The terminal IMP for the ARPA computer network

A little over three years ago the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Department of Defense (ARPA) began implementation of an entirely new venture in computer communications: a network that would allow for the interconnection, via common-carrier circuits, of dissimilar computers at widely separated, ARPA-sponsored research centers. This network, which has come to be known as the ARPA Network, presently includes approximately 20 nodes and is steadily growing. Major goals of the network are (1) to permit resource sharing, whereby persons and programs at one research center may access data and interactively use programs that exist and run in other computers of the network, (2) to develop highly reliable and economic digital communications, and (3) to permit broad access to unique and powerful facilities which may be economically feasible only when widely shared.