Editing Internet backbone (section)

==History==
{{more|History of the Internet}}
The first packet-switched computer networks, the [[NPL network]] and the [[ARPANET]] were interconnected in 1973 via [[University College London]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kirstein|first=P.T.|date=1999|title=Early experiences with the Arpanet and Internet in the United Kingdom|url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4773/f19792f9fce8eacba72e5f8c2a021414e52d.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207092443/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4773/f19792f9fce8eacba72e5f8c2a021414e52d.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2020-02-07|journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing|volume=21|issue=1|pages=38–44|doi=10.1109/85.759368|s2cid=1558618|issn=1934-1547}}</ref> The ARPANET used a backbone of routers called [[Interface Message Processor]]s. Other packet-switched computer networks proliferated starting in the 1970s, eventually adopting TCP/IP protocols or being replaced by newer networks. 

The National Science Foundation created the [[National Science Foundation Network]] (NSFNET) in 1986 by funding six networking sites using {{gaps|56|kbit/s}} interconnecting links, with peering to the ARPANET. In 1987, this new network was upgraded to {{gaps|1.5|Mbit/s}} [[T-carrier|T1]] links for thirteen sites. These sites included regional networks that in turn connected over 170 other networks. [[IBM]], [[MCI Communications|MCI]] and [[Merit Network|Merit]] upgraded the backbone to {{gaps|45|Mbit/s}} bandwidth ([[T-carrier|T3]]) in 1991.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kende|first=M.|title=The Digital Handshake: Connecting Internet Backbones|journal=Journal of Communications Law & Policy|year=2000|volume=11|pages=1–45}}</ref> The combination of the ARPANET and NSFNET became known as the Internet. Within a few years, the dominance of the NSFNet backbone led to the decommissioning of the redundant ARPANET infrastructure in 1990.

In the early days of the Internet, backbone providers exchanged their traffic at government-sponsored [[network access point]]s (NAPs), until the government privatized the Internet and transferred the NAPs to commercial providers.<ref name="crossroads">{{cite book|title=Digital Crossroads|url=https://archive.org/details/digitalcrossroad00jona|url-access=registration|author=Jonathan E. Nuechterlein|author2=Philip J. Weiser|year=2005 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=9780262140911 }}</ref>