Arpanet is a WAN or wide area network that was created in 1969 by the Advanced Research Projects Agency or ARPA, where it got its name. It served as a testbed for the development of protocols without which the modern Internet simply would not work – IP and TCP. Both protocols were tested, researched and developed on and through Arpanet. Initially, the only people with access were researchers and employees of a few select universities.
Technipages Explains Arpanet
Specifically, employees that held a research contract with the Department of Defense. As of 1983, a high-security subdivision was split off, named Milnet. The rest of it was recast again as a research and development network that was supervised by the NSF or National Science Foundation. The NSF ended up constructing the backdrop for a new TCP/IP-based network that was called NSFnet.
It too grew to include several universities in its network, while other networks began to consolidate into larger systems around the same time. This new collection of networks and gateways was soon enough known as the Internet.
The remnants of the NSFnet were decommissioned in 1990. Between 1969 and 1990, Arpanet had grown from only 4 connected machines to a total of 111 across continental Europe and North America. The research network was still not openly accessible to just anyone, but it did offer a lot of international opportunities that would have likely not existed without it by the time it had started expanding to include more than those 4 original locations.
The infrastructure of Arpanet was inferior and dated – the network wasn’t as efficient or powerful by the time the NSFnet was established. By the time the Arpanet was fully decommissioned, the US had a nationwide computer network that linked together a lot of resources and people, which was the original mission goal of Arpanet – it had fulfilled its purpose.
Common Uses of Arpanet
- Arpanet expanded from 4 sites to 111 over the span of a decade and a half.
- DARPA decommissioned Arpanet in 1990.
- Arpanet was a scientific breakthrough that ended up creating several spin-offs for military and research purposes.
Common Misuses of Arpanet
- Arpanet was a pre-stage of the modern Internet and based on the same principles.