It has been 20 years since Latvia acquired its own internet. But now many people know that it was the Mathematics and Information Institute of the University of Latvia that secured the line of constant internet connection for Latvia through Tallinn.

So the foundation for not only the academic network of SigmaNet (originally LATNET), but also the first prerequisites for the further development of Latvian internet were founded, NIC.LV Social Relations Specialist Janis Rinkis informed BNN.

At first only scientific and research institutions, schools, high schools and their workers could use the internet. The goal of the academic computer network was to motivate the use of internet in an academic environment. It took even more effort to secure internet connection for the rest of Latvia’s population.

“At the time, no one could have predicted the popularity internet is going through today,” – Professor Guntis Bardzins, one of Latvia’s internet-pioneers, said. He was the one to flip the switch to connect the line to Estonia and thereby “launch” Latvian internet. ”In 1992, no one needed the internet, no one supported us. We did it by ourselves because we thought it was the right thing to do. Estonia already had internet, Lithuania did not. We wanted Latvia to keep up with the times. Now it seems funny, but the first internet connection was a mere 19.2 kb/sec. Even funnier – we thought it was enough for us,” – Bardzins said.

Dr. Janis Kikuts – the first manager of the Academic Network laboratory – notes: “We managed to do a lot over these years. Looking at everything now it is easy to say thing could have been done better, faster, and more effectively. What is important that we were receiving our experience and knowledge with experiments, learning from our mistakes, so that others would not have to.”

The Welcome to Latvia! or Labdien, Latijā! was the first source of information about Latvia for foreign internet users. During the ‘90s, a lot of questions about Latvia were received over the e-mail address on the page. “People were interested in Latvia, its history, people and news. The silliest question of all came from a Canadian woman, whose relatives brought her a kokle. The woman could not understand what to do with her gift, so she wrote a letter with a request to send her a manual to play this instrument,” – Katrina Sataki recalls, then the manager of the Academic Network. She was also responsible for answering queries sent to Welcome to Latvia!

When speaking about the development of the internet as a whole, Professor Bardzins is optimistic: “I believe technological development and the development of the internet will shatter the barriers of misunderstanding between people. Every person will be able to communicate in his own language, without the need to use a translator; communicate with any person from around the globe. These technologies are already in development, and we will contribute to this process.”

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