The internet

Software
The software for establishing links between network sites in the ARPANET was the Network Control Program (NCP), completed in c. 1970. Further development in the early 1970s by Robert E. Kahn and Vint Cerf let to the formulation of the Transmission Control Program, and its specification in December 1974 in RFC 675. This work also coined the terms catenet (concatenated network) and internet as a contraction of internetworking, which describe the interconnection of multiple networks. This software was monolithic in design using two simplex communication channels for each user session. The software was redesigned as a modular protocol stack, using full-duplex channels. Originally named IP/TCP it was installed in the ARPANET for production use in January 1983.
Networks that led to the Internet
NPL network
Main article: NPL network
Following discussions with J. C. R. Licklider in 1965, Donald Davies became interested in data communications for computer networks.^[45][46] Later that year, at the National Physical Laboratory (United Kingdom), Davies designed and proposed a national commercial data network based on packet switching. The following year, he described the use of an "Interface computer" to act as a router.^[47] The proposal was not taken up nationally but he produced a design for a local network to serve the needs of NPL and prove the feasibility of packet switching using high-speed data transmission.^[48][49] He and his team were one of the first to use the term 'protocol' in a data-commutation context in 1967.^[50]
By 1969 he had begun building the Mark I packet-switched network to meet the needs of the multidisciplinary laboratory and prove the technology under operational conditions.^[51][52][53] In 1976, 12 computers and 75 terminal devices were attached,^[54] and more were added until the network was replaced in 1986. The NPL local network and the ARPANET were the first two networks in the world to use packet switching,^[55] and were interconnected in the early 1970s. The NPL team carried out simulation work on packet networks, including datagram networks, and research into internetworking.
What will the Internet look like in the next seven to 10 years? How will things like marketplace consolidation, changes to regulation, increases in cybercrime or the widespread deployment of the Internet of Things impact the Internet, its users and society?
At the Internet Society, we are always thinking about what’s next for the Internet. And now we want your help!
The Internet is an incredibly dynamic medium, shaped by a multitude of pressures – be they social, political, technological, or cultural. From the rise of mobile to the emergence of widespread cyber threats, the Internet of today is different than the Internet of 10 years ago.
The Internet Society and our community care deeply about the future of the Internet because we want it to remain a tool of progress and hope. Last year, we started a collaborative initiative – the Future Internet project – to identify factors that could change the Internet as we know it. We asked for your views and heard from more than 1,500 members across the world – thank you! That feedback provided a strong foundation for the development of our Future Internet work.
We have consolidated that input into nine driving forces for the Internet. The list is posted on our future Internet webpage, along with the challenges and uncertainties raised by our community. Our community identified these forces as the things that will influence how the Internet will evolve in the future. They include:

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  Convergence of the Internet and the Physical World
  
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  Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
  
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  New and Evolving Digital Divides
  
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  Increasing Role of Government
  
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  Future of the Marketplace and Competition
  
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  Impact of Cyberattacks and Cybercrime
  
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  Evolution of Networks and Standards
  
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  Impact on Media, Culture, and Human Interaction
  
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  Future of Personal Freedoms and Rights
  

Now, we need your help again. Please review this work and let us know what you think by sending your answers to the following questions to [e-mail]:

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  Which of the nine drivers do you think will have the biggest impact on the future of the Internet in the next seven to 10 years?
  
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  Are there major issues that are missing from this list?
  
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  What 2-3 issues would you prioritize in our Future Internet project?
  

2017 is the Internet Society’s 25^th anniversary. It is an opportunity to look back and see how the Internet has grown and evolved since our earliest days. It is also a chance to look ahead and imagine the future. Will the Internet continue to be a tool to build community, drive innovation, and create opportunity?
With this Future Internet project, we can imagine some different futures and then think together about what steps we need to take today to bring about the future that we want.
More updates will be coming soon, with a final report in September. Thanks in advance for your participation and input!
Ten years ago, I wrote an article that looked back on the developments within the Internet over the period from 1998 to 2008. Well, another ten years have gone by, and it's a good opportunity to take a little time once more to muse over what's new, what's old and what's been forgotten in another decade of the Internet's evolution.
The evolutionary path of any technology can often take strange and unanticipated turns and twists. At some points, simplicity and minimalism can be replaced by complexity and ornamentation, while at other times a dramatic cut-through exposes the core concepts of the technology and removes layers of superfluous additions. The evolution of the Internet appears to be no exception and contains these same forms of unanticipated turns and twists. In thinking about the technology of the Internet over the last ten years, it appears that it's been a very mixed story about what's changed and what's stayed the same.