NSFNET
The National Science Foundation's backbone network, and how it became the internet.
Everything here comes from the published record: Merit Network's final report, the relevant RFCs, and the institutional histories of the period.
- In service
- 1986–1995
- Backbone by 1991
- 45 Mbit/s
- Connected by 1992
- 38 countries
- Packets in June 1994
- 60.6 billion
Overview
What NSFNET was, the innovations it introduced, and how it passed into commercial hands.
Timeline
The course of the project from the 1985 funding decision to the backbone’s retirement in 1995.
Achievements
What the project accomplished in growth, engineering, policy, and recognition.
People
The program directors and engineers whose decisions shaped the network.
Projects
Internet Backbone
The backbone service itself: its architecture, its capacity, and how its traffic was managed.
Mosaic
The NCSA browser that made the web legible to a general audience.
World Wide Web
How the web spread across NSFNET, and the tools that were built to author it.
Internet Gopher
The Minnesota protocol that organized the network before the web displaced it.
Network Information Services
The directory, naming, and routing registry services that made the network usable.