The early Internet included military links to European allies prior to the late 1980s, and these were augmented by a few between the NSFNET and European academic networks in the late 1980s. NSF’s International Connections Management (ICM) Project, the international adjunct to the NSFNET Program, began in 1991 to connect with budding academic networks throughout the world, and by its close in 1996, ICM assisted in connecting 25 national academic networks to the U.S. academic community. The success and openness of the NSFNET provided a spark that led to the large-scale deployment of Internet technology throughout the world. From the Series:NSFNET: The Partnership That Changed the World