Internet Industry

The global industry built around the internet, the worldwide system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite to communicate between networks and devices, including internet service providers and the businesses that operate on top of that infrastructure. Commercial internet service providers first emerged in 1989 in the United States and Australia, and the linking of commercial networks and enterprises in the early 1990s marked the shift toward the modern, commercially driven internet. Business to business transactions and financial services conducted over the internet now affect supply chains across entire industries, and online shopping has grown into a significant market in its own right, a growth commentators often attribute to the internet's decentralized, centrally unadministered structure, which allows it to expand organically.