The interest in commercial use of the Internet became a hotly debated topic. Although commercial use was forbidden, the exact definition of commercial use could be unclear and subjective. UUCPNet and theX.25 IPSS had no such restrictions, which would eventually see the official barring of UUCPNet use of ARPANET and NSFNET connections. Some UUCP links still remained connecting to these networks however, as administrators cast a blind eyeto their operation. During the late1980s, the first Internet service provider (ISP) companies were formed.Companies like PSINet,UUNET, Netcom, and Portal Software were formed to provide service to the regional research networks and provide alternate network access,UUCP-based email and Usenet News to the public. The first commercial dialup ISP in the United States wasThe World, opened in 1989.

1989 military use . In 1989, the DECnet-based Space Physics Analysis Network (SPAN) and the TCP/IP-based NASA Science Network (NSN) were brought together at NASA Ames Research Center creating the first multiprotocol widearea network called the NASA Science Internet, or NSI. NSI was established to provide a totally integrated communications infrastructure to the NASA scientific community for the advancement of earth, space and life sciences. Asa high-speed, multiprotocol, international network, NSI provided connectivityto over 20,000 scientists across all seven continents.

1989 TCP/IP goes global and in 1989 CERN opened its first external TCP/IP connections. This coincided with thecreation of Réseaux IPEuropéens (RIPE), initially a group of IP network administrators who met regularly to carry out co-ordination work together. Later, in 1992, RIPE was formally registered as a cooperative in Amsterdam.

1989 TCP/IP goes global At the same time as the rise of internetworking in Europe, ad hoc networking to ARPA and in-between Australian universities formed, based on various technologies such as X.25 and UUCPNet.These were limited in their connection to the global networks, due to the cost of making individual international UUCP dial-up or X.25 connections. In 1989,Australian universities joined the push towards using IP protocols to unify their networking infrastructures. AARNet was formed in 1989 by the AustralianVice-Chancellors’ Committee and provided a dedicated IP based network forAustralia.

1989 The Internet began to penetrate Asia in the late 1980s.Japan, which had built the UUCP-based network JUNET in 1984, connected to NSFNET in 1989. It hosted the annual meeting of the Internet Society, INET’92, in Kobe. Singapore developed TECHNET in 1990, and Thailand gained a globalInternet connection between Chulalongkorn University and UUNET in 1992.

1989 InterNIC created the nato domain for use by NATO. NATO considered none of the then existing TLDs as adequately reflecting their status as an international organization. Soon after this addition, however, InterNIC also created the int TLD for the use by international organizations in general, and persuaded NATO to use the second level domain nato.int instead. The nato TLD, no longer used, was finally removed in July 1996.