Packet switching is a method of grouping data transmitted over a digital network into packets which are composed of a header and a payload. Data in the header is used by networking hardware to direct the packet to its destination where the payload is extracted and used by application software. Packet switching is the primary basis for data communications in computer networks worldwide.

In the early 1960s, American computer scientist Paul Baran developed the concept Distributed Adaptive Message Block Switching with the goal to provide a fault-tolerant, efficient routing method for telecommunication messages as part of a research program at the RAND Corporation, funded by the US Department of Defense.[1] This concept contrasted and contradicted then-established principles of pre-allocation of network bandwidth, largely fortified by the development of telecommunications in the Bell System. The new concept found little resonance among network implementers until the independent work of British computer scientist Donald Davies at the National Physical Laboratory (United Kingdom) in 1965. Davies is credited with coining the modern name packet switching and inspiring numerous packet switching networks in the decade following, including the incorporation of the concept in the early ARPANET in the United States.

  Concept 

A simple definition of packet switching is:

The routing and transferring of data by means of addressed packets so that a channel is occupied during the transmission of the packet only, and upon completion of the transmission the channel is made available for the transfer of other traffic[4][5]

Packet switching features delivery of variable bit rate data streams, realized as sequences of packets, over a computer network which allocates transmission resources as needed using statistical multiplexing or dynamic bandwidth allocation techniques. As they traverse network nodes, such as switches and routers, packets are received, buffered, queued, and transmitted (stored and forwarded), resulting in variable latency and throughput depending on the link capacity and the traffic load on the network.

Packet switching contrasts with another principal networking paradigm, circuit switching, a method which pre-allocates dedicated network bandwidth specifically for each communication session, each having a constant bit rate and latency between nodes. In cases of billable services, such as cellular communication services, circuit switching is characterized by a fee per unit of connection time, even when no data is transferred, while packet switching may be characterized by a fee per unit of information transmitted, such as characters, packets, or messages.

Packet mode communication may be implemented with or without intermediate forwarding nodes (packet switches or routers). Packets are normally forwarded by intermediate network nodes asynchronously using first-in, first-out buffering, but may be forwarded according to some scheduling discipline for fair queuing, traffic shaping, or for differentiated or guaranteed quality of service, such as weighted fair queuing or leaky bucket. In case of a shared physical medium (such as radio or 10BASE5), the packets may be delivered according to a multiple access scheme.

History

Further information: History of the Internet

In the late 1950s, the US Air Force established a wide area network for the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) radar defense system. They sought a system that might survive a nuclear attack to enable a response, thus diminishing the attractiveness of the first strike advantage by enemies.[6]

Leonard Kleinrock conducted early research in queueing theory and published a book in the related field of digital message switching (without packets) in 1961.[7]

The concept of switching small blocks of data was first explored independently by Paul Baran at the RAND Corporation starting in the late 1950s in the US and subsequently by Donald Davies at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in the UK.[8][9][10]

Baran developed the concept of distributed adaptive message block switching during his research at the RAND Corporation for the US Air Force into communications networks that could survive nuclear wars.[11] First presented to the Air Force in the summer of 1961 as briefing B-265,[6] later published as RAND report P-2626 in 1962,[12] and finally in report RM 3420 in 1964.[13] Report P-2626 described a general architecture for a large-scale, distributed, survivable communications network. The work focuses on three key ideas: use of a decentralized network with multiple paths between any two points, dividing user messages into message blocks, and delivery of these messages by store and forward switching.

Donald Davies at the National Physical Laboratory (UK) developed a similar message routing concept in 1965. He called it packet switching, a more accessible name than Baran's terminology, and proposed building a nationwide network in the UK.[14] He gave a talk on the proposal in 1966, after which a person from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) told him about Baran's work. A member of Davies' team (Roger Scantlebury) met Lawrence Roberts at the 1967 ACM Symposium on Operating System Principles and suggested it for use in the ARPANET.[15] Davies had chosen some of the same parameters for his original network design as did Baran, such as a packet size of 1024 bits. In 1966, Davies proposed that a network should be built at the laboratory to serve the needs of NPL and prove the feasibility of packet switching. After a pilot experiment in 1967,[16][17] the NPL Data Communications Network entered service in 1969.[18]

Building on his earlier work on queueing theory, Leonard Kleinrock subsequently carried out theoretical work to model the performance of packet-switched networks, which underpinned the development of the ARPANET. The NPL team also carried out simulation work on packet networks.[18]

In 1974, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn published the specifications for Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), an internetworking protocol for sharing resources using packet-switching among the nodes[19] (this monolithic protocol was later layered as TCP atop the Internet Protocol, or IP).

