Setting up NASK, originally as the Warsaw University Research and Academic Computer Network Coordinating Team (March 1991), and establishing the first IP connection in Poland (August 1991) were pivotal moments in the history of the Polish Internet. Please find below a detailed list of major events in the history of NASK and the Polish Internet: .

the 70's-80's
Previous work on computer networking begins in the late 70's as part of ministerial (PR) and centralized governmental (CPBR) projects. The basic protocol is X.25, the software is written from scratch and the hardware is manufactured locally or in other Comecon member states. In 1986, the CPBR 8.13 project is launched: "Building the National Academic Computer Network (Krajowa Akademicka Siea Komputerowa) - KASK" managed by professor Daniel J. Bem from Wroc3aw University of Technology. The physical infrastructure of KASK is to become the starting point for the NASK network.

1989
A group of enthusiasts from Polish research and academic circles makes efforts to get Poland connected to EARN (European and Academic Research Network) - the European branch of BITNET (Because It's Time Net) and comes up with spontaneous initiatives encouraging the U.S. to lift the ban on exporting modern computer and telecommunications technologies to the former Eastern Bloc countries. NASK director, Maciej Koz3owski, is an active participant in those initiatives.

February 1990
The embargo is lifted and Poland is allowed to connect to EARN / BITNET. This happens in April 1990. The Polish node is called PLEARN and located on the CIUW (Warsaw University IT Centre) premises in Krakowskie Przedmieocie street. 

1991 In the spring, NASK begins its mission: to organize computer communication for the Polish research and academic community. At that time NASK is called the Warsaw University Coordinating Team and is led by professor Tomasz Hofmokl from the Warsaw University Faculty of Physics in Ho?a street (in the picture). Professor Hofmokl was the Director of NASK until 1999. He passed away on 5 September 2000.

17 August 1991
A historic moment: an IP connection is established between Ho?a street and the Computer Centre of the Copenhagen University. 

December 1991 The U.S. lifts the ban on Internet communication with Poland. This allows Poland to be fully connected to the international Internet. NASK becomes Poland's first Internet operator and ISP. May 1992 NASK's first satellite link to Sweden - at 38,400 kbps. Previously NASK connected Poland to the world via Denmark (at 9600 kbps).

November 1993 The first Polish WWW server is set up in Ho?a street, featuring the pioneer of Polish portals - Polska Strona Domowa or Polish Home Page.  December 1993 The old NASK is transformed by the State Committee for Scientific Research into the Research and Academic Computer Network research and development organization.

1994 NASK already works at full steam, for example, extends its WAN (Wide Area Network) and starts building WARMAN - the first Polish MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) for Warsaw. Following long analyses, the network is based on the ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) technology, which - at that time - is still in the trial stage. The decision turns out to be a success. WARMAN becomes operational in 1995.

October 1995
NASK orders the first survey of a national sample of the Internet user community. The survey is carried out by the RUN agency. For a long time, the results serve as the only source of information about Polish Internet users. At that time the community is very exclusive: mostly men with higher education, usually scientists and academics. The youth segment is very limited, and the "Rzeczpospolita" daily, commenting on the survey dubs the Polish Internet'95 "a network of educated men". 

1995
The first FR (Frame Relay) wide area network is built. FR nodes are installed at the main points of the NASK WAN.

1997
NASK is first to offer corporate network building services in Poland.

September 1998
NASK opens the first international landline connection (to Stockholm) with a bitrate of 155 Mbps.

1999
NASK introduces the IP Transit service (in cooperation with the international telecommunications corporation Telia). The service provides access to the global Telia NET IP network with 99.96% availability.

2000
NASK offers the service portfolio of the international telecommunications operator Infonet on the Polish market.

2001 "TELEINFO 500 - the Polish Telecommunications and Data Market in 2000" report, NASK is ranked first among 80 leading Polish Internet operators, before Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. and Internet Partners.

19 April 2002 The NASK headquarters has a new address.  The company has moved to its Southern Residence at 18 W1wozowa Street in Warsaw.

NASK acquires VPN Service Sp. z o.o. Since August 28, NASK has been the owner of all VPN trademarks, copyrights and other intellectual property. NASK also accepts VPN contractual obligations valid on the VPN insolvency declaration date.  NASK does not take over the company's liabilities. As of the notarial deed date, VPN employees become part of the NASK team.

