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SA Internet turns 25

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 14 Nov 2016
On 12 November 1988, Mike Lawrie led the Rhodes University team that established the first South African Internet networking system.
On 12 November 1988, Mike Lawrie led the Rhodes University team that established the first South African Internet networking system.

South Africa has marked the 25th anniversary of the first Internet networking system in the country.

In 1988, Mike Lawrie led the Rhodes University team that established the first South African Internet networking system, but it was only on 12 November 1991 that the first IP connection was made - marking the official start of Internet access in South Africa. Today, the country has over 28 million Internet users.

"We have solid Internet foundations built two-and-a-half decades ago by visionary South Africans who saw the potential of a new technology that has today flourished in this country and built many local centres of Internet excellence," says ZACR CEO Lucky Masilela.

He says there have been many builders of the Internet in South Africa, and it would be impossible to name each worthy individual. However, he acknowledges Lawrie as the "founding architect of the Web in South Africa".

"It is for this reason that we congratulate Mr Lawrie on the occasion of this landmark year for the local Web and on his recent Lifetime Achievement Award recently bestowed upon him at the SACF ICT Achievers Awards," adds Masilela.

ZACR is tasked with administering second-level domains within the greater .za namespace and is responsible for the technical and administrative wellbeing of the entire South African online presence.

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