ARPANET

Updated: 09/12/2023 by Computer Hope

Short for Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, ARPANET or ARPAnet began development in 1966 by the United States ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency). ARPANET was a Wide Area Network linking many Universities and research centers, was first to use packet switching, and was the beginning of what we consider the Internet today. ARPANET was created to make it easier for people to access computers, improve computer equipment, and to have a more effective communication method for the military.

ARPANET started when the first two nodes were established between UCLA and SRI (Stanford Research Institute) in 1969, followed shortly by UCSB (University of California, Santa Barbara) and the University of Utah. The picture below is an example of what ARPANET looked like in March 1977. Click the image for a larger view.

ARPANET logical map from 1977.

ARPANET completed its transition to TCP/IP on January 2, 1983, was later replaced by NSFNET (National Science Foundation Network) in 1990, and then decommissioned on February 28, 1990.

ARPA, BITNET, Computer acronyms, CSNET, DARPA, Internet terms, IPTO, MILNET, Network, Network terms, NSFNET, RIP, Telenet