The Internet is a giant worldwide network. It is a network of networks that connects thousands of LANs and WANs. There are more than 60 millions computers connected to the Internet and this number is doubling each year as illustrated by the following table.
| Year | Computers On the Internet |
| 1983 | 562 |
| 1984 | 1,024 |
| 1985 | 1,961 |
| 1986 | 2,308 |
| 1987 | 5,089 |
| 1988 | 28,174 |
| 1989 | 80,000 |
| 1990 | 290,000 |
| 1991 | 500,000 |
| 1992 | 727,000 |
| 1993 | 1,200,000 |
| 1994 | 2,217,000 |
| 1995 | 4,852,000 |
| 1996 | 9,472,000 |
| 1997 | 16,146,000 |
The Internet started in 1969 when the U.S. Department of Defense funded a major network project thru the Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA). The goal of the project was to create a computer network that would remain operational even if a substantial portion of the network was destroyed.
The solution was to inter-network many LANs and WANs together to form a large inter-connected network of computers (that became known as the Internet) similar to a highway system that enable the transmission of data using multiple possible routes.
The transmission process is done by a sophisticated set of protocols knows by the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP). These TCP/IP protocols are based on a process called Packet Switching which transmit a message thru the Internet as follow:
TCP/IP form the basis for the Internet. It is the standard protocol that make it possible to connect to the Internet.