<p>The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) developed by DARPA of the United States Department of Defense was the world's first operational packet switching network, and the <strong>predecessor of the global Internet.</strong> </p><p>Packet switching, now the dominant basis for both data and voice communication worldwide, was a new and important concept in data communications. Previously, data communication was based on the idea of circuit switching, as in the old typical telephone circuit, where a dedicated circuit is tied up for the duration of the call and communication is only possible with the single party on the other end of the circuit.</p><p>With packet switching, a system could use one communication link to communicate with more than one machine by assembling data into packets. Not only could the link be shared (much as a single post box can be used to post letters to different destinations), but each packet could be routed independently of other packets. .</p>

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