The French CYCLADES network, designed by Louis Pouzin in the early 1970s, was the first to make the hosts responsible for the reliable delivery of data, rather than this being a centralized service of the network itself.

Connectionless and connection-oriented modes

Packet switching may be classified into connectionless packet switching, also known as datagram switching, and connection-oriented packet switching, also known as virtual circuitswitching.

Examples of connectionless protocols are Ethernet, Internet Protocol (IP), and the User Datagram Protocol (UDP). Connection-oriented protocols include X.25, Frame Relay, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), and the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP).

In connectionless mode each packet includes complete addressing information. The packets are routed individually, sometimes resulting in different paths and out-of-order delivery. Each packet is labeled with a destination address, source address, and port numbers. It may also be labeled with the sequence number of the packet. This precludes the need for a dedicated path to help the packet find its way to its destination, but means that much more information is needed in the packet header, which is therefore larger, and this information needs to be looked up in power-hungry content-addressable memory. Each packet is dispatched and may go via different routes; potentially, the system has to do as much work for every packet as the connection-oriented system has to do in connection set-up, but with less information as to the application's requirements. At the destination, the original message/data is reassembled in the correct order, based on the packet sequence number. Thus a virtual connection, also known as a virtual circuit or byte stream is provided to the end-user by a transport layer protocol, although intermediate network nodes only provides a connectionless network layer service.

Connection-oriented transmission requires a setup phase in each involved node before any packet is transferred to establish the parameters of communication. The packets include a connection identifier rather than address information and are negotiated between endpoints so that they are delivered in order and with error checking. Address information is only transferred to each node during the connection set-up phase, when the route to the destination is discovered and an entry is added to the switching table in each network node through which the connection passes. The signaling protocols used allow the application to specify its requirements and discover link parameters. Acceptable values for service parameters may be negotiated. Routing a packet requires the node to look up the connection id in a table. The packet header can be small, as it only needs to contain this code and any information, such as length, timestamp, or sequence number, which is different for different packets.

Packet switching in networks

Packet switching is used to optimize the use of the channel capacity available in digital telecommunication networks, such as computer networks, and minimize the transmission latency (the time it takes for data to pass across the network), and to increase robustness of communication.

The best-known use of packet switching is the Internet and most local area networks. The Internet is implemented by the Internet Protocol Suite using a variety of Link Layertechnologies. For example, Ethernet and Frame Relay are common. Newer mobile phone technologies (e.g., GPRS, i-mode) also use packet switching.

X.25 is a notable use of packet switching in that, despite being based on packet switching methods, it provided virtual circuits to the user. These virtual circuits carry variable-length packets. In 1978, X.25 provided the first international and commercial packet switching network, the International Packet Switched Service (IPSS). Asynchronous Transfer Mode(ATM) also is a virtual circuit technology, which uses fixed-length cell relay connection oriented packet switching.

Datagram packet switching is also called connectionless networking because no connections are established. Technologies such as Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and the Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) create virtual circuits on top of datagram networks. Virtual circuits are especially useful in building robust failover mechanisms and allocating bandwidth for delay-sensitive applications.

MPLS and its predecessors, as well as ATM, have been called "fast packet" technologies. MPLS, indeed, has been called "ATM without cells".[20] Modern routers, however, do not require these technologies to be able to forward variable-length packets at multigigabit speeds across the network.

