Evolution of the Internet

The commercialization of the U.S. portion of the Internet-the loose-knit global assemblage of more than 52,000 autonomous government, university and corporate computer networks in more than 130 countries-is nearly complete. Prior to 1991 the U.S. Internet's physical infrastructure was government-owned and operated, but by mid-1994 it will be almost entirely privatized and available for commercial use. While no complete census of Internet users exists, they are estimated to number from 25 to 40 million worldwide, taking into account both multiple users on each attached network and large numbers of commercial electronic mail users who send messages via the Internet. Currently, the educational community represents the fastest-growing segment of Internet users, but overall the highest growth in terms of both number of networks and traffic volume is occurring in the commercial sector. By mid 1994, the Internet Society projects that Internet traffic will be more than 50% commercial. There is broad consensus today that the evolving National Information Infrastructure (NII) will be constructed from local exchange carrier and interexchange carrier telephone networks, cable television networks, and the rapidly expanding Internet. While there is no consensus yet on precisely what form the future Internet/NII should take, it's clear that Internet/NII services will range from basic store-and-forward electronic mail to high-speed, real-time access to high-value multimedia databases.<<ETX>>