[ih] ARPAnet and nuclear survivability

[Matthias Bärwolff]

Noel Chiappa wrote:
>     > From: "Bernie Cosell" <bernie at fantasyfarm.com>
>
>     > OTOH the IMP *was* originally delivered in a fully mil-spec ruggedized
>     > case...
>
> I think that was in mostly just for reliability/robustness; I think one
> ARPANet history (maybe 'Where Wizards Stay Up Late') discusses the reasoning.
>   
Indeed, Hafner and Lyon discuss this at page 97:

"Heart's choices were limited. ... From the start, the reliability issue
led Heart to favor the new Honeywell DDP-516, .... The 516 also helped
to settle Heart's fear that inquisitive graduate students might bring
down the network with their tinkering. He could rest much easier knowing
the IMPs would be housed in a box built to withstand war."

That account in turn is based on various personal interviews with Heart
and the IMP guys, plus previous CBI interviews with the same (cf. page 268).

The "BBN versus graduate students at host sites" issue comes up once or
twice more in the Hafner and Lyon book. And given Heart's well-known
initial adamancy in reliability it sounds plausible to me.

Matthias
> If that old story about the milkshake is true, it might have been a wise
> choice, though... :-)
>
> 	Noel
>   

-- 
Matthias Bärwolff
www.bärwolff.de