GPTSheildTechnology Archive
Technology area

Digital networks

Connecting computers required new ideas about how to divide, address, and deliver data. This area follows the first networks, the consolidation of common protocols, and the creation of the Web, distinguishing the physical network, the protocols, and the applications built on top of them.

Articles

ReadIn progress
Network cables plugged into equipment panels in a rack.
Digital networks

The Formation of the First Computer Networks

From packet switching to ARPANET, Ethernet and TCP/IP, how isolated computers began exchanging data between the 1960s and the 1980s.

6 min read·1960s–1980s
ReadIn progress
A laptop displaying a web page, seen at an angle.
Digital networks

The Creation and Expansion of the Web

The Web began as a proposal to organize documents at CERN in 1989 and grew into a public system of linked pages, distinct from the Internet that carries it.

7 min read·Proposed in 1989; public service from 1991

Milestones

  1. 1969

    First ARPANET nodes

    Between October and December 1969, the first computers are linked by the ARPANET, a network funded by the United States government.

    Read: First networks →
  2. 1983

    TCP/IP on the ARPANET

    On January 1, 1983, the ARPANET officially adopts the TCP/IP protocol suite.

    Read: First networks →
  3. 1989–1991

    The Web is born

    Tim Berners-Lee proposes the system at CERN in 1989. The service becomes public in 1991.

    Read: The Web →

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