X.25 vs. Frame Relay

Both X.25 and Frame Relay provide connection-oriented operations. X.25 provides it via the network layer of the OSI Model, whereas Frame Relay provides it via level two, the data link layer. Another major difference between X.25 and Frame Relay is that X.25 requires a handshake between the communicating parties before any user packets are transmitted. Frame Relay does not define any such handshakes. X.25 does not define any operations inside the packet network. It only operates at the user-network-interface (UNI). Thus, the network provider is free to use any procedure it wishes inside the network. X.25 does specify some limited re-transmission procedures at the UNI, and its link layer protocol (LAPB) provides conventional HDLC-type link management procedures. Frame Relay is a modified version of ISDN's layer two protocol, LAPD and LAPB. As such, its integrity operations pertain only between nodes on a link, not end-to-end. Any retransmissions must be carried out by higher layer protocols. The X.25 UNI protocol is part of the X.25 protocol suite, which consists of the lower three layers of the OSI Model. It was widely used at the UNI for packet switching networks during the 1980s and early 1990s, to provide a standardized interface into and out of packet networks. Some implementations used X.25 within the network as well, but its connection-oriented features made this setup cumbersome and inefficient. Frame relay operates principally at layer two of the OSI Model. However, its address field (the Data Link Connection ID, or DLCI) can be used at the OSI network layer, with a minimum set of procedures. Thus, it rids itself of many X.25 layer 3 encumbrances, but still has the DLCI as an ID beyond a node-to-node layer two link protocol. The simplicity of Frame Relay makes it faster and more efficient than X.25. Because Frame relay is a data link layer protocol, like X.25 it does not define internal network routing operations. For X.25 its packet IDs—the virtual circuit and virtual channel numbers have to be correlated to network addresses. The same is true for Frame Relays DLCI. How this is done is up to the network provider. Frame Relay, by virtue of having no network layer procedures is connection-oriented at layer two, by using the HDLC/LAPD/LAPB Set Asynchronous Balanced Mode (SABM). X.25 connections are typically established for each communication session, but it does have a feature allowing a limited amount of traffic to be passed across the UNI without the connection-oriented handshake. For a while, Frame Relay was used to interconnect LANs across wide area networks. However, X.25 and well as Frame Relay have been supplanted by the Internet Protocol (IP) at the network layer, and the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) and or versions of Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) at layer two. A typical configuration is to run IP over ATM or a version of MPLS. <Uyless Black, X.25 and Related Protocols, IEEE Computer Society, 1991> <Uyless Black, Frame Relay Networks, McGraw-Hill, 1998> <Uyless Black, MPLS and Label Switching Networks, Prentice Hall, 2001> < Uyless Black, ATM, Volume I, Prentice Hall, 1995>

Packet-switched networks

Further information: History of the Internet

The history of packet-switched networks can be divided into three overlapping eras: early networks before the introduction of X.25 and the OSI model, the X.25 era when many postal, telephone, and telegraph companies introduced networks with X.25 interfaces, and the Internet era.[21][22]

Early networks

Research into packet switching at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) began with a proposal for a wide-area network in 1965,[2] and a local-area network in 1966.[23] ARPANET funding was secured in 1966 by Bob Taylor and planning began in 1967 when he hired Larry Roberts. The NPL network, ARPANET and SITA HLN became operational in 1969. Before the introduction of X.25 in 1973,[24] about twenty different network technologies had been developed. Two fundamental differences involved the division of functions and tasks between the hosts at the edge of the network and the network core. In the datagram system, the hosts have the responsibility to ensure orderly delivery of packets. The User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is an example of a datagram protocol. In the virtual call system, the network guarantees sequenced delivery of data to the host. This results in a simpler host interface with less functionality than in the datagram model. The X.25 protocol suite uses this network type.

Apple Talk

Apple Talk was a proprietary suite of networking protocols developed by Apple Inc. in 1985 for Apple Macintosh computers. It was the primary protocol used by Apple devices through the 1980s and 1990s. AppleTalk included features that allowed local area networks to be established ad hoc without the requirement for a centralized router or server. The AppleTalk system automatically assigned addresses, updated the distributed namespace, and configured any required inter-network routing. It was a plug-n-play system.[25][26]

AppleTalk versions were also released for the IBM PC and compatibles, and the Apple IIGS. AppleTalk support was available in most networked printers, especially laser printers, some file servers and routers. AppleTalk support was terminated in 2009, replaced by TCP/IP protocols.[25]

ARPANET

The ARPANET was a progenitor network of the Internet and the first network to run the TCP/IP suite using packet switching technologies.