November 2002 The NASK Research and Academic Computer Network becomes part of the so-called Centres of Excellence network, selected in the 5th Framework EU and PHARE program. The "Centre of Excellence" title is awarded for the Centre of Competence in Internet Security Area (COCISA) research project. The main objective of the project is to create a research and development integration centre for IT technology security in Central Europe. The COCISA was prepared by the Polish CERT team within NASK.

January 2003
NASK and NCR Polska sign a framework contract for the upgrade and servicing of domestic and international NASK backbone nodes based on the Cisco Catalyst 8540 platform.

The Polska.pl portal, maintained by NASK, opens a section called "Towns in Archival Documents" that presents documents, photos and commentaries on the history of Polish towns. The project, managed in cooperation with the Head Office of State Archives, opens on 5 September in the town of Bolimów. The portal editorial team receives many home archive pictures from Bolimów citizens. One of them is presented here.

November - December 2003 14 December marks the 10th anniversary of the NASK research and development organization. The celebration takes place on 27 November 2003 in the chambers of Prymasowski Palace in Warsaw.

December 2003
In late December 2003, a new NASK network backbone is opened. The network comprises two STM-1 (155 Mbps) rings. With new nodes and new wide area network possibilities, NASK offers better service quality, faster delivery and lower prices.

January 2004
NASK's Infonet Polska team completes a project that connects Polish banks to the SWIFT network. Despite fierce competition, 60% of all the customers interested in SWIFT services decide to select the joint NASK and INFONET offer.

March 2004
NASK, as the only national Internet domain registry in the world, obtains ISO certification. The certificate covers the entire domain registration and maintenance process carried out by the NASK Domain Department.

June 2004
The NASK Scientific Council appointed Professor Krzysztof Malinowski as Research Director at NASK.

NASK successfully participated in the 9th International Yachting Championships of Poland’s Teleinformation Industry IT CUP 2004 and took the third place.

July 2004
The state-of-the-art Collocation and Hosting Center was opened at NASK. Customized premises house a server room and a temp work room where customers can use a remote access to their equipment located at the Center.
NASK Technical Director Krzysztof Silicki was nominated as Poland’s representative in a newly established EU organization: the European Network and Information Security Agency or ENISA.

October 2004
NASK became a member of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a UN agenda that coordinates the development and operation of telecom networks around the world.

December 2004
Nearly a year passed since NASK has actively participated in the International Medical Programs (IMP) funded by the US Government. The scheme uses leading edge telecom  technologies for training purposes as well as for on-line conferences and experience sharing within the international panel of medicine specialists.

January 2005
NIFC Hotline Polska was opened at NASK as a contact point for fight against illicit content on the Internet. Poland is the first country among new EU members where the Hotline is fully operational.

February 8, 2005 NASK together with the Nobody’s Children Foundation initiated the Safe Interned Day (SID) in Poland. SID is part of the Awareness project implemented by NASK and the Foundation to raise the awareness of risks faced by Internet users.

May 2005
On the occasion of the World Telecommunications Day 2005, NASK Director Maciej Koz3owski handed the “WTD Statuette” to Channel One of Polskie Radio SA for promotion of a safe Internet and informed usage of its resources.

June 2005
On June 3, NASK and the Nobody’s Children Foundation organized the Safe Internet conference. It was the first out of 16 conferences scheduled by the Awareness Consortium. By the end of 2006, similar events will take place in other district towns. The conference was attended by many teachers, the police and Internet providers.

NASK made available main DNS servers for the Polish .PL domain and  made it possible to register Internet names in the .PL domain with indication to the IPv6 address. In the 10th International Yachting Championships of Poland’s Teleinformation Industry IT CUP 2005 NASK was granted the Fair Play Cup for a respectable behavior in the course of races. In addition, the media patron of the event, Vogel Burda publishing company, awarded the whole NASK team for “Creation of a good sailing atmosphere during the regatta”.

September 2005

The first NASK’s radio base station operating in the licenced 3.6-3.8 Ghz frequency was established on the Warsaw Trade Tower skyscraper. The station is located 209 meters above street level.

September 2005
On September 12, the „e-owietokrzyskie – radio network construction” agreement was signed. The project is based on the structural funds in the framework of the Integrated Operational Program for Regional Development.

