Video History Project

Chronology

DARPA

Date
1973
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) initiated a research program to investigate techniques and technologies for interlinking packet networks of various kinds. The objective was to develop communication protocols which would allow networked computers to communicate transparently across multiple, linked packet networks. This was called the Internetting project and the system of networks which emerged from the research was known as the "Internet." The system of protocols which was developed over the course of this research effort became known as the TCP/IP Protocol Suite, after the two initial protocols developed: Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP).
Cite this record

"DARPA." Video History Project, Experimental Television Center, 2011. https://www.videohistoryproject.org/darpa.

Download RIS citation
Summary

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) initiated a research program to investigate techniques and technologies for interlinking packet networks; the objective was to develop communication protocols enabling networked computers to communicate transparently across multiple linked packet networks. The effort was called the Internetting project and produced a system of networks known as the Internet; the protocols developed during the research became known as the TCP/IP Protocol Suite after the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP).

Submit a change or correction

If unchecked, this will appear as a public note on the site immediately. Spam filters may delay publication, but all submissions are reviewed by staff.

Changes will be reviewed and integrated as time permits. For major changes, feel free to email [email protected].

Last modified 16 May 2011

Related records

  • Transmission control protocol Chronology

    Transmission control protocol TCP established and Internet Protocol for use with ARPANET. This leads to one of the first definitions of an "internet" as a connected set of networks, specifically those using TCP/IP, and "Internet" as connected TCP/IP internets

  • USENET Chronology

    USENET established,. Packet radio experiments. Computer science departments established at academic institutions 1975 - 1979

  • BITNET Chronology

    BITNET (Because It's Time Network) began as a cooperative network at CUNY and provided email, a listserv and file transfer. It adopted the IBM RSCS protocol suite and used direct leased-line connections; most original links were between IBM mainframes in university data centers, with protocol implementations later enabling other machines. BITNET served users across academic disciplines and offered services such as LISTSERV; by the time of writing it and parallel networks (e.g., EARN in Europe) comprised several thousand participating sites and established a TCP/IP backbone with RSCS-based applications running above TCP.

  • The Internet Activities Board Chronology

    The Internet Activities Board (IAB) was created in 1983 to guide evolution of the TCP/IP protocol suite and to provide research advice; it comprises the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for protocol evolution and standardization and the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) for advanced networking research. A secretariat supports both bodies; the IETF meets three times a year and its working groups meet by electronic mail, electronic conferencing and face-to-face, while the IAB meets quarterly. RFC publication is handled by an RFC editor; IANA and an Internet Registry record and allocate network and autonomous system identifiers and maintain the DNS root.

  • ARPANET Chronology

    ARPANET design discussions held, meetings among three independent teams working on packet networks (RAND, NLP- National Physics Lab in England - and ARPA)

  • CSNET Chronology

    Funded by the National Science Foundation, CSNET provided networking for university, industry and government computer science research groups; it used the Phonenet MMDF protocol for telephone-based electronic mail relaying and pioneered TCP/IP over X.25 on commercial public data networks. The CSNET name server provided an early white pages directory service whose software remains in use at numerous sites; at its peak CSNET included approximately 200 participating sites and had international connections to approximately fifteen countries.