Stanford University]]|page=128|quote=Despite the misgivings of Xerox Corporation (which intended to make PUP the basis of a proprietary commercial networking product), researchers at Xerox PARC, including ARPANET pioneers Robert Metcalfe and Yogen Dalal, shared the basic contours of their research with colleagues at TCP and Internet working group meetings in 1976 and 1977, suggesting the possible benefits of separating TCPs routing and transmission control functions into two discrete layers.}}</ref><ref name="Pelkey-Dalal">{{cite book|last1=Pelkey|first1=James L.|title=Entrepreneurial Capitalism and Innovation: A History of Computer Communications, 1968–1988|date=2007|chapter=Yogen Dalal|access-date=5 September 2019|chapter-url=http://www.historyofcomputercommunications.info/Individuals/abstracts/yogen-dalal.html|archive-date=September 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905162105/http://www.historyofcomputercommunications.info/Individuals/abstracts/yogen-dalal.html}}</ref> which led to the splitting of the Transmission Control Program into the [[Transmission Control Protocol]] (TCP) and the [[Internet Protocol]] (IP) in version 3 in 1978.<ref name="Pelkey-Dalal" /><ref name=":0">{{cite web|title=BGP Analysis Reports|url=http://bgp.potaroo.net/index-bgp.html|access-date=2013-01-09}}</ref> [[IPv4|Version 4]] was described in [[IETF]] publication RFC 791 (September 1981), 792 and 793. It was installed on [[SATNET]] in 1982 and the ARPANET in January 1983 after the DoD made it standard for all military computer networking.<ref>{{Cite web|title=TCP/IP Internet Protocol|url=https://www.livinginternet.com/i/ii_tcpip.htm|access-date=2020-02-20|website=www.livinginternet.com|archive-date=July 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726154118/https://www.livinginternet.com/i/ii_tcpip.htm}}</ref><ref>{{cite ietf |author=[[Jon Postel]] |title=NCP/TCP Transition Plan |RFC= 801}}</ref> This resulted in a networking model that became known informally as TCP/IP. It was also referred to as the Department of Defense (DoD) model or DARPA model.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The TCP/IP Guide – TCP/IP Architecture and the TCP/IP Model|url=http://www.tcpipguide.com/free/t_TCPIPArchitectureandtheTCPIPModel.htm|access-date=2020-02-11|website=www.tcpipguide.com}}</ref> Cerf credits his graduate students Yogen Dalal, Carl Sunshine, [[Judy Estrin]], Richard A. Karp, and [[Gérard Le Lann]] with important work on the design and testing.<ref>{{cite web|date=24 April 1990|title=Smithsonian Oral and Video Histories: Vinton Cerf|url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/comphist/vc1.html|access-date=23 September 2019|website=[[National Museum of American History]]|publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]]}}</ref> DARPA sponsored or encouraged the [[Internet protocol suite#Adoption|development of TCP/IP implementations]] for many operating systems.

[[Image:IPv4 address structure and writing systems-en.svg|300px|thumb|Decomposition of the quad-dotted IPv4 address representation to its [[Binary numeral system|binary]] value]]

===From ARPANET to NSFNET===
{{Main|2 = NSFNET}}

[[File:InetCirca85.jpg|thumb|320px|[[BBN Technologies]] TCP/IP Internet map of early 1986]]

After the ARPANET had been up and running for several years, ARPA looked for another agency to hand off the network to; ARPA's primary mission was funding cutting-edge research and development, not running a communications utility. In July 1975, the network was turned over to the [[Defense Communications Agency]], also part of the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]]. In 1983, the [[U.S. military]] portion of the ARPANET was broken off as a separate network, the [[MILNET]]. MILNET subsequently became the unclassified but military-only [[NIPRNET]], in parallel with the SECRET-level [[SIPRNET]] and [[JWICS]] for TOP SECRET and above. NIPRNET does have controlled security gateways to the public Internet.

The networks based on the ARPANET were government funded and therefore restricted to noncommercial uses such as research; unrelated commercial use was strictly forbidden.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 1985 |title=ARPANET Information Brochure |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA164353.pdf |publisher=Defense Communication Agency}}</ref> This initially restricted connections to military sites and universities. During the 1980s, the connections expanded to more educational institutions, and a growing number of companies such as [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] and [[Hewlett-Packard]], which were participating in research projects or providing services to those who were. Data transmission speeds depended upon the type of connection, the slowest being analog telephone lines and the fastest using optical networking technology.

