[ih] Baran and arbitrary reliability from arbitrarily unreliable components

[Vint Cerf]

+1


Vint Cerf
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On Mar 18, 2009, at 9:32 PM, Dave CROCKER wrote:

>
>
> Larry Press wrote:
>> I have a teaching note page on Internet history has a broader focus  
>> than just packet switching(http://bpastudio.csudh.edu/fac/lpress/471/hout/netHistory/ 
>> )
>
> Nice list.
>
> I've found it useful to distinguish 3 major paradigm increments in  
> the history of the Internet's data-handling basics (separate from  
> the history of its apps):
>
>     Packet network -
>        Heterogeneous machines form a single network;
>        Common canonical formats and basic handling;
>        Arpanet, Irvine ring, Alohanet, Cyclades, et al.
>
>     Interconnected networks
>        Heterogeneous networks;
>        Meta-formats and independent administrations;
>        Arpa Internet
>
>     Interconnected services
>        Multiple backbones & regional operations - NSFnet Internet
>
> Paul and the suite of early contributors gave us that first  
> insight.  My understanding from my brother is that the mid-60s had a  
> number of focused, experimental efforts to explore this space,  
> before the Arpanet contract was finally let.
>
> (I tend to view that NSFNet step as having core technical impact  
> that is generally under-appreciated, since it sowed the seeds for  
> the richly competitive infrastructure, without which we might have a  
> single-operator backbone...)
>
>
>
> Noel Chiappa wrote:
> > In addition to the books I already mentioned, one of the best  
> sources I know
> > of for detail about the creation of the ARPANet is probably Katie  
> Hafner's
> > book, "Where Wizards Stay up Late". I know she went to an enormous  
> amount of
> > trouble to research it, including many, many interviews.
>
> What we are missing is Volume 2, about the creation of the  
> Internet.  It only sits around in isolated pieces, as anecdotes,  
> personal files, and fading memories. What we need is something with  
> the richness of Katie's book, that covers the remarkable history  
> that moved a relatively obscure technical mechanism into a global  
> infrastructure.  This was as much an innovation in collaborative  
> culture as it was computer technology.
>
> In 1997, a police sergeant who was chatting with me, on the eastern  
> side of the the Malaysian peninsula, said that he knew that we had  
> the Internet in the U.S., but wasn't sure whether it had been  
> invented in the U.S. or in Malaysia.  It's difficult to think of a  
> better indication of successful diffusion of innovation.
>
> Both the formal, historical steps and the rich array of anecdotes  
> really ought to be recorded.
>
> (BTW, Katie said that sales of Wizards wasn't great and Wired  
> wouldn't even do an article about it:  It was only about the past...)
>
> d/
> -- 
>
>  Dave Crocker
>  Brandenburg InternetWorking
>  bbiw.net