4. HISTORY

When the original Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was formed, SRI was assigned the essential administrative task of registering every host on the network and maintaining the Official Host Table. This host table was needed to interconnect the hosts into a network. SRI also became the repository for the RFCs, most of which were only available in paper copies because a file transfer protocol had yet to be specified. Because of its role as a central information repository in these ways, SRI became the natural place for users to call with questions, and the first NIC was born.

In 1984, the original network split into two networks: the ARPANET and the MILNET. The ARPANET was laid to rest in 1990, and the original NIC became the Defense Data Network NIC (DDN-NIC). This NIC was sometimes referred to as the "SRI-NIC" or sometimes simply as "the NIC". Today this NIC is maintained by Government Systems, Inc., and provides information services to the MILNET portion of the DDN, as well as performing several administrative duties that serve the entire Internet community. SRI continues to provide general Internet information services and maintains an FTP repository.

The days of having just one or two networks are long gone. Today, the Internet is an international collection of thousands of networks interconnected with the TCP/IP protocols. Users of any one of these networks can use the network services provided by TCP/IP to reach any of the other networks.

There are other major wide area networks, such as BITNET and DECnet networks, that are not based on the TCP/IP protocols and are thus not considered part of the Internet itself. However, users can communicate between these networks and the Internet via electronic mail, so Internet NICs often answer questions regarding these networks.

NICs exist for many of the networks that make up today's Internet. For example, in addition to the MILNET, in the United States there are the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET), the Energy Science Network (ESnet), and the NASA Science Internet (NSI). All of these networks provide NICs.

BITNET is a non-TCP/IP network that is accessible to the Internet via electronic mail. Its administrative organization, the Corporation for Research and Educational Networking (CREN), supports NIC services for BITNET users.

Many networks in countries other than the United States also provide NIC services. For example, such services exist for NORDUnet, which connects national networks in the Nordic countries, and JANet, the Joint Academic Network in the United Kingdom. The BITNET counterparts in Europe and Canada are the European Academic and Research Network (EARN) and NetNorth, respectively.