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History of Merit Network
1960 Timeline 1970 Timeline 1980 Timeline 1990 Timeline 2000 Timeline 2010 Timeline History homepagee







Merit has been a leader in networking and Internet technologies for more than four decades. Founded in 1966 by Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, and Wayne State University, Merit established networking in Michigan long before the term "Internet" was invented.

Merit pioneered many of the practices and protocols used in today's Internet. In 1987, a Merit-led consortium (including IBM, MCI, and the Michigan Strategic Fund) won a $39 million grant from the National Science Foundation to re-engineer and manage the NSFNET, the first national high-speed Internet backbone for research and education. The NSFNET led directly to the growth of the commercial Internet.

Merit Network Timeline: Two articles document Merit's early history: This monograph details the growth of the NSFNET: To view or print the PDF documents above, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. Adobe Acrobat Reader can be downloaded for free from Adobe.




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