Several other branches of the [[Federal government of the United States|U.S. government]], the [[National Aeronautics and Space Administration]] (NASA), the [[National Science Foundation]] (NSF), and the [[United States Department of Energy|Department of Energy]] (DOE) became heavily involved in Internet research and started development of a successor to ARPANET. In the mid-1980s, all three of these branches developed the first Wide Area Networks based on TCP/IP. NASA developed the [[NASA Science Network]], NSF developed [[CSNET]] and DOE evolved the [[Energy Sciences Network]] or ESNet.

[[File:NSFNET-backbone-T3.png|thumb|320px|T3 NSFNET Backbone, c. 1992]]
NASA developed the TCP/IP based NASA Science Network (NSN) in the mid-1980s, connecting space scientists to data and information stored anywhere in the world. In 1989, the [[DECnet]]-based Space Physics Analysis Network (SPAN) and the TCP/IP-based NASA Science Network (NSN) were brought together at NASA Ames Research Center creating the first multiprotocol wide area network called the NASA Science Internet, or NSI. NSI was established to provide a totally integrated communications infrastructure to the NASA scientific community for the advancement of earth, space and life sciences. As a high-speed, multiprotocol, international network, NSI provided connectivity to over 20,000 scientists across all seven continents.

In 1981, NSF supported the development of the [[CSNET|Computer Science Network]] (CSNET). CSNET connected with ARPANET using TCP/IP, and ran TCP/IP over [[X.25]], but it also supported departments without sophisticated network connections, using automated dial-up mail exchange. CSNET played a central role in popularizing the Internet outside the ARPANET.<ref name=":10" />

In 1986, the NSF created [[NSFNET]], a 56&nbsp;kbit/s [[Internet backbone|backbone]] to support the NSF-sponsored [[supercomputer|supercomputing]] centers. The NSFNET also provided support for the creation of regional research and education networks in the United States, and for the connection of university and college campus networks to the regional networks.<ref>{{cite web |author1=David Roessner |author2=Barry Bozeman |author3=Irwin Feller |author4=Christopher Hill |author5=Nils Newman |title=The Role of NSF's Support of Engineering in Enabling Technological Innovation |year=1997 |url=http://www.sri.com/policy/csted/reports/techin/inter2.html |access-date=May 28, 2009  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219114437/http://www.sri.com/policy/csted/reports/techin/inter2.html |archive-date=December 19, 2008 }}</ref> The use of NSFNET and the regional networks was not limited to supercomputer users and the 56&nbsp;kbit/s network quickly became overloaded. NSFNET was upgraded to 1.5&nbsp;Mbit/s in 1988 under a cooperative agreement with the [[Merit Network]] in partnership with [[IBM]], [[MCI Communications|MCI]], and the [[State of Michigan]]. The existence of NSFNET and the creation of [[Federal Internet Exchange]]s (FIXes) allowed the ARPANET to be decommissioned in 1990.

NSFNET was expanded and upgraded to dedicated fiber, optical lasers and optical amplifier systems capable of delivering T3 start up speeds or 45&nbsp;Mbit/s in 1991. However, the T3 transition by MCI took longer than expected, allowing Sprint to establish a coast-to-coast long-distance commercial Internet service. When NSFNET was decommissioned in 1995, its optical networking backbones were handed off to several commercial Internet service providers, including MCI, [[PSINet|PSI Net]] and Sprint.<ref>{{cite report | title=Internet Traffic Exchange | series=OECD Digital Economy Papers | publisher=Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) | date=1 April 1998 | doi=10.1787/236767263531| doi-access=free }}</ref> As a result, when the handoff was complete, Sprint and its Washington DC Network Access Points began to carry Internet traffic, and by 1996, Sprint was the world's largest carrier of Internet traffic.<ref>{{cite press release |title=Sprint Boosts Fiber-Optic Network Capacity 1600 Percent |url=https://www.ciena.com/about/newsroom/press-releases/sprint-boosts-fiber-optic-network-capacity-1600-percent-prx.html |location=Kansas City, MO |publisher=Ciena Corporation |date=June 11, 1996 |access-date=December 20, 2022}}</ref>

The research and academic community continues to develop and use advanced networks such as [[Internet2]] in the United States and [[JANET]] in the United Kingdom.

