Advanced Research Projects Agency

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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
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret 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 IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.