[ih] "The First Router" on Jeopardy

[Bob Purvy]

"backbone" wasn't bad, but it definitely shouldn't have been accepted. We
don't know what they'd have ruled if the contestant said something correct,
like "gateway" or "IMP."

*Alex*: Oh, I'm *so* sorry. The answer is "router."

On Mon, Nov 22, 2021 at 1:34 PM vinton cerf via Internet-history <
internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:

> your memory and mine are coincident - i had the impression that "router"
> came from Cisco Systems but that had to be after 1984. If you introduced
> the term "router" in 1977 that would certainly be early. I stuck with
> "gateways" for quite a while after the 1977 three network demonstration.
>
> v
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 22, 2021 at 3:50 PM Jack Haverty via Internet-history <
> internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
>
> > Watching Jeopardy from November 17, 2021, I was surprised to see a
> > "clue" which was a picture of Len Kleinrock standing in front of the
> > ARPANET IMP which has been preserved at UCLA.  It was a clue under the
> > category "It's a New Machine".
> >
> > The host read the clue:
> >
> > "In 1969, Leonard Kleinrock and his team sent the first message over the
> > Internet with the first THIS, which now connects devices like modems."
> >
> > None of the contestants knew the answer, although one guessed
> > "backbone", which isn't a bad guess.  So the guest revealed the answer:
> >
> > "You're looking at the first router."
> >
> > My immediate reaction was "No, you're not!    That's an IMP."
> >
> > See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmv1WKMGcDw starting at about 1:29
> >
> > That's not quite like I remember it.  Ginny Strazisar built the first
> > switching device for the Internet to connect the ARPANET to the Packet
> > Radio net, circa 1977.  To me that was the genesis of the "Internet" -
> > INTERconnecting of NETworks of a variety of types, using TCP/IP to glue
> > it all together.   But millions of people just learned otherwise.
> >
> > A historical tidbit -- Back in 1977 Ginny's system was called a
> > "gateway", but later was renamed a "router".   It's possible that I did
> > the renaming.  At BBN we were selling lots of packet switches, and
> > sometimes customers asked for ideas on how to use their LANs in the
> > network.  Our sales people would tell them about the research
> > activities, and the role of gateways, TCP/IP , and the Internet. But in
> > many customers' minds that term "gateway"  immediately set off alarm
> > bells, because they had prior bad experience with "gateways" in their
> > IBM networks, and didn't want anything to do with more "gateways".   So
> > I suggested calling them "routers" instead of "gateways", and suddenly
> > the marketplace became much more willing to listen.
> >
> > Enjoy,
> > Jack Haverty
> >
> >
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