===Transition towards the Internet===
The term "internet" was reflected in the first RFC published on the TCP protocol (RFC 675:<ref>{{cite ietf|rfc=675 |title=RFC 675 – Specification of internet transmission control program |year=1974 |doi=10.17487/RFC0675 |access-date=May 28, 2009|last1=Cerf |first1=V. |last2=Dalal |first2=Y. |last3=Sunshine |first3=C. }}</ref> Internet Transmission Control Program, December 1974) as a short form of ''internetworking'', when the two terms were used interchangeably. In general, an internet was a collection of networks linked by a common protocol. In the time period when the ARPANET was connected to the newly formed [[NSFNET]] project in the late 1980s, the term was used as the name of the network, Internet, being the large and global TCP/IP network.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tanenbaum |first=Andrew S. |author-link=Andrew S. Tanenbaum |title=Computer Networks |url=https://archive.org/details/computernetwork000tane |url-access=registration |year=1996 |publisher=Prentice Hall |isbn=978-0-13-394248-4 }}</ref>

Opening the Internet and the fiber optic backbone to corporate and consumers increased demand for network capacity. The expense and delay of laying new fiber led providers to test a fiber bandwidth expansion alternative that had been pioneered in the late 1970s by [[Optelecom]] using "interactions between light and matter, such as lasers and optical devices used for [[Optical amplifier|optical amplification]] and wave mixing".<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Saleh|first1=Bahaa EA|title=Fundamentals of Photonics|last2=Teich|first2=Malvin Carl|publisher=John Wiley and Son|year=2019|pages=Preface xxii}}</ref> This technology became known as [[Wavelength-division multiplexing|wave division multiplexing (WDM)]]. Bell Labs deployed a 4-channel WDM system in 1995.<ref name="Winzer Neilson Chraplyvy 2018 p. 24190">{{cite journal | last1=Winzer | first1=Peter J. | last2=Neilson | first2=David T. | last3=Chraplyvy | first3=Andrew R. | title=Fiber-optic transmission and networking: the previous 20 and the next 20 years | journal=Optics Express | publisher=The Optical Society | volume=26 | issue=18 | date=31 August 2018 | pages=24190–24239 | doi=10.1364/oe.26.024190 |pmid=30184909|s2cid=52168806|doi-access=free}}</ref> To develop a mass capacity (dense) WDM system, [[Optelecom]] and its former head of Light Systems Research, [[David R. Huber]] formed a new venture, [[Ciena Corp.]], that deployed the world's first dense WDM system on the Sprint fiber network in June 1996.<ref name="Winzer Neilson Chraplyvy 2018 p. 24190"/> This was referred to as the real start of optical networking.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Cvijetic | first1=M. | last2=Djordjevic | first2=I. | title=Advanced Optical Communication Systems and Networks | publisher=Artech House | series=Artech House applied photonics series | year=2013 | isbn=978-1-60807-555-3}}</ref>

As interest in networking grew by needs of collaboration, exchange of data, and access of remote computing resources, the Internet technologies spread throughout the rest of the world. The hardware-agnostic approach in TCP/IP supported the use of existing network infrastructure, such as the [[International Packet Switched Service]] (IPSS) X.25 network, to carry Internet traffic.

Many sites unable to link directly to the Internet created simple gateways for the transfer of electronic mail, the most important application of the time. Sites with only intermittent connections used [[UUCP]] or [[FidoNet]] and relied on the gateways between these networks and the Internet. Some gateway services went beyond simple mail peering, such as allowing access to [[File Transfer Protocol]] (FTP) sites via UUCP or mail.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftp.cac.psu.edu/pub/internexus/ACCESS.PROVIDRS|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020112024958/http://ftp.cac.psu.edu/pub/internexus/ACCESS.PROVIDRS|archive-date=January 12, 2002|title=Internet Access Provider Lists|access-date=May 10, 2012}}</ref>

Finally, routing technologies were developed for the Internet to remove the remaining centralized routing aspects. The [[Exterior Gateway Protocol]] (EGP) was replaced by a new protocol, the [[Border Gateway Protocol]] (BGP). This provided a meshed topology for the Internet and reduced the centric architecture which ARPANET had emphasized. In 1994, [[Classless Inter-Domain Routing]] (CIDR) was introduced to support better conservation of address space which allowed use of [[supernet|route aggregation]] to decrease the size of [[routing table]]s.<ref>{{cite ietf|rfc=1871 |title=RFC 1871 – CIDR and Classful Routing |date=November 1995 |access-date=May 28, 2009|last1=Postel |first1=Jon |doi=10.17487/RFC1871 }}</ref>