BNRNET

BNRNET was a network which Bell Northern Research developed for internal use. It initially had only one host but was designed to support many hosts. BNR later made major contributions to the CCITT X.25 project.[27]

CYCLADES

The CYCLADES packet switching network was a French research network designed and directed by Louis Pouzin. First demonstrated in 1973, it was developed to explore alternatives to the early ARPANET design and to support network research generally. It was the first network to make the hosts responsible for reliable delivery of data, rather than the network itself, using unreliable datagrams and associated end-to-end protocol mechanisms. Concepts of this network influenced later ARPANET architecture.[28][29]

DECnet

DECnet is a suite of network protocols created by Digital Equipment Corporation, originally released in 1975 in order to connect two PDP-11 minicomputers. It evolved into one of the first peer-to-peer network architectures, thus transforming DEC into a networking powerhouse in the 1980s. Initially built with three layers, it later (1982) evolved into a seven-layer OSI-compliant networking protocol. The DECnet protocols were designed entirely by Digital Equipment Corporation. However, DECnet Phase II (and later) were open standards with published specifications, and several implementations were developed outside DEC, including one for Linux.[30]

DDX-1

This was an experimental network from Nippon PTT. It mixed circuit switching and packet switching. It was succeeded by DDX-2.[31]

EIN née COST II

European Informatics Network was a project to link several national networks. It became operational in 1976.[citation needed]

EPSS

The Experimental Packet Switching System (EPSS) was an experiment of the UK Post Office. It was the first public packet switching network when it began operating in 1977, based on protocols defined by the UK academic community in 1975.[32] Ferranti supplied the hardware and software. The handling of link control messages (acknowledgements and flow control) was different from that of most other networks.[33][34]

GEIS

As General Electric Information Services (GEIS), General Electric was a major international provider of information services. The company originally designed a telephone network to serve as its internal (albeit continent-wide) voice telephone network.

In 1965, at the instigation of Warner Sinback, a data network based on this voice-phone network was designed to connect GE's four computer sales and service centers (Schenectady, New York, Chicago, and Phoenix) to facilitate a computer time-sharing service, apparently the world's first commercial online service. (In addition to selling GE computers, the centers were computer service bureaus, offering batch processing services. They lost money from the beginning, and Sinback, a high-level marketing manager, was given the job of turning the business around. He decided that a time-sharing system, based on Kemney's work at Dartmouth—which used a computer on loan from GE—could be profitable. Warner was right.)

After going international some years later, GEIS created a network data center near Cleveland, Ohio. Very little has been published about the internal details of their network. (Though it has been stated by some that Tymshare copied the GEIS system to create their network, Tymnet.) The design was hierarchical with redundant communication links. [35][36]

IPSANET

IPSANET was a semi-private network constructed by I. P. Sharp Associates to serve their time-sharing customers. It became operational in May 1976.

IPX/SPX

The Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) and Sequenced Packet Exchange (SPX) are Novell networking protocols derived from Xerox Network Systems' IDP and SPP protocols, respectively. They were used primarily on networks using the Novell NetWare operating systems.[37]

Merit Network

Merit Network, Inc., an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation governed by Michigan's public universities,[38] was formed in 1966 as the Michigan Educational Research Information Triad to explore computer networking between three of Michigan's public universities as a means to help the state's educational and economic development.[39] With initial support from the State of Michigan and the National Science Foundation (NSF), the packet-switched network was first demonstrated in December 1971 when an interactive host to host connection was made between the IBM mainframe computer systems at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and Wayne State University in Detroit.[40] In October 1972 connections to the CDC mainframe at Michigan State University in East Lansing completed the triad. Over the next several years in addition to host to host interactive connections the network was enhanced to support terminal to host connections, host to host batch connections (remote job submission, remote printing, batch file transfer), interactive file transfer, gateways to the Tymnet and Telenet public data networks, X.25 host attachments, gateways to X.25 data networks, Ethernet attached hosts, and eventually TCP/IP and additional public universities in Michigan join the network.[40][41] All of this set the stage for Merit's role in the NSFNET project starting in the mid-1980s.

NPL

In 1965, Donald Davies of the National Physical Laboratory (United Kingdom) designed and proposed a national data network based on packet switching. The proposal was not taken up nationally but by 1967, a pilot experiment had demonstrated the feasibility of packet switched networks.[16][17]

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.[42][18][43] In 1976, 12 computers and 75 terminal devices were attached,[44] and more were added until the network was replaced in 1986. NPL, followed by ARPANET, were the first two networks in the world to use packet switching,[45][46] and were interconnected in the early 1970s.

