May 15, 2008, 1:33 pm

T171 You, Your Computer and the Net

TCP/IP and the growth of the Internet

ARPANET

 

The decision, in 1968, by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), to award Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc. (BBN) the contract to build a network of Interface Message Processors (IMPs), was the product of intensive efforts by the US Department of Defense (DoD) to resolve a number of complex issues. Originating from a desire to reclaim a technological advantage over the USSR, perceived as lost in the wake of Russia's launch of Sputnik in 1957, successive American governments generously funded a number of scientific projects.

Inspired by the influential work of JCR Licklider, together with the efforts of Bob Taylor and Larry Roberts, ARPA developed a plan to construct a network of widely dispersed computers. The intention was to solve the problem of linking incompatible mainframes that were housed in universities and research laboratories across the USA.

Go here for a map of the proposed ARPANET network, December 1969.

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Copyright © 2008 John McSweeney