By the early 1980s, there were numerous data networking technologies. IBM’s System Network Architecture (SNA) dominated the commercial world; DECNET, from Digital Equipment Corp, was widely used in the scientific and research communities; and telephone companies and firms such as Tymnet and Telenet offered network-based computer access via X.25. Other protocols, such as MMDF, RSCS and UUCP, were used to transfer electronic mail and files. In addition, a worldwide data networking standards activity, commonly known as OSI, was supported by almost all of the world’s governments (including the U.S.) and telephone companies. Thus the TCP/IP-based Internet did not develop in a clean-slate environment. The competition was intense, but by the early 1990s it was clear that TCP/IP, as implemented in the NSFNET, had become the dominant form of internetworking. A panel reviews the earlier standards, explore why the TCP/IP-based Internet succeeded while the others did not, and highlight the role of the NSFNET in this process. From the Series:NSFNET: The Partnership That Changed the World