A History of the Internet

The Internet has now become synonymous with modern life. Rarely will you find someone who doesn't access it daily, either on their smartphone, laptop or tablet. Originally conceived in the 1950's, the Internet as we know it didn't fully take shape until the 1990's, although this was long after American business magnate, Bill Gates, revealed the very first PC. During this short period, it has evolved from a simple hub used primarily for military purposes through to a universally available and accessible source of information to all.

So, where did it all start? In 1958, the United States government developed the precursor for ARPANet, the Advanced Research Projects Agency. From here, the earliest form of electronic mail was born in 1962 and 1969 saw the launch of ARPANet. This was born from the need to improve communication in the event of a nuclear attack. It connected different networks together, primarily for military and educational purposes. The word 'Internet' wasn't used however until 1974 and, just two years later, Queen Elizabeth of England became the first Head of State to send an email.

Jump forward to 1990 and the invention of HTML and a text browser, where Tim Bernes-Lee was able to establish a successful server via the Internet. From then until now, it has continued to the point where businesses struggle to keep up without it. 2006 saw the invention of 'cloud computing, 2007 was the rise of the smartphone and in 2008 Google Chrome was launched. The explosion of this global communication channel was best noted between 2013 -2015 when more data was produced in a 2 year period then throughout the entirety of human history. This co-aligned with product releases including the Apple Watch and Google Glasses as more than half of the world's population became fully fledged Internet users.

In modern day business, the Internet has become one of the most important resources for success. It has transformed the way companies communicate with its customers, forming a 2-way channel for effective brand relationship development. By drastically reducing this time frame, it improves your ability to grow and creates a world where marketing, transactions and information gathering can all be achieved at the click of a button. It has become infeasible to expect a business to grow to any size without relying on the Internet significantly, in one way or another. And, in a world where competition is so strong and continually growing, any boost an emerging company can achieve can only be a benefit.