History of TCP/IP The TCP/IP protocol family was created as a DARPA project, in order to create a network that could survive military attacks, with no single point of failure. The "Internet" was later set up as an academic network, in order to allow academic researchers to access super-computer in 6 super-computing centers across the united states. The network grew to allow other countries to connect, but was still limited to academic and non-profit organizations. The Israeli academic network joined the Internet in 1987.