This week in CS History – 21/11/1969 – The beginning of the internet takes shape
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On 21/11/1969 the first permanent link was made between UCLA and Stanford Research Institute in the United States on what was then known as the ARPANET. This was the first linked system on the APANET and the precursor to what would become the internet that we know now.
While electronically connected, the computers that were connected didn’t actually do much as the Network Control Program was only implemented in 1970 and this included Telnet and FTP.
While the network was ‘operational’ in 1971, it wasn’t until email was established in 1973 that traffic really started to grow.
The linking of these 2 machines proved that electronic communications could be established over a large distance. Many companies who were asked to tender for the implementation of this project believed it wouldn’t work and simply didn’t submit a tender. While seemingly insignificant, this connection was really the birth of the internet and started a chain reaction of different connections that would eventually connect computers devices and people together.