OCTOPUS

Octopus was a local network at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. It connected sundry hosts at the lab to interactive terminals and various computer peripherals including a bulk storage system. [47] [48] [49]

Philips Research

Philips Research Laboratories in Redhill, Surrey developed a packet switching network for internal use. It was a datagram network with a single switching node. [50]

PUP

PARC Universal Packet (PUP or Pup) was one of the two earliest internetwork protocol suites; it was created by researchers at Xerox PARC in the mid-1970s. The entire suite provided routing and packet delivery, as well as higher level functions such as a reliable byte stream, along with numerous applications. Further developments led to Xerox Network Systems (XNS).[51]

RCP

RCP was an experimental network created by the French PTT. It was used to gain experience with packet switching technology before the specification of Transpac was frozen. RCP was a virtual-circuit network in contrast to CYCLADES which was based on datagrams. RCP emphasised terminal to host and terminal to terminal connection; CYCLADES was concerned with host-to-host communication. TRANSPAC was introduced as an X.25 network. RCP influenced the specification of X.25 [52] [53] [54]

RETD

Red Especial de Transmisión de Datos was a network developed by Compañía Telefónica Nacional de España. It became operational in 1972 and thus was the first public network. [55] [56] [57]

SCANNET

"The experimental packet-switched Nordic telecommunication network SCANNET was implemented in Nordic technical libraries in the 1970s, and it included first Nordic electronic journal Extemplo. Libraries were also among first ones in universities to accommodate microcomputers for public use in the early 1980s." [58]

SITA HLN

SITA is a consortium of airlines. Their High Level Network became operational in 1969 at about the same time as ARPANET. It carried interactive traffic and message-switching traffic. As with many non-academic networks very little has been published about it. [59]

IBM Systems Network Architecture

IBM Systems Network Architecture (SNA) is IBM's proprietary networking architecture created in 1974. An IBM customer could acquire hardware and software from IBM and lease private lines from a common carrier to construct a private network.[60]

Telenet

Telenet was the first FCC-licensed public data network in the United States. It was founded by former ARPA IPTO director Larry Roberts as a means of making ARPANET technology public. He had tried to interest AT&T in buying the technology, but the monopoly's reaction was that this was incompatible with their future. Bolt, Beranack and Newman (BBN) provided the financing. It initially used ARPANET technology but changed the host interface to X.25 and the terminal interface to X.29. Telenet designed these protocols and helped standardize them in the CCITT. Telenet was incorporated in 1973 and started operations in 1975. It went public in 1979 and was then sold to GTE.[61][62]

Tymnet

Tymnet was an international data communications network headquartered in San Jose, CA that utilized virtual call packet switched technology and used X.25, SNA/SDLC, BSC and ASCII interfaces to connect host computers (servers) at thousands of large companies, educational institutions, and government agencies. Users typically connected via dial-up connections or dedicated async connections. The business consisted of a large public network that supported dial-up users and a private network business that allowed government agencies and large companies (mostly banks and airlines) to build their own dedicated networks. The private networks were often connected via gateways to the public network to reach locations not on the private network. Tymnet was also connected to dozens of other public networks in the U.S. and internationally via X.25/X.75 gateways. (Interesting note: Tymnet was not named after Mr. Tyme. Another employee suggested the name.) [63] [64]

XNS

Xerox Network Systems (XNS) was a protocol suite promulgated by Xerox, which provided routing and packet delivery, as well as higher level functions such as a reliable stream, and remote procedure calls. It was developed from PARC Universal Packet (PUP).[65][66]

X.25 era

There were two kinds of X.25 networks. Some such as DATAPAC and TRANSPAC were initially implemented with an X.25 external interface. Some older networks such as TELENET and TYMNET were modified to provide a X.25 host interface in addition to older host connection schemes. DATAPAC was developed by Bell Northern Research which was a joint venture of Bell Canada (a common carrier) and Northern Telecom (a telecommunications equipment supplier). Northern Telecom sold several DATAPAC clones to foreign PTTs including the Deutsche Bundespost. X.75 and X.121 allowed the interconnection of national X.25 networks. A user or host could call a host on a foreign network by including the DNIC of the remote network as part of the destination address.[citation needed]

AUSTPAC

AUSTPAC was an Australian public X.25 network operated by Telstra. Started by Telecom Australia in the early 1980s, AUSTPAC was Australia's first public packet-switched data network, supporting applications such as on-line betting, financial applications—the Australian Tax Office made use of AUSTPAC—and remote terminal access to academic institutions, who maintained their connections to AUSTPAC up until the mid-late 1990s in some cases. Access can be via a dial-up terminal to a PAD, or, by linking a permanent X.25 node to the network.[citation needed]

ConnNet

ConnNet was a packet-switched data network operated by the Southern New England Telephone Company serving the state of Connecticut.[citation needed]

