The Internet can trace its origins back to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the 1960s, commissioned by the United States government in collaboration with academic and private commercial organizations to build fault-tolerant and distributed computer networks.
The development of HTML and Web servers in the 1990s created a new opportunity for organizations to connect with customers. Commercialization of the Internet has resulted in the development of many new technologies and led to significant growth of not only users, but Web servers and new services like online travel, books and banking. The commercial growth of the Internet, often referred to as the dot-com bubble, burst in the early 2000s, leading to the failure of many Internet companies and stock market drops around the world.
Despite slowing economies, the post dot-com era saw people switching to online shopping, banking and gaming due to communications improvements, such as broadband and mobile access that were helping connect people, devices and data together. According to the United Nations, in 2000 an estimated 6.4 percent of the worldwide population was using the Internet.
In the late 1990s, the vast majority of mobile phones had only basic phone features. Many people who wanted mobile email and Internet also carried Wi-Fi-enabled devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs). The early 2000s saw the launch of many new Internet-enabled, faster smartphones, which coupled with the introduction of 3G wireless technologies, encouraged growth of mobile Internet use.
Web applications continue to become richer in content, graphics and video over time, driving standards innovation such as HTML 4 and third-party tools such as Adobe Flash and Apple QuickTime. This richer online experience in turn drives higher bandwidth requirements, greater storage of data and faster processing of information.
With the proliferation of higher bandwidth availability through more devices, richer Web applications and the growth of e-commerce, the Internet was fast becoming an indispensable part of our everyday lives.