===Optical networking===
The [[MOS transistor]] underpinned the rapid growth of telecommunication bandwidth over the second half of the 20th century.<ref name="Jindal">{{cite book |last1=Jindal |first1=R. P. |title=2009 2nd International Workshop on Electron Devices and Semiconductor Technology |chapter=From millibits to terabits per second and beyond – over 60 years of innovation |date=2009 |chapter-url=https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/195547 |pages=1–6 |doi=10.1109/EDST.2009.5166093 |isbn=978-1-4244-3831-0 |s2cid=25112828}}</ref> To address the need for transmission capacity beyond that provided by [[radio]], [[satellite]] and analog copper telephone lines, engineers developed [[optical communication]]s systems based on [[Fiber-optic cable|fiber optic cables]] powered by [[laser]]s and [[optical amplifier]] techniques.

The concept of lasing arose from a 1917 paper by [[Albert Einstein]], "On the Quantum Theory of Radiation". Einstein expanded upon a conversation with [[Max Planck]] on how [[atom]]s absorb and emit [[light]], part of a thought process that, with input from [[Erwin Schrödinger]], [[Werner Heisenberg]] and others, gave rise to [[quantum mechanics]]. Specifically, in his quantum theory, Einstein mathematically determined that light could be generated not only by [[spontaneous emission]], such as the light emitted by an [[Incandescent light bulb|incandescent light]] or the Sun, but also by [[stimulated emission]].

Forty years later, on November 13, 1957, [[Columbia University]] physics student [[Gordon Gould]] first realized how to make light by stimulated emission through a process of [[optical amplification]]. He coined the term LASER for this technology—Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.<ref>{{cite book | last=Taylor | first=Nick | title=Laser: The Inventor, the Noble Laureate, and the Thirty-Year Patent War | publisher=Kensington Publishing Corporation | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-8065-2471-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VZ3dsdWRz6kC&pg=PA212 | page=212}}</ref> Using Gould's light amplification method (patented as "Optically Pumped Laser Amplifier"),<ref>{{cite patent |country=US |number=4053845A |title=Optically pumped laser amplifiers |status=patent}}</ref> [[Theodore Maiman]] made the first working laser on May 16, 1960.<ref>{{cite book | editor-last1=Garwin | editor-first1=Laura |editor-last2=Lincoln |editor-first2=Tim | title=A Century of Nature: Twenty-One Discoveries that Changed Science and the World |chapter=The first laser: Charles H. Townes | publisher=University of Chicago Press | year=2010 | isbn=978-0-226-28416-3 | page=105}}</ref>

Gould co-founded [[Optelecom]] in 1973 to commercialize his inventions in optical fiber telecommunications,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bertolotti|first=Mario|title=Masers and Lasers: An Historical Approach|publisher=CRC Press|year=2015|edition=2nd|location=Chicago|page=151}}</ref> just as [[Corning Glass]] was producing the first commercial fiber optic cable in small quantities. Optelecom configured its own fiber lasers and optical amplifiers into the first commercial optical communication systems which it delivered to [[Chevron Corporation|Chevron]] and the US Army Missile Defense.<ref>{{cite book | last=Taylor | first=Nick | title=Laser: The Inventor, the Nobel<!--sic: Google Books transcript is in error--> Laureate, and the Thirty-Year Patent War | publisher=Kensington | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-8065-2471-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VZ3dsdWRz6kC&pg=PA225 | pages=225–226}}</ref> Three years later, [[GTE]] deployed the first optical telephone system in 1977 in Long Beach, California.<ref>{{cite book | last=Kangovi | first=S. | title=Peering Carrier Ethernet Networks | publisher=Elsevier Science | year=2016 | isbn=978-0-12-809249-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8kLQDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA46 | page=46}}</ref> By the early 1980s, optical networks powered by lasers, [[LED]] and optical amplifier equipment supplied by [[Bell Labs]], [[NTT Docomo|NTT]] and [[Pirelli|Perelli]]{{clarify|reason=Pirelli is a tyre company. Were they really involved in telecoms? If so, why is this spelling retained?|date=February 2025}} were used by select universities and long-distance telephone providers.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