Datanet 1

Datanet 1 was the public switched data network operated by the Dutch PTT Telecom (now known as KPN). Strictly speaking Datanet 1 only referred to the network and the connected users via leased lines (using the X.121 DNIC 2041), the name also referred to the public PAD service Telepad (using the DNIC 2049). And because the main Videotexservice used the network and modified PAD devices as infrastructure the name Datanet 1 was used for these services as well. Although this use of the name was incorrect all these services were managed by the same people within one department of KPN contributed to the confusion.[67]

Datapac

DATAPAC was the first operational X.25 network (1976). It covered major Canadian cities and was eventually extended to smaller centres.[citation needed]

Datex-P

Deutsche Bundespost operated this national network in Germany. The technology was acquired from Northern Telecom.[citation needed]

Eirpac

Eirpac is the Irish public switched data network supporting X.25 and X.28. It was launched in 1984, replacing Euronet. Eirpac is run by Eircom.[68][69][70]

HIPA-NET

Hitachi designed a private network system for sale as a turnkey package to multi-national organizations. In addition to providing X.25 packet switching, message switching software was also included. Messages were buffered at the nodes adjacent to the sending and receiving terminals. Switched virtual calls were not supported, but through the use of "logical ports" an originating terminal could have a menu of pre-defined destination terminals. [71]

Iberpac

Iberpac is the Spanish public packet-switched network, providing X.25 services. Iberpac is run by Telefonica.[citation needed]

JANET

JANET was the UK academic and research network, linking all universities, higher education establishments, publicly funded research laboratories.[72] The X.25 network was based mainly on GEC 4000 series switches, and run X.25 links at up to 8 Mbit/s in its final phase before being converted to an IP based network. The JANET network grew out of the 1970s SRCnet (later called SERCnet) network.[73]

PSS

Packet Switch Stream (PSS) was the UK Post Office (later to become British Telecom) national X.25 network with a DNIC of 2342. British Telecom renamed PSS under its GNS (Global Network Service) name, but the PSS name has remained better known. PSS also included public dial-up PAD access, and various InterStream gateways to other services such as Telex.[citation needed]

Transpac

Transpac was the national X.25 network in France. It was developed locally at about the same time as DATAPAC in Canada. The development was done by the French PTT and influenced by the experimental RCP network. It began operation in 1978,[74] and served both commercial users and, after Minitel began, consumers.[75]

VENUS-P

VENUS-P was an international X.25 network that operated from April 1982 through March 2006. At its subscription peak in 1999, VENUS-P connected 207 networks in 87 countries.[76]

Venepaq

Venepaq is the national X.25 public network in Venezuela. It is run by Cantv and allow direct connection and dial up connections. Provides nationalwide access at very low cost. It provides national and international access. Venepaq allow connection from 19.2 kbit/s to 64 kbit/s in direct connections, and 1200, 2400 and 9600 bit/s in dial up connections.

​

Internet era

Internet

An Opte Project visualization of routing pathsthrough a portion of the Internet

General[show]

Governance[show]

Information infrastructure[show]

Services[show]

Guides[show]

 Internet portal

• v

• t

• e

When Internet connectivity was made available to anyone who could pay for an ISP subscription, the distinctions between national networks blurred. The user no longer saw network identifiers such as the DNIC. Some older technologies such as circuit switching have resurfaced with new names such as fast packet switching. Researchers have created some experimental networks to complement the existing Internet.[citation needed]

CSNET

The Computer Science Network (CSNET) was a computer network funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) that began operation in 1981. Its purpose was to extend networking benefits, for computer science departments at academic and research institutions that could not be directly connected to ARPANET, due to funding or authorization limitations. It played a significant role in spreading awareness of, and access to, national networking and was a major milestone on the path to development of the global Internet.[77][78]

Internet2

Internet2 is a not-for-profit United States computer networking consortium led by members from the research and education communities, industry, and government.[79] The Internet2 community, in partnership with Qwest, built the first Internet2 Network, called Abilene, in 1998 and was a prime investor in the National LambdaRail (NLR) project.[80] In 2006, Internet2 announced a partnership with Level 3 Communications to launch a brand new nationwide network, boosting its capacity from 10 Gbit/s to 100 Gbit/s.[81] In October, 2007, Internet2 officially retired Abilene and now refers to its new, higher capacity network as the Internet2 Network.

