Trends
Who builds the internet’s infrastructure?
The establishment of the Internet infrastructure is the result of multifaceted and interdisciplinary cooperation.
Headline
The establishment of the Internet infrastructure is the result of multifaceted and interdisciplinary cooperation.
Context
The development of the infrastructure of the internet is a complex and multi-year process, involving the contributions of many different organisations and individuals. These include government agencies, academia, private companies to international organisations. Also read: What is internet infrastructure? Also read: How is cloud computing different from traditional IT infrastructure?
Evidence
Pending intelligence enrichment.
Analysis
The origins of the internet can be traced back to the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network ( ARPANET ) project funded by the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency ( DARPA ) in the 1960s. This was a network project designed to enable reliable communications between military bases, government agencies and universities. ARPANET initially connected the University of California, Los Angeles ( UCLA ), the Stanford Research Institute ( SRI ), the University of California, Santa Barbara ( UCSB ) and the University of Utah. This project later proved that packet-switching technology was an efficient and reliable way of communicating data, and this technology became the core of what would later become the internet technology. Also read: What is virtual server infrastructure? Academia played an integral role in the development of the internet. Numerous universities and research institutes were not only the main users of the early networks, but also the developers of many key technologies and protocols.
Key Points
- The origins of the internet can be traced back to the ARPANET project funded by the United States’ Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the 1960s.
- The Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), co-developed by Wiington Cerf and Robert Kahn, was the basic communications protocol that made the internet possible.
- Telecommunications companies such as AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and other global communications companies have invested in many infrastructure network facilities, including undersea fibre optic cables and terrestrial broadband networks.
Actions
Pending intelligence enrichment.
