Before the Internet was really the Internet, it was called ARPAnet. ARPA-Who? Yes, it sure is a fun sounding name. Especially considering what the Internet is today, which literally encompasses every aspect of our lives. ARPAnet is an acronym for Advanced Research Projects Agency Network. In the late 1960s, the Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Department of Defense embarked on a mission. They were trying to find a way to simplify communication and share data, but without using the old “circuit switched” telephone method to transfer voice and data communications. That method could only be sent from one to the other in a linear fashion, end to end.
The ARPAnet once configured, as rudimentary as it was in the beginning (late 70s, early 80s) used packet switching that allowed communication and data to be sent and received to multiple locations. Thus was born the TCP / IP communication protocols. You can probably thank Robert Kahn and Vint Cerf, often referred to as the father of the internet, for that. What started as an advocacy project quickly expanded to the National Science Foundation (NSF) and academia, allowing information to be shared in real time. In 1989, ARPAnet was closed and was replaced by NSFnet.
First commercial use of the Internet
The first public and commercial use of the Internet came in mid-1989, when Compuserve and MCImail added email service for anyone who wanted it. Next, PSInet configured a business section for the Internet backbone. Then, in the late 1990s, Tim Berners-Lee came up with hypertext transfer protocols, and that should sound very familiar to everyone; HTTP. Then it came; HTML, UseNet and FTP (File Transfer Protocol). The Internet was up and running, and only in their wildest dreams would they have imagined that today just over 4 billion people are connected online around the world; soon everyone will be connected and their lives will be affected in some way.
The Internet has changed the way we do business forever
Before the Internet, companies used fax machines, package delivery from Federal Express and Zap Mail, Snail Mail (USPS), and very limited data transfer with Alpha pagers (very short text messages for which you could answer Y or N for yes or no). . At that time, people were annoyed with the advertising of spam, little did they know that the future of SPAM was going to take a big bite out of that nonsense, although only to make it a thousand times worse. Before spam blockers, users used the letters on the “delete” key within a month of purchasing a new computer.
The Internet accelerated the flow of information and the speed of business to the point that in 1999 Bill Gates wrote a book; Business at the speed of thought. Of course, in the mid-1990s, almost every legitimate business, large and small, had or was building a website. Why not have an online brochure available 24/7 without having to print and mail information to potential customers? Yes, the printing industry suffered, printers across the country were going out of business, almost as fast as the film development industry disappeared with the advent of digital cameras.
The main evolutionary changes in commercial use of the Internet
Yes, the Internet has changed everything in our world, but nowhere is the change as dramatic as in the business world. From 1990 to 2000, in ten years everything had changed. It was a chaotic time, but a time of significant opportunity. There is always an opportunity in change. The faster the change, the more chaos, crisis and, yes, opportunities. Below is a quick list of some of the paradigm shifts that the Internet has brought to business;
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Business email became the preferred method of written communication
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Companies, regardless of their size, created websites, competing on equal terms.
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Interactive Websites Enabled Customers and Businesses to Conduct Business Online
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Industry Portal websites emerged with information on all sectors of the economy.
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Search engine competition evolved rapidly to meet consumers’ instant information needs.
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Bulletin boards and later blogs brought two-way open transparent information for business communication
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Social media and business social media started to grow
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Everyone went mobile with smartphones, then the Internet, the rest is history
Today, the world’s information is at your fingertips wherever you are and when you want it. Soon, the SpaceX LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellite network system, Starlink will provide Internet service to anywhere on the planet, and anyone with a mobile device will be able to access the Internet. Well, that changes everything, and here we go again. Are you ready for the next wave of opportunity / mayhem, aboard the next satellite rocket launch? It is here and deployed. It will be online in 2020. Once again, the Internet does not disappoint: change is the only constant on the Internet. Your business must constantly take advantage of these new technologies.
What comes next? What’s the next big thing for business computing?
This is easy to predict, as the world’s largest corporations and industry are already preparing. Consider if the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, and AI (Artificial Intelligence) are all connected in real time to the cloud, and all that secure data and information is ready for anyone, anywhere, on any mobile device.
Imagine having a factory, supply chain, construction project, hospital, university, financial institution, or multiple retail locations and having the exact relevant information you need instantly? Imagine all those systems integrated, systematized and optimally configured for maximum efficiency, in any workplace, location and the ‘need to know’ information for each team member in real time.
From a business perspective, the Internet has become 100 times more useful, but only if you take advantage of these changes and opportunities.