Author:  Terry Crawford

September 24, 2006

    With the near-universal changeover to TCP/IP protocols shortly after 1982, the word INTERNET became the common term to referring to the worldwide network of research, military, and university computers.

     In 1983, ARPAnet was divided into ARPAnet and MILNET. MILNET was soon integrated into the Defense Data Network (created in 1982). In 1986, NSFNET (the National Science Foundation NETwork) was created, with the aid of NASA and the Department of Energy, for the purpose of providing an improved backbone speed of 56 Kbps. In 1989, NSFNET was overhauled for faster T1 line connectivity and ARPAnet was finally retired in 1990.

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