[ih] Protocol numbers (was IP version 7)

[Steve Crocker]

I left DARPA in 1974 and went to ISI.  I had not focused on networks
while I was at DARPA and was paying only peripheral attention to network
issues while I was at ISI, so the following is, at best, tangential and
anecdotal.

Bill Carlson came into DARPA/IPTO behind me.  At some point, and I don't
recall the exact date, he visited me in Marina del Rey.  He said he had
just come from San Diego and had spent the day aboard an aircraft carrier,
probably the Vinson.  He said he attempted to count the number of computers
on the ship but hadn't succeeded ;)

Steve


On Thu, Dec 24, 2020 at 1:26 PM Jack Haverty via Internet-history <
internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:

> MATNET was a satellite-based network, essentially a ship-based clone of
> the land-based SATNET which was one of the earliest "core" networks of
> the Internet.  Both involved IMPs (actually "SIMPS" for Satellite IMP),
> with the MATNET nodes onboard ships.
>
> Frank Deckelman was the Navy rep (and funnel for the money) for MATNET.
> I remember that we put a MATNET node on the aircraft carrier USS Carl
> Vinson, which was the Navy's test site for new technology at the time.
> Frank participated in Internet-related meetings, and even brought the
> Captain of the Carl Vinson to one.   This was part of ARPA's "technology
> transfer" -- it was a full duplex communications mechanism, sending
> technology into military use, and receiving $s from the Navy to fund
> continued research.
>
> I also don't recall the term "METANET" at all.   But I do recall that
> Frank had a need for a "Shipboard LAN" and had us (BBN) start
> investigating that.   IIRC, it was an obvious next step to provide a way
> to hook up shipboard computers to the shipboard MATNET node.   Ken
> Pogran may remember more.
>
> At about that time (mid-1983) BBN reorganized and I lost contact with
> the Navy projects.  I don't know, but I suspect METANET may have been a
> follow-on project to MATNET, to create LAN and Internet technology
> suitable for shipboard operation (e.g., operating under EMCOM
> conditions).   Probably also involved Frank Deckelman.
>
> Vint - you had probably moved on to MCI, and I had moved on to the
> "operational" arena of DDN et al, so "METANET" isn't in our memories.
>
> /Jack Haverty
>
> On 12/24/20 6:52 AM, Vint Cerf via Internet-history wrote:
> > was there any relationship between METANET (which I do not remember) and
> > MATNET (which I do remember)?
> >
> > v
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Dec 24, 2020 at 9:40 AM Craig Partridge via Internet-history <
> > internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
> >
> >> On Wed, Dec 23, 2020 at 7:09 PM Barbara Denny via Internet-history <
> >> internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
> >>
> >>>  I will throw out a guess about the mystery EMCON protocol number
> >>> assignment.  It might be related to SRI's work for the Navy. We had a
> >>> project called  Metanet that was looking at how to support TCP/IP
> >>> networking when ships were under emission control.  In 1984, I gave a
> >>> presentation about the work at a Gateway Special Interest Group Meeting
> >>> hosted by Jon Postel at ISI (see RFC 898).  I don't remember us asking
> >> for
> >>> a protocol number yet but we could have. I also wonder if Jon may have
> >>> created a placeholder for us. I was working on the Ada implementation
> of
> >>> the gateway at that point in time.  I don't think we had the EMCON
> >> details
> >>> worked out yet.  The project got cancelled unexpectedly and on short
> >> notice
> >>> due to a change in personnel if I remember correctly.
> >>> barbara
> >>>
> >>
> >> Hey Barbara:
> >>
> >> I didn't know you worked on METANET! That was my first project as a new
> >> employee at BBN in 1983.  The job on the BBN side was to figure out if
> >> different network topologies worked more or less well for shipboard
> command
> >> centers.  As I recall, Ken Pogran was the initial PM and got TCP/IP
> working
> >> on a bus network (Ungermann-Bass?) and then transitioned to something
> else,
> >> so Ben Woznick took over and I was hired to get TCP/IP working on the
> 80MB
> >> Proteon Ring. That was grand fun.  Rick Adams at Seismo also had a
> Proteon
> >> Ring and I gave him my driver for his network.  And I swapped email for
> the
> >> first time with Noel Chiappa -- as I recall, I was using another
> >> Proteon network interface driver for guidance and its comments noted
> that
> >> an old version of some Proteon board had a real halt and catch fire
> feature
> >> (if you set the initialization word wrong, smoke happened) and Noel
> >> observed that the comment was no longer valid. And I had the fastest
> >> network in Cambridge all to myself (but, alas, had nothing much to run
> on
> >> it).
> >>
> >> Craig
> >>
> >> --
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> >> mailing lists.
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> >>
> >
> >
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