During the 1980s and early 1990s, modems replaced the fax machine, resulting in the transfer of texts in electronic formats. During the 1990s, the power of computer networks grew to the point where it was possible for the translation business to operate internationally, enabling relationship between translators and clients around the world.

Interconnected computers played a major role in transferring information of any kind almost instantaneously using digital signals, creating a virtual space by eliminating spatial distances.

The term cyberspace was first used by William Gibson, one of the most prominent figures in postmodern literature, in his novel Neuromancer (1984), and later the term entered the world of communications.

The word cyber is derived from the Greek word Kybernetes meaning guide. The term “cybernetics” was first coined by the mathematician Norbert Wiener in his 1948 book, Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine.

Cybernetics is the science of studying and controlling mechanisms in human, machine (and computer) systems. Cyberspace is a set of human internal communications through computers and telecommunications devices, regardless of physical geography. An online system is an example of a cyberspace where users can communicate with each other via email.

Unlike real space, cyberspace requires no physical movement, and all actions are performed by simply pressing keys or mouse . This caused a great deal of global communication and necessitated the need for translation services and tools, especially translation memories.

The failure of machine translation in the 1960s led to the advent of computer-aided translation. The development of computer-aided translation tools, from 1967 as a result of the ALPAC report in 1996 to 2013, ie 46 years, can be divided into four periods:

• First period: 1967 – 1983
• Sustainable growth period: 1984 – 1993
• Rapid growth period: 1993 – 2003; and
• Global development period: 2004 – 2013

It is believed that computer-aided translation came about after machine translation, while machine translation was created as a result of the invention of computers.

Although the relationship between translation and computers began with the development of software for machine translation, the vast development of translation technologies began with the development of electronic dictionaries and terminology databases, desktop publishing and localization tools, and the advent of the Internet with various possibilities to do research and translation tools.