"The" Internet is made up of more than 10,000 interconnected communications networks worldwide, comprised of academic, commercial, government and military networks.  Originally used by the military [see the `ARPANET' below], half of the Internet today is used for academic and commercial research. Users have access to unpublished research, journals and BBSs.  Connection to the Internet is available through many online services such as Earthlink, CompuServe, Prodigy, and America Online.

[The ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency NETwork) was a research network funded by DARPA (originally ARPA) and built by BBN, Inc., in 1969. It pioneered packet switching technology and was the original backbone and testbed for the now-gigantic Internet.  In 1983, the military communications part of it was split off into MILNET.]

Internet computers use the TCP/IP communications protocol. At the end of 1992, there were 1.3 million hosts on the Internet. A host is a mainframe, mini or workstation that directly supports the Internet Protocol (the IP in TCP/IP).

The Internet Activities Board (IAB) is the governing body for the Internet. Its Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) explores new technologies which it refers to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The IETF works on the specifications of new standards.