NSFNET

NSFNET Traffic 1991, NSFNET backbone nodes are shown at the top, regional networks below, traffic volume is depicted from purple (zero bytes) to white (100 billion bytes), visualization by NCSA using traffic data provided by the Merit Network.

Main article: NSFNET

The National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) was a program of coordinated, evolving projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) beginning in 1985 to promote advanced research and education networking in the United States.[82] NSFNET was also the name given to several nationwide backbone networks operating at speeds of 56 kbit/s, 1.5 Mbit/s (T1), and 45 Mbit/s (T3) that were constructed to support NSF's networking initiatives from 1985-1995. Initially created to link researchers to the nation's NSF-funded supercomputing centers, through further public funding and private industry partnerships it developed into a major part of the Internet backbone.

NSFNET regional networks

In addition to the five NSF supercomputer centers, NSFNET provided connectivity to eleven regional networks and through these networks to many smaller regional and campus networks in the United States. The NSFNET regional networks were:[83][84]

• BARRNet, the Bay Area Regional Research Network in Palo Alto, California;

• CERFNET, California Education and Research Federation Network in San Diego, California, serving California and Nevada;

• CICNet, the Committee on Institutional Cooperation Network via the Merit Network in Ann Arbor, Michigan and later as part of the T3 upgrade via Argonne National Laboratory outside of Chicago, serving the Big Ten Universities and the University of Chicago in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin;

• Merit/MichNet in Ann Arbor, Michigan serving Michigan, formed in 1966, still in operation as of 2016;[85]

• MIDnet in Lincoln, Nebraska serving Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and South Dakota;

• NEARNET, the New England Academic and Research Network in Cambridge, Massachusetts, added as part of the upgrade to T3, serving Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, established in late 1988, operated by BBN under contract to MIT, BBN assumed responsibility for NEARNET on 1 July 1993;[86]

• NorthWestNet in Seattle, Washington, serving Alaska, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, and Washington, founded in 1987;[87]

• NYSERNet, New York State Education and Research Network in Ithaca, New York;

• JVNCNet, the John von Neumann National Supercomputer Center Network in Princeton, New Jersey, serving Delaware and New Jersey;

• SESQUINET, the Sesquicentennial Network in Houston, Texas, founded during the 150th anniversary of the State of Texas;

• SURAnet, the Southeastern Universities Research Association network in College Park, Maryland and later as part of the T3 upgrade in Atlanta, Georgia serving Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, sold to BBN in 1994; and

• Westnet in Salt Lake City, Utah and Boulder, Colorado, serving Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.

National LambdaRail

The National LambdaRail was launched in September 2003. It is a 12,000-mile high-speed national computer network owned and operated by the U.S. research and education community that runs over fiber-optic lines. It was the first transcontinental 10 Gigabit Ethernet network. It operates with high aggregate capacity of up to 1.6 Tbit/s and a high 40 Gbit/s bitrate, with plans for 100 Gbit/s.[88][89] The upgrade never took place and NLR ceased operations in March 2014.

TransPAC, TransPAC2, and TransPAC3

TransPAC2 and TransPAC3, continuations of the TransPAC project, a high-speed international Internet service connecting research and education networks in the Asia-Pacific region to those in the US.[90][91] TransPAC is part of the NSF’s International Research Network Connections (IRNC) program.[92]

Very high-speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS)

The Very high-speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS) came on line in April 1995 as part of a National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored project to provide high-speed interconnection between NSF-sponsored supercomputing centers and select access points in the United States.[93] The network was engineered and operated by MCI Telecommunications under a cooperative agreement with the NSF. By 1998, the vBNS had grown to connect more than 100 universities and research and engineering institutions via 12 national points of presence with DS-3 (45 Mbit/s), OC-3c (155 Mbit/s), and OC-12c (622 Mbit/s) links on an all OC-12c backbone, a substantial engineering feat for that time. The vBNS installed one of the first ever production OC-48c (2.5 Gbit/s) IP links in February 1999 and went on to upgrade the entire backbone to OC-48c.[94]

In June 1999 MCI WorldCom introduced vBNS+ which allowed attachments to the vBNS network by organizations that were not approved by or receiving support from NSF.[95] After the expiration of the NSF agreement, the vBNS largely transitioned to providing service to the government. Most universities and research centers migrated to the Internet2 educational backbone. In January 2006, when MCI and Verizon merged,[96] vBNS+ became a service of Verizon Business.[97]