[ih] NCP to TCP/IP Transition

[Andrew Russell]

You may also want to consult the historical account of this  
'transition' that appears in

Amy Slaton and Janet Abbate, “The Hidden Lives of Standards:  
Technical Prescriptions and the Transformation of Work in America,”  
in Michael Thad Allen and Gabrielle Hecht, eds., Technologies of  
Power: Essays in Honor of Thomas Parke Hughes and Agatha Chipley  
Hughes (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2001).

Cheers,

Andy Russell


On Apr 27, 2009, at 1:49 PM, Vint Cerf wrote:

> The date of transition was 1 jan 83 but for almost 5 years before  
> that I was pushing implementations of TCP/IP in as many operating  
> systems as possible. It was only after all these implementations  
> were done (and many tested for interoperability) that I began  
> pushing in late 1981 or early 1982 for a planned (mandated)  
> transition to TCP/IP. Mainly this meant all ARPANET hosts had to  
> change or drop off the net. We had the ability to kill NCP at the  
> network level and did so twice during 1982 to show we could do it.
>
> vint
>
> On Apr 27, 2009, at 12:50 PM, Matthias Bärwolff wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> is my understanding correct in that it actually took more than a  
>> year to
>> do the transition from NCP to TCP/IP, starting roughly in early  
>> 1982 and
>> being done with by mid-1983? This is what RFC 801 (the plan), and  
>> rfc842
>> through rfc848 plus rfc876 (the progress reports) seem to indicate.
>>
>> I am asking because the transition is nowadays always being  
>> referred to
>> as a flag day transition (which in may understanding is defined as  
>> the
>> very absence of any transition period, e.g. something like  
>> changing from
>> driving on the left to driving on the right side of the road), but
>> apparently this was neither the case, nor was it intended to be.  
>> There
>> was simply a deadline, which, of course, was not met.
>>
>> Also, I am wondering, have the application layer gateways (relays)  
>> that
>> RFC 801 refers to been deployed, and if yes, to which extend, and how
>> successful?
>>
>> And a final question, while I'm at it: How decisive was the pressure
>> from DCA in this? My impression has been that without the top-down
>> pressure the whole thing may well never have happened, despite all  
>> the
>> money being poured into TCP/IP implementations.
>>
>> Pointers to relevant literature sources are appreciated, too. Thanks
>> again for your help.
>>
>> Matthias
>>
>> -- 
>> Matthias Bärwolff
>> mbaer at csail.mit.edu
>>
>
>

-----------------------------------------------------------
Andrew L. Russell, Ph.D
Assistant Professor, Program in History
College of Arts & Letters
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