Networks and the Internet

Networks and the Internet
The Internet began with the development of ARPANET in the late 1960s. It was initially an experimental network that connected a few researchers and provided a platform from which to develop packet-switching techniques and technologies that are still in use today. Various Federal agencies established their own networks to support their respective research communities.

The NSFNET was created in 1985 to provide a network infrastructure for the research and education community within the U.S. and also as a testbed for network-related research. The community-level service was turned over to private sector Internet service providers in April 1995, at the same time the NSF created the vBNS network, a commercial infrastructure that supports the very high performance needs of the research and education communities (initially at 155 Mb/s). DOE has acquired commercial services and capabilities for its ESnet to provide high bandwidth - up to OC-3 (155 Mb/s) ATM connectivity - to the worldwide energy research community. ESnet also provides a collaborative testbed for merging its commercially procured domestic and international ATM technology sources with the Internet. ATDnet, a collaboration among NASA and various Department of Defense agencies, provides the HPCC ESS and NREN Projects with an effective testbed for gigabit network R&D connecting metropolitan area networks. It is implemented using 2.4 Gb/s SONET/ATM networks.

The Internet's phenomenal growth worldwide has been leveraged through industry investment that has been much larger than the small but persistent base of support from various government agencies and the HPCC Program. The unprecedented growth of the Internet worldwide is a result of stimulation provided by the HPCC Program and from educational, public service, private sector, and personal investment. A more detailed history of the development of the Internet was published in the FY 1996 Blue Book.

At SC '95, an annual conference held to showcase high performance computing and communications, several large networking projects were featured - including the GII Testbed and the I-WAY. The GII Testbed was created for SC '95 to accelerate the development of the teams and tools required for the types of distributed computing necessary to meet Grand and National Challenges and beyond. The GII Testbed featured interactive 2- and 3-D scientific visualization and virtual reality demonstrations, where the simulations were computed on remote supercomputers and the data sent via high-speed networks to the conference site, where it was rendered and displayed in the CAVE™, ImmersaDesk™ and/or Infinity Wall™. Future research will require scientists to maximize computing resources by tapping into advanced computing technologies across the country through high-speed networks.