The 1990s

The last decade of the 20th century was a surprising one in the arena of information technology. It was the over the course of this decade that the Internet changed from an academic research network into a truly global communications system, connecting people from all walks of life.

The decade began with the dismantling of ARPANET. The ARPANET's bandwidth, 50,000 bits (50 kilobits) per second, cutting-edge technology in 1969, now paled next to the T-1 NSFNet backbone. Thus, in 1990, the computer network that had started it all, ARPANET, the original backbone of what had become the Internet, was quietly disconnected from the Internet.

The 1990s continued the explosive growth of the Internet that had begun in the '80s.

• 1991: 600,000 hosts around the world.

As a result, in 1991 NSF had to upgrade the backbone once again, this time to a T-3 connection, which transmits data at the rate of 44 million bits (44 megabits) per second.

And the decade was only beginning.

This chapter was written by Jeff Nyhoff and Joel Adams. Copy editing by Nancy Zylstra
©2002 Calvin University (formerly Calvin College), All Rights Reserved

If you encounter technical errors, contact computing@calvin.edu.