Advanced Research Projects Agency

What Does Advanced Research Projects Agency Mean?

The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) was the old name for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), an agency of the U.S. government responsible for developing new technology for the military.

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In computing, ARPA/DARPA is best known for its involvement in networking and the early development of ARPANET, a network that many view as the starting point of the Internet.

Techopedia Explains Advanced Research Projects Agency

ARPA changed its name to DARPA in 1972, then back to ARPA in 1993, then finally back again to DARPA in 1996. Its name change also sometimes causes confusion in the naming of ARPANET, who some assume changed its name to DARPANET, which is not the case.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…