Background and History of TCPIP

Background and History of TCP/IP

In the late 1960s, Stanford University received funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to create and deliver a protocol meeting the requirements of the four-layer Department of Defense model for data communication. The specification further required full utilization of packet-switching technology, ability to communicate between dissimilar networks, and, as this was the height of the cold war, complete survivability despite the end of civilization.

The project was successful and the resulting protocols (collectively called TCP/IP) became the cornerstone of the Defense Department's data communications network called ARPAnet . ARPAnet expanded to include universities participating in Defense Department research, and as more people became accustomed to efficient global data communications, the pressure to extend the capabilities also grew. Eventually, segments of the network branched off into non-military areas. Two of the larger branches became The National Science Foundation network (NSFnet) and a series of loosely defined networks called the Internet.