===TCP/IP goes global (1980s)===
====SATNET, CERN and the European Internet====
{{See also|Protocol Wars}}
In 1982, Norway ([[NORSAR]]/[[Norwegian Defence Research Establishment|NDRE]]) and [[Peter T. Kirstein|Peter Kirstein's]] research group at University College London (UCL) left the ARPANET and reconnected using TCP/IP over [[SATNET]].<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite IETF|title=Routing and Access Control in UK to US Services|ien=190}}</ref> There were 40 [[Internet in the United Kingdom#Early years|British research groups]] using UCL's link to ARPANET in 1975;<ref name=":9">{{cite journal |last1=Kirstein |first1=P.T. |title=Early experiences with the Arpanet and Internet in the United Kingdom |journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing |date=1999 |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=38–44 |doi=10.1109/85.759368 |s2cid=1558618 }}</ref> by 1984 there was a user population of about 150 people on both sides of the Atlantic.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kirstein |first=P. T. |date=December 1984 |title=The University College London International Computer Communications Interconnection Service |url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10076375/1/pub-102-D.pdf |journal=Internal Working Paper}}</ref>

Between 1984 and 1988, [[CERN]] began installation and operation of TCP/IP to interconnect its major internal computer systems, workstations, PCs, and an accelerator control system. CERN continued to operate a limited self-developed system (CERNET) internally and several incompatible (typically proprietary) network protocols externally. There was considerable resistance in Europe towards more widespread use of TCP/IP, and the CERN TCP/IP intranets remained isolated from the Internet until 1989, when a transatlantic connection to Cornell University was established.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last=Fluckiger|first=Francois|date=February 2000|title=The European Researchers' Network|url=https://fluckiger.web.cern.ch/Fluckiger/Articles/F.Fluckiger-The_European_Researchers_Network.pdf|journal=La Recherche|issue=328|access-date=February 20, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929121140/https://fluckiger.web.cern.ch/Fluckiger/Articles/F.Fluckiger-The_European_Researchers_Network.pdf|archive-date=September 29, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.internethalloffame.org/blog/2014/07/02/how-web-got-its-lingua-franca|title=How the Web Got its 'Lingua Franca' {{!}} Internet Hall of Fame|website=www.internethalloffame.org|date=July 2, 2014 |access-date=2020-04-03}}</ref><ref name="nsf">{{Cite web |title=The Internet—From Modest Beginnings |url=https://www.nsf.gov/about/history/nsf0050/internet/modest.htm  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161007113705/https://www.nsf.gov/about/history/nsf0050/internet/modest.htm |archive-date=2016-10-07 |work=NSF website |access-date=September 30, 2011}}</ref>

The [[CSNET|Computer Science Network]] (CSNET) began operation in 1981 to provide networking connections to institutions that could not connect directly to ARPANET. Its first international connection was to Israel in 1984. Soon after, connections were established to computer science departments in Canada, France, and Germany.<ref name=":10">{{Cite web|url=https://www.livinginternet.com/i/ii_csnet.htm|title=CSNET, Computer Science Network}}</ref>

In 1988, the first international connections to [[National Science Foundation Network|NSFNET]] was established by France's [[French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation|INRIA]],<ref name=":02">{{cite book |doi=10.4324/9781315748962-6 |chapter=From the Minitel to the Internet: The Path to Digital Literacy and Network Culture in France (1980s–1990s) |title=The Routledge Companion to Global Internet Histories |date=2017 |last1=Schafer |first1=Valérie |last2=Thierry |first2=Benjamin G. |pages=77–89 |isbn=978-1-315-74896-2 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rlwlDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT191 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=A brief history of the internet|url=http://thetechnologytrend.blogspot.com/2012/03/brief-history-of-internet.html|last=Andrianarisoa|first=Menjanirina|date=March 2, 2012}}{{user-generated inline|date=September 2023}}</ref> and [[Piet Beertema]] at the [[Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica]] (CWI) in the Netherlands.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cwi.nl/about/history/cwi-achievements-details|title=CWI History: details|website=CWI|language=en-gb|access-date=2020-02-09}}</ref> Daniel Karrenberg, from CWI, visited [[Ben Segal (computer scientist)|Ben Segal]], CERN's TCP/IP coordinator, looking for advice about the transition of [[EUnet]], the European side of the UUCP Usenet network (much of which ran over X.25 links), over to TCP/IP. The previous year, Segal had met with [[Len Bosack]] from the then still small company [[Cisco Systems|Cisco]] about purchasing some TCP/IP routers for CERN, and Segal was able to give Karrenberg advice and forward him on to Cisco for the appropriate hardware. This expanded the European portion of the Internet across the existing UUCP networks. The [[NORDUnet]] connection to NSFNET was in place soon after, providing open access for university students in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lehtisalo|first=Kaarina|url=http://www.nordu.net/history/TheHistoryOfNordunet_simple.pdf|title=The history of NORDUnet: twenty-five years of networking cooperation in the noridic countries|date=2005|publisher=NORDUnet|isbn=978-87-990712-0-3|language=en|access-date=May 2, 2020|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304031416/http://www.nordu.net/history/TheHistoryOfNordunet_simple.pdf}}</ref> 

