Arpanet

The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (Arpanet) is the first packet-switched network in the world. The Arpanet connected universities and research centres in the U.S. Arpanet is the predecessor of the Internet.

It was developed in 1969 by ARPA, a project agency of the Department of Defense. ARPA was set up by the American President Eisenhower. Initially, ARPANET connected a group of scientists at four universities, allowing them to work together. In 1980, Arpanet connected over 400 host computers at universities, governmental organisations, military installations, private companies and non-profit organisations. Other networks were built that were based on the same technology. Eventually, the name ARPANET was dropped and replaced by the simpler name Internet. A network of computer networks.