The planners envisioned a three-tiered system. Starting in 1987, the NSF funded research organizations at IBM , MCI , and the Merit Computer Network . Originally, the NSF wanted to incorporate its network into ARPAnet, but a number of political and technical difficulties caused it to build its own network. The NSF kept up its network, though, adding more than a dozen backbones and more large regional networks. While the United States still leads the world in Internet-based technologies, other nations have developed similar networks, which connect through gateways.
New ideas continue to pop up.
This program went into development in 1991 and continues today. Commercial networks, students, and even Internet cafes are scrambling to sign up and be part of a technological revolution. Lynch, Daniel C. Historical Evolution. In Internet System Handbook . Daniel C. Lynch and Marshall T. Rose, eds.