The History of Networks

As a telecommunications concept, networks THE HISTORY OF have long been associated with the connection of one entity to another, spreading and linking NETWORKS together like the veins in a body. It is the infrastructure from which we have built modern communication and the means by which society advances. From the early railroads to today's intricate social network, let's explore the history of the network. EARLY 1800s America's vast landsapce is goods and personal travel yet known. Samuel Morse's dot-dash electrical telegraph revolutionizes 1851 Telegraph lines in the U.S. span over 20,000 miles. The world sees its first electric 1876 Emerging from the success of the telegraph, the landline telephone is patented by Alexander each day within months of being unveiled. invention, laying the foundation for 1896 until the early 1920s that voice broadcast radio is developed. Guglielmo Marconi transmits 1914 telephone call is made from first person to transmit moving silhouette images over a new John Baird becomes the 1928 radio network and physically links 1949 they manage to capture more than 90% of the total viewing audience. NBC, ABC. Throughout the 1950s, Xerox invents the "Telecopier," the first (ABC Wwww XEROX ARPANET, the Model-T of the global Internet, is deployed as a 1971 transmitted independently and re-assembled. The first email is sent. a system that links computer systems to form a local area network that Robert Metcalfe develops the Ethernet, 1978 are created to exchange data sends data at 10 megabits p/ second. BES In many ways, it's a precursor to the modern social network. 1979 The cell phone communication computer is sold to the public. 1990 dominate local area sites. networks of high-speed computers network communication into the home. + GEOCITIES * myspace GeoCities allows users to develop 2002 and foster an online community. a new model of social networking to the mainstream. A year later, Myspace introduces its own, more successful, version. Like Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook A few years later, it gathers several 2006 hundred million users, surpassing that of all other social networking sites of its kind. Broadband access among U.S. adults reaches approximately 2010 2011 As digital technology continues to replace the physical, even personal computer hard drives are going to virtual servers that make up "the cloud." Now-more than ever-people can work collaboratively, multibillion-dollar industry. creating the most mobile network to date. get satisfaction INFOGRAPHIC BY: www.getsatisfaction.com COLUMN/EIVE SOURCES: FAST COMPANY / O'BRIEN, J. A. & MARAKAS, G. M. MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS. (2008). BANKS, MICHAEL. ON THE WAY TO THE WEB: THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE INTERNET AND ITS FOUNDERS (2008) / PEW RESEARCH connected by rail, creating the fastest network for transporting 1838 long distance communication. 20K 1863 underground railway open in London, carrying an average of 26,000 passengers Graham Bell as a circuit-switching future telecommunication networks. the first radio signal. It isn't The first cross-continental New York to San Francisco. HI NY! SUP, SF! 1924 cutting edge invention: the television. NBC sets up the first coast-to-coast radio stations in a countrywide chain. Network television rises to power with the "Big Three": CBS, 1966 successful commercial fax machine. 1969 packet switching network that breaks digital messages into small blocks 1976 Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) between users over phone lines. network is introduced in Japan. 1981 Weighing 23.5 pounds, the first commercial laptop 1983 The computer industry delcares this year as "the year of the LAN," as The grounds are laid for the World Wide Web when Tim Berners-Lee builds HTTP and HTML. Eventually, the Internet is able to bring light-speed HTTP:// free home pages within designated "neighborhoods" where they can chat, post on bulletin boards 1994 + + + + Friendster is launched and introduces Ofriendster 2004 becomes available-at first exclusively-to university students. The wildly popular facebook micro-blogging site, Twitter, takes flight. 65% and mobile Internet catapults the smartphone into a