The Internet began as the ARPANET during the cold war in 1969. It was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense's (DOD) in conjunction with a number of military contractors and universities to explore the possibility of a communication network that could survive a nuclear attack. It continued simply because the DOD, it's contractors, and the universities found that it provided a very convenient way to communicate. (University of Regina)      17 Million US Households to Shop Online in '99 17 million US households will be shopping online by the end of this year, with online retail sales expected to top USD20.2 billion, according to Forrester Research.Click here for full story. (NUA/Forrester Research)      10 Million Networked Homes in the US by 2003 10 million households across the US will be transformed by the introduction of networking capacity to their homes by the year 2003.Click here for full story. (NUA/Yankee Group)      Number of pages on the Web: 800 million.(NEC Research Institute)      64 Million U.S. Adults Regular Internet Users Mediamark Research Inc. has released data which suggests that there are 64.2 million adults going online in the U.S. every month. Click here for full story. (NUA)      56 percent of U.S. companies will sell their products online by 2000, up from 24 percent in 1998. (NUA)      Cisco Systems Inc. is today the world's largest Internet commerce site, selling more than $32 million in products every day. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)      This summer 82 percent of college graduates will search for careers and employment information online. (NUA)      A survey of 30,000 consumers in 30 nations by found that the U.S. not only has the fastest-growing number of Internet users, but the largest proportion of e-commerce consumers. (Roper Starch Worldwide)      More than a million new jobs were created by the U.S. high-tech industry since 1993. (American Electronics Association)      Preliminary employment data show that the U.S. high-tech industry employed 4.8 million workers in 1998, making it one of the nation's largest industries. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)   Online Resources and Surveys      Nua Internet Surveys   Economic Impact      Information technology sectors are growing at double the rate of the overall economy and have jumped as a share of the economy from 6.4% in 1993 to 8.2% in 1998. (U.S. Department of Commerce)      High-tech has driven more than a quarter of all economic growth since 1993. (U.S. Department of Commerce)      In 1965, high-tech's share of business spending was 3%. In 1996, it was 45%. (U.S. Department of Commerce)      In 1996, 7.4 million people worked in high-tech jobs, earning an average salary of $46,000, more than fifty percent more than the average wage of $28,000. (U.S. Department of Commerce)   Internet Usage      1 in 6 people use the Internet in North America and Europe. (NUA)      The number of women using the Internet worldwide will pass 96 million, or 45 percent of the world's Internet users in 2001. (Computer Economics)      In 1993, there were 26,000 domain names in use. In 1999, there are 5 million web sites. (U.S. Department of Commerce/Netcraft)      In 1993, 3 million people were connected to the Internet. In 1999, 80 million Americans are connected and approximately 200 million people worldwide. (U.S. Department of Commerce)      364 million PCs were in use in 1998. (Computer Almanac Industry)   The Internet and Businesses      Small businesses who use the Internet have grown 46% faster than those that do not. (American City Business Journals)      Forty-four percent of U.S. companies are selling online; 36% more say they will do so by the end of the year. (Association of National Advertisers)      Internet Advertising generated $1.92 billion in 1998, double the 1997 figure. (Internet Advertising Bureau)      Small and home offices spent $51.1 billion on high-tech goods in 1998. (IDC)   Internet Service Providers      The U.S. ISP market will generate $15.1 billion in 1999, a 45% increase over 1997. In Europe, the ISP market generated $4.3 billion in 1998. (IDC)