How the First Computer Network Changed the World

---

Story of the Internet
Part 1: A Fact that Provoked the Idea of the Internet
Part 2: The First Computer Network to be Created
Part 3: How the First Computer Network Changed the World ( Current post)

---

The first Network ever to be created was called ARPAnet. It was ARPA's project and the man incharge was Bob Taylor.
Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN) was the highest bidding team, and the effects of ARPAnet began to be fully experienced immediately the Network became a living reality. The fear of losing computer power that enveloped the hosts during the busy discussions, when ARPAnet was still a plan, was confirmed otherwise. Contrary to the Initial worries, the hosts gained from the communication network. They could work together on projects and not repeat each others work. And this saved as well as earned ARPA money just as Bob Taylor had contempleted.

Furthermore, it was not long when an engineer at BBN, Cambridge, Massachusetts, could contact the telephone companies and...

"Your line between Santa Barbara and Utah ain't working properly"
"At which end are you?" The telephone companies could ask curiously.
"Neither, I'm in Cambridge"
"But how can you..." The telephone crew were confused.

This was because the IMPs (small mainframe computers that that were connecting two host computers facilitating their communication) were designed to make constant checks on the condition of the network, making its engineers at a position that they would know more about the performance of the telephone lines than the telephone companies that owned and operated them.

So were there new possibilities, for instance, BBN was able to send new a software to the IMPs, immediately, as soon as they were coded. The BBN could also fix an IMP problem from Cambridge, Massachusetts - many hundreds of Kilometers away. But the biggest surprise was that the network was soon being used mostly for something that was never part of Bob Taylor's plan - chat. Technically, the network worked exactly as it was designed to. Yet by 1973, three-quarters of all the traffic on ARPAnet was nothing to do woth sharing data or programs or logging onto distance computers. It was electronic mail - e-mail.

Ray Tomlinson was the first peson to send an e-mail on ARPAnet. Ray, an engineer and in 1972, invented a simple program for sending files between computers. The software opened a connection, sent a file to another computer and then sent a message back to say that the file had arrived safely at its destination. Since e-mail boxes in computers are really just files, the next step was simple. Tomlinson changed his program so that it carried a mail message from one computer and added it to a mail box file of another computer. This is how the era began.

But the speed at which e-mail spread was surprising. Almost as soon as it was introduced, it took over the network. Today, there are more individual messages sent on the Internet more than data of any other kind. And, being the person who chose the '@' sign, which means at in e-mail address, Ray Tomlinson has left his mark on every single one of the billions of e-mails that have been sent ever since 1972.

Part 4: The Creation of the Internet.

The First Computer Network to be Created

The creation of the first computer network in 1969, proved the fact that computers are machines that could be linked to form an effective communication network.

This post makes part 2 of the story of the Internet. You don't want to miss part 1, do you? Part 1: A Fact that Provoked the Idea of the Internet.

---

Story of the Internet
Part 1: A Fact that Provoked the Idea of the Internet
Part 2: The First Computer Network to be Created (the current post)

---

The tender that was announced to build the first computer network ever, was clear and straight to the point. This was sent to about 140 technology companies, and it was received well. But after critical analysis, a huge percentage of the replies was pessimistic. Most said the job was impossible. The leading companies, during then, IBM (International Business Machines) and Control Data Corporation, were no exception. Similar were the telephone companies with the AT&T controlling the long-distance phone calls in US then. "It's openly impossible".

The Bright Side
On the other hand, there were companies with great plans about this same project, and there was nothing to distract them. Later, the incoming bids proved very competitive that Bob Taylor, the man incharge of ARPA computer projects, had a lot of work to come to a decision. His profound intentions in the judgment was broadly directed towards ARPA's success, and so did he want to be diplomatic. All in all, there is always a winning side.

The Winner
BBN (Bolt, Beranek & Newman) finally won the bid. This was slitely after beating Raytheon - a much bigger company, which was a tough competitor. The BBN of Cambridge, Massachusetts, came up with a programme that the network could run even under heavy loads and this was to be ten times faster that the ARPA was asking.

The Techology
The project start time was the beginning of 1969. The deadline, 1st September the same year: 1969. The technology employed was Packet Switching - an efficient way to send data electronically. The message is broken down into pieces called packets and sent out to communication network. Each packet is free to find the best route to its destination. This means that there is no need for the data to travel together, or in a particular order. Packet Switching was to take advantage of the digital technology, where the digital signals (binary digits) are easy to break and put back together again without losing any data {Check out for Modulation and Demodulation}.

The Architecture
The network architecture was specific. An IMP was to be built and connected between each mainframe computer. This was because the ARPA's four machines were speaking different languages hence couldn't communicate directly. The IMP was to learn one more language, its host's language, in order to facilitate communication between the computers in the network.

Frank Heart, the man incharge of the BBN team, based the IMP's hardware on the Honeywell's DDP-516 (a computer that could work even after being crashed by a hammer). This was to avoid the IMPs breaking down crisis since they were the heart of the network.