October 2005
ENISA (European Network and Information Security Agency) became the co-organizer of the periodic SECURE conference which has been organized by NASK for nine years and focuses on telecomputing security.

During the Swietokrzyska Cooperative Exchange of New Technologies NASK’s videoconferences were given an award for the most innovative services.

November 2005
The BT Infonet team with two contestants from NASK won two first places in the Alinghi Intersponsor's Cup 2005 in Valence.

December 2005
The Ministry of Education and Science appointed NASK to be a Government Validation Point that verifies the applications for .eu domain registration in EURid.

On February 7, NASK together with the Nobody’s Children Fundation organized for the second Safer Internet Day in Poland. This day is celebrated in the whole of Europe as a part of the European Commission’s Safer Internet Action Plan.

July 2006
ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) - an entity co-ordinating Internet operations - and NASK reached an agreement on the application of NASK-developed software for automated management of TLDs (Top-Level Domains) - "IANA database".

Beginnig of the second stage of social campaign “Child in the Network” – it has to draw the attention of adults to the dangerous resources children can find on the Internet. More: http://www.saferinternet.pl/en http://www.saferinternet.pl/en

The 10th anniversary of the CERT Polska Team operating at NASK. We celebrated it during the tenth, jubilee editon of the SECURE Conference.

This year, the Safer Internet Day celebrations were most of all an example of Polish schools’ commitment to the Internet security issue. Both European level competitions and the competition prepared by Polish SID organizers (NASK and Nobody´s Children Foundation), enjoyed a wide response from educational institutions all over Poland. Using an electronic form available on the competition’s website, 469 schools submitted their initiatives, of which 201 contributed comprehensive reports of the celebrations. More info: http://www.saferinternet.pl/en

During the gala ceremony organized together with this year’s seminar of “Owiat Telekomunikacji”, NASK’s project “e-Owietokrzyskie – the building of an RF network” (developing a broadband Internet access system in the Owietokrzyskie Province) won a “Golden Antenna” in the category “product of the year – a stationary solution for business”. Pursuant to the bylaws of the “Golden Antenna” contest, NASK’s project ranked as one of the most innovative and economical telecommunications solutions launched over the last twelve months.

The first International Conference “Keeping Children and Young People Safe Online” took place at the Sheraton Hotel in Warsaw, on 16-17 October 2007. The aims of the conference were to raise awareness of the new challenges and opportunities in fighting Internet threats and to help share best practices across different sectors. Sessions were led by recognised international experts in the field of child protection. More info: konferencja.saferinternet.pl

December 2007
In the all-country broad-band radio network, being built by NASK, eighteen radio transmitters are already working. Four base stations located around Warsaw: in Pruszków, Legionowo, Wołomin, and Karczewo, have joined the previously active base stations in Warsaw, Gdańsk, Gdynia – Jaśkowa Kopa, Gdynia – Oksywie, Katowice, Kraków, Poznań, Wrocław and six base stations working within the project “e-świętokrzyskie”.

On 12th February NASK and the Nobody’s Children Foundation organized Safer Internet Day for the fourth time in Poland. On that occasion many local and national actions, such as SID competitions, initiatives at schools, e-learning course offer for elementary schools, inauguration of social campaign “STOP cyberbullying” and others, were celebrated by schools and institutions. More info: www.saferinternet.pl/en

On 18-19 September 2008 in Kyriad Prestige hotel in Warsaw, 2nd International Conference “Keeping Children and Young People Safe Online” was held. The conference was organized by NASK and Nobody’s Children Foundation in partnership with a German Internet safety project, klicksafe.de, as part of the European Commission’s Safer Internet Plus program. The conference was held under the auspices of European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, Viviane Reding. The conference was attended by 220 Polish participants as well as over 60 foreign guests, from Central Eastern Europe, Germany, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Sweden, Brazil and many others.

The SECURE 2008 Conference deemed issues relating to the protection of identity and building awareness of threats appearing in the internet, particularly in community portals and websites, especially important. Almost 200 persons participated in this year’s edition of the conference. They were representatives of the government administration, scientific and academic circles, as well as companies functioning in the most important sectors of the economy.

The 15th anniversary of NASK was celebrated on the 2nd of October in the Artistic Center “Fabryka Trzciny”.