[Ronn_Bman]

According to Chase's 2002 Calendar of Events today marks the anniversary of the technology that brings us all together.

Internet Created: Anniversary

Oct. 29, 1969.

The first connection on what would become the Internet was made on this day when bits of data flowed between computers at UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute. The was the beginning of ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet developed by the Department of Defense. By the end of 1969, four sites were connected: UCLA, the Stanford Research Institute, the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of Utah. By the next year, there were 10 sites and soon there were applications like email and file transfer utilities. The @ symbol was adopted in 1972 and a year later 75 percent of ARPANET traffic was e-mail. ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990 and the National Science Foundation's NSFnet took over the role of backbone of the internet.