In January 1989, CERN opened its first external TCP/IP connections.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Segal |first=Ben |author-link=Ben Segal (computer scientist) |title=A short history of Internet protocols at CERN |publisher=CERN |year=1995 |location=Geneva |publication-date=April 1995 |language=English |doi=10.17181/CERN_TCP_IP_history}}</ref> This coincided with the creation of Réseaux IP Européens ([[RIPE]]), initially a group of IP network administrators who met regularly to carry out coordination work together. Later, in 1992, RIPE was formally registered as a [[cooperative]] in Amsterdam.

The United Kingdom's [[national research and education network]] (NREN), [[JANET]], began operation in 1984 using the UK's [[Coloured Book protocols]] and connected to NSFNET in 1989. In 1991, JANET adopted Internet Protocol on the existing network.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=January 1991|title=FLAGSHIP|url=http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/ccd/literature/ccd_newsletters/flagship/p012.htm|journal=Central Computing Department Newsletter|issue=12|access-date=February 20, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213100220/http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/ccd/literature/ccd_newsletters/flagship/p012.htm|archive-date=February 13, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=September 1991|title=FLAGSHIP|url=http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/ccd/literature/ccd_newsletters/flagship/p016.htm|journal=Central Computing Department Newsletter|issue=16|access-date=February 20, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213100222/http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/ccd/literature/ccd_newsletters/flagship/p016.htm|archive-date=February 13, 2020}}</ref> The same year, Dai Davies introduced Internet technology into the pan-European NREN, [[DANTE|EuropaNet]], which was built on the X.25 protocol.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.internethalloffame.org/inductee/dai-davies/ |title=Dai Davies |website=Internet Hall of Fame }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.internethalloffame.org/2015/01/16/protocol-wars/ |title=Protocol Wars |website=Internet Hall of Fame |date=January 16, 2015 }}</ref> The [[European Academic and Research Network]] (EARN) and [[TERENA|RARE]] adopted IP around the same time, and the European Internet backbone [[EBONE]] became operational in 1992.<ref name=":6" />

Nonetheless, for a period in the late 1980s and early 1990s, engineers, organizations and nations were [[Protocol Wars|polarized over the issue of which standard]], the [[OSI model]] or the Internet protocol suite would result in the best and most robust computer networks.<ref name="ieee201703" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Russell |first1=A.L. |title='Rough Consensus and Running Code' and the Internet-OSI Standards War |journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing |date=July 2006 |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=48–61 |doi=10.1109/MAHC.2006.42 |s2cid=206442834 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url={{Google books|DN-t8MpZ0-wC|page=106|plainurl=yes}} |title=The Protocol Wars |pages=106–107 }} in  {{cite book |doi=10.1002/9783527629336.ch4 |chapter=Different Approaches |title=A History of International Research Networking |date=2010 |pages=73–110 |isbn=978-3-527-32710-2 |first1=Howard |last1=Davies |first2=Beatrice |last2=Bressan }}</ref>

====The link to the Pacific====
Japan, which had built the UUCP-based network [[JUNET]] in 1984, connected to CSNET,<ref name=":10" /> and later to NSFNET in 1989, marking the spread of the Internet to Asia.