The software that the BBN team designed was one that could work even when the hardware didn't. And, this is just the way the Internet works today. This was to have the ability to understand how to avoid a broken hardware; to be able to detect if a packet hasn't been sent; and to resend the packet using a different route.

But, nobody understands why the BBN team was given so little time for the project. The thing that is Universally approved is that Frank Heart led a great team. By 27th August 1969, the first IMP was delivered to UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles), and the second one to Stanford Research Institute on 1st October 1969. The IMPs for the two more hosts at Utah and Santa Barbara were completed and connected to the ARPAnet before the end of 1969. This made Bob Taylor's dream of a four computer network a living great success for both the hosts and the ARPA.

Part 3: How the First Computer Network Changed the World

A Fact That Provoked The Creation Of The Internet

The Internet today has surpassed the expectations of the world yesterday by far. Interestingly, the giant network of networks only came from an idea. And, my curious question to you is:

What provoked the idea of the Internet?

This is actually the beginning of the remarkable story of the Internet...

In the Beginning
The time was during the end of the second world war and the year 1957. The United States of America was the world's greatest nation, super-power, the richest nation and it was growing richer all the time. But then there was a breaking news, a news that arrived shocking America's belief in itself: "The Russians are in space!".

Sputnik 1
This was the evening of 4th October the same year - 1957, and the US President during then, Dwight D. Eisenhower was very much disturbed. He did not like surprises, not to mention from the Russians.Until this moment America believed that their nation was the most powerful on Earth. But the Soviet Union had gone beyond the Earth. This was the time of the cold war. A war that was not just about armies and weapons. A war that was also of Technology and ideas. Each side presented its successes in Science and Technology as proof that its political system was better. And, here was the Soviet Union - the America's greatest enemy, with the first satelite ever: The Sputnik 1, in Space.

The Sputnik 1 had an electronic beep... beep... beep sound that could be heard over millions of radios all over the world. It measured only 58 cm across, but most importantly, every 96 minutes it crossed the skies of the US like a new moon, a Russian moon.

Although Sputnik 1 was a clear and existing fact precisely to the point that the Russians were making it, the US had no room to admit defeat.

"What are we going to do about this?" President Eisenhower asked his Secretary of Defense, Neil McElroy.
"There is no real reason to worry," McElroy replied. "Sputnik is not a danger for us. Our Scientists are better than their Scientists." He explained.
But that was not Mr. President's worry. He simply did not like surprises. He didn't want to be surprised like this again.
"In future we will make sure that we are ahead of the Russians in all important technologies."
"What are you suggesting Mr. President?" The Secretary of Defense asked.

ARPA
President Eisenhower was suggesting a new department that would direct all the high Technology work. He wanted all his best Scientists, in the world, to keep US ahead of the Russians. He was demanding more concentration and efforts in technological development which lead to the formation of ARPA.

ARPA (Advanced Research Project Agency) , was sooner than expected spending millions of dollars on research into new Science and Technology. In lonely laboratories deep in the desert and mountains of the US, brilliant men and women explored extraordinary new ideas. Scientists build bombs that could spread terrible diseases; Engineers made plans for war in space; and, Psychologists tried to train people to communicate through the power of thought alone. But, much effort in the earliest projects were aimed at winning the 'space race' the Sputnik had proudly started.

It was not long when NASA ( National Aeronautics and Space Administration) took over the space project. NASA captured Americas imagination all through the 1960s, especially after President Kennedy announced his plan to land man on the moon.

The New Focus
While NASA filled the news, ARPA on the other hand, worked quietly in computing: an area that would prove far much important than space travel.

Computers were still a very new technology at this time. They were less common than Rolls-Royce cars, and more expensive. They costed million of dollars and were the size of an apartment, mainly used for Mathematics. And, they were mostly owned by Universities, the government and large companies.

Luckily, ARPA had both time and space to continue with its projects at its own pace. On the contrary, there was still a problem. ARPA was using so much money to pay different people for doing the same work and, only one person had noticed this.

Solving the puzzle
Bob Taylor, the man incharge of ARPA's computer projects, realized that computers were not just machines that could calculate, they could communicate as well. And his solution for this problem he had discovered was ARPAnet. ARPAnet was to be a computer network - a collection of computers linked together using a transmission media with the objective of communication and resource sharing, the first computer network ever, by joining four mainframe computer which were at UCLA ( University of California in Los Angeles), Stanford Research Institute, Utah and Santa Barbara respectively.

ARPAnet
"A computer network?" Taylor's idea sounded insane during then, and the ready answer was: "Impossible". "How?" Everyone seemed to be asking, "this are different computers operating on different languages?" They argued. But Bob Taylor was convinced and optimistic. He managed to convince has senior and a new project was on: the construction of ARPAnet.

The matter was discussed, ideas noted and finally, the tender was announced.

Part 2: The First Computer Network ever to be Created