In the development, introduction and spread of the Internet, Nordic researchers have had a pioneering and central role. Already in the 1970s Norway hosted and developed the first ARPAnet node outside North America. In the 1980s pioneers in the Nordic countries started national computer networks and joined forces into the Nordic academic network NORDUnet, developed and operated from the KTH Network Operation Centre, KTHNOC. Its DGIX (Distributed Global Internet eXchange) node became central in the global Internet in the mid 1990s, with about 40 Internet operators connected. NORDUnet played a strong role in European network cooperation and in spreading the net eastwards from 1990. We describe, analyse and reflect on the Nordic development 1988–2007 with details on the expansion into higher and higher capacities and services.