South Korea set up a two-node domestic TCP/IP network in 1982, the System Development Network (SDN), adding a third node the following year. SDN was connected to the rest of the world in August 1983 using UUCP (Unix-to-Unix-Copy); connected to CSNET in December 1984;<ref name=":10" /> and formally connected to the NSFNET in 1990.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://net.its.hawaii.edu/history/Korean_Internet_History.pdf |title=A Brief History of the Internet in Korea |author=Kilnam Chon |author2=Hyunje Park |author3=Kyungran Kang |author4=Youngeum Lee }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=A Brief History of the Internet in Korea (2005) – 한국 인터넷 역사 프로젝트 |url=https://sites.google.com/site/koreainternethistory/publication/brief-history-korea-eng-ver |access-date=2016-05-30 |website=sites.google.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Shrum |first1=Wesley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cNFOD_g7xXIC&pg=PA55 |title=Past, Present and Future of Research in the Information Society |last2=Benson |first2=Keith |last3=Bijker |first3=Wiebe |last4=Brunnstein |first4=Klaus |date=2007-12-14 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-0-387-47650-6 |page=55 |language=en}}</ref>

In Australia, ad hoc networking to ARPA and in-between Australian universities formed in the late 1980s, based on various technologies such as X.25, [[UUCP]]Net, and via a CSNET.<ref name=":10" /> These were limited in their connection to the global networks, due to the cost of making individual international UUCP dial-up or X.25 connections. In 1989, Australian universities joined the push towards using IP protocols to unify their networking infrastructures. [[AARNet]] was formed in 1989 by the [[Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee]] and provided a dedicated IP based network for Australia.

New Zealand adopted the UK's [[Coloured Book protocols]] as an interim standard and established its first international IP connection to the U.S. in 1989.<ref>{{Cite web|title=History of University of Waikato: University of Waikato|url=https://www.waikato.ac.nz/about/history.shtml|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801155046/https://www.waikato.ac.nz/about/history.shtml|archive-date=2020-08-01|access-date=2020-02-09|website=www.waikato.ac.nz}}</ref>

====A "digital divide" emerges====
[[File:InternetPenetrationWorldMap.svg|thumb|360px|<div style="text-align: center;">'''[[List of countries by number of Internet users|Internet users in 2023 as a percentage of a country's population]]'''</div><small>Source: [[International Telecommunication Union]].<ref name=ITU-IndividualsUsingTheInternet>{{citation |url=http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/statistics/2013/Individuals_Internet_2000-2012.xls |title=Percentage of Individuals using the Internet 2000–2012 |publisher=International Telecommunication Union |location=Geneva |date=June 2013 |format=XLS}}</ref></small>]]
{{Main|Global digital divide|Digital divide}}

[[File:FixedBroadbandInternetPenetrationWorldMap.svg|thumb |360px |<div style="text-align: center;">'''[[List of countries by number of broadband Internet subscriptions|Fixed broadband Internet subscriptions in 2012]]<br/>as a percentage of a country's population'''</div>Source: [[International Telecommunication Union]].<ref name="FixedBroadbandITUDynamic2012">{{citation |url=http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ICTEYE/Reporting/DynamicReportWizard.aspx |title=Fixed (wired)-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 2012 |format=Dynamic Report |publisher=ITU ITC EYE, [[International Telecommunication Union]]}}</ref>]]

[[File:MobileBroadbandInternetPenetrationWorldMap 2013.svg|thumb |360px |<div style="text-align: center;">'''[[List of countries by number of broadband Internet subscriptions|Mobile broadband Internet subscriptions in 2012]]<br/>as a percentage of a country's population'''</div>Source: [[International Telecommunication Union]].<ref name="MobleBroadbandITUDynamic2012">{{citation |url=http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ICTEYE/Reporting/DynamicReportWizard.aspx |title=Active mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 2012 |format=Dynamic Report |publisher=ITU ITC EYE, [[International Telecommunication Union]]}}</ref>]]

While developed countries with technological infrastructures were joining the Internet, [[Developing country|developing countries]] began to experience a [[digital divide#Global digital divide|digital divide]] separating them from the Internet. On an essentially continental basis, they built organizations for Internet resource administration and to share operational experience, which enabled more transmission facilities to be put into place.

====Africa====
At the beginning of the 1990s, African countries relied upon X.25 [[International Packet Switched Service|IPSS]] and 2400 baud modem UUCP links for international and internetwork computer communications.

