The story
Founded by Susan Estrada.1
Private company
CERFnet
Early California-based Internet service provider
The California Education and Research Federation Network (CERFnet) was one of the earliest Internet service providers in the United States and a pioneering regional network of the NSFNET. Founded in 1988 by Susan Estrada at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), CERFnet connected academic, government, and industrial research institutions across California and played a significant role in the commercialization of the Internet.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0
Last updated Oct 21, 2026.
Overview
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The California Education and Research Federation Network (CERFnet) was one of the earliest Internet service providers in the United States and a pioneering regional network of the NSFNET. Founded in 1988 by Susan Estrada at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), CERFnet connected academic, government, and industrial research institutions across California and played a significant role in the commercialization of the Internet. It was a co-founder of the Commercial Internet eXchange (CIX) in 1991, one of the first exchange points to permit unrestricted commercial Internet traffic.2
Leadership
Who has led CERFnet, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.
- FounderSusan Estrada1
Links
Sources
The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.
- 1WikidataCERFnet on Wikidata
- 2WikipediaCERFnet on Wikipedia