Thirty years ago today on 1 January 1983, the ARPANET, a direct predecessor of today's Internet, implemented the TCP/IP protocol in a transition that required all connected computers to convert to the protocol simultaneously. The open TCP/IP protocol is now a foundational technology for the networks around the world that make up the global Internet and interconnect billions of devices.
The transition, which was carefully planned over several years before it actually took place, is documented in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) RFC 801 authored by Jon Postel.
Throughout its history, the Internet has continued to evolve. Today, deploying IPv6, the latest generation of the IP protocol, is critical to ensuring the Internet's continued growth and to connect the billions of people not yet online. Thousands of major Internet service providers (ISPs), home networking equipment manufacturers, and web companies around the world are coming together to permanently enable IPv6 for their products and services through efforts such as World IPv6 Launch organized by the Internet Society.
For more information about the Internet Society's work to facilitate the open development of standards, protocols, and administration, and to ensure a robust, secure technical infrastructure, see the Internet Technology Matters blog and the Deploy360 Programme.
For further details about the Internet's history and development, see the "Brief History of the Internet".