In August 1995, InfoMail Uganda, Ltd., a privately held firm in Kampala now known as InfoCom, and NSN Network Services of Avon, Colorado, sold in 1997 and now known as Clear Channel Satellite, established Africa's first native TCP/IP high-speed satellite Internet services. The data connection was originally carried by a C-Band RSCC Russian satellite which connected InfoMail's Kampala offices directly to NSN's MAE-West point of presence using a private network from NSN's leased ground station in New Jersey. InfoCom's first satellite connection was just 64&nbsp;kbit/s, serving a Sun host computer and twelve US Robotics dial-up modems.

In 1996, a [[USAID]] funded project, the [[Leland Initiative]], started work on developing full Internet connectivity for the continent. [[Guinea]], Mozambique, [[Madagascar]] and [[Rwanda]] gained [[satellite earth station]]s in 1997, followed by [[Ivory Coast]] and [[Benin]] in 1998.

Africa is building an Internet infrastructure. [[AFRINIC]], headquartered in [[Mauritius]], manages IP address allocation for the continent. As with other Internet regions, there is an operational forum, the Internet Community of Operational Networking Specialists.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://icons.afrinic.net/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070509143416/http://icons.afrinic.net/  |archive-date=May 9, 2007 |title=ICONS webpage |publisher=Icons.afrinic.net |access-date=May 28, 2009 }}</ref>

There are many programs to provide high-performance transmission plant, and the western and southern coasts have undersea optical cable. High-speed cables join North Africa and the Horn of Africa to intercontinental cable systems. Undersea cable development is slower for East Africa; the original joint effort between [[NEPAD|New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD)]] and the East Africa Submarine System (Eassy) has broken off and may become two efforts.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.fmtech.co.za/?p=209 | title = Nepad, Eassy partnership ends in divorce | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423094056/http://www.fmtech.co.za/?p=209 | archive-date=April 23, 2012 | website=South African Financial Times }}</ref>

====Asia and Oceania====
The [[APNIC|Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC)]], headquartered in Australia, manages IP address allocation for the continent. APNIC sponsors an operational forum, the Asia-Pacific Regional Internet Conference on Operational Technologies (APRICOT).<ref>{{cite web |date=May 4, 2009 |title=APRICOT webpage |url=http://www.apricot.net/ |access-date=May 28, 2009 |publisher=Apricot.net}}</ref>

In South Korea, VDSL, a last mile technology developed in the 1990s by NextLevel Communications, connected corporate and consumer copper-based telephone lines to the Internet.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://article.wn.com/view/2000/09/11/Next_Level_Communications_Inc_Next_Level_Announces_Purchase_/ |title=Next Level Communications, Inc. - Next Level Announces Purchase Order For DSL Equipment in South Korea From Hansol Electronics |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=September 11, 2000  |publisher=[[Business Wire]] |access-date=December 20, 2022}}</ref>

The People's Republic of China established its first TCP/IP college network, [[Tsinghua University]]'s TUNET in 1991. The PRC went on to make its first global Internet connection in 1994, between the Beijing Electro-Spectrometer Collaboration and [[Stanford University]]'s Linear Accelerator Center. However, China went on to implement its own digital divide by implementing a country-wide [[Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China|content filter]].<ref>{{cite web |title=A brief history of the Internet in China |url=http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;854351844;pp;2;fp;2;fpid;1 |access-date=December 25, 2005 |work=China celebrates 10 years of being connected to the Internet |archive-date=October 21, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081021161952/http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;854351844;pp;2;fp;2;fpid;1  }}</ref>

Japan hosted the annual meeting of the [[Internet Society]], INET'92, in [[Kobe]]. Singapore developed [[TechNet (computer network)|TECHNET]] in 1990, and Thailand gained a global Internet connection between Chulalongkorn University and UUNET in 1992.<ref>{{cite web |title=Internet History in Asia |url=http://www.apan.net/meetings/busan03/cs-history.htm  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060201035514/http://apan.net/meetings/busan03/cs-history.htm |archive-date=February 1, 2006 |access-date=December 25, 2005 |work=16th APAN Meetings/Advanced Network Conference in Busan}}</ref>

====Latin America====
As with the other regions, [[LACNIC|the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (LACNIC)]] manages the IP address space and other resources for its area. LACNIC, headquartered in Uruguay, operates DNS root, reverse DNS, and other key services.