The Internet protocol suite (commonly TCP/IP) is the set of communications protocols that implement the communications stack on which the Internet and most commercial networks run. It is named for two of the most important protocols in it: the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP), which were also the first two networking protocols defined. Today's IP networking represents a synthesis of two developments that began to evolve in the 1960s and 1970s, namely LANs (Local Area Networks) and the Internet, which, together with the invention of the World Wide Web have revolutionized computing. Read the full background at Internet Protocol Wikipedia