Several significant events occurred in 1983, including:

• The TCP/IP suite of networking protocols, or rules, becomes the only set of protocols used on the ARPANET. This decision sets a standard for other networks, and generates the use of the term "Internet" as the network of networks which either use the TCP/IP protocols or are able to interact with TCP/IP networks.

• To keep military and non-military network sites separate, the ARPANET splits into two networks: ARPANET and MILNET.