[ih] "The First Router" on Jeopardy

[vinton cerf]

yes, there is no dispute that the IMP did routing of packets. But except
for Jack's comments, I have never referred to the IMP as a "router," which
term I associated with various Internet packet switches.

v


On Tue, Nov 23, 2021 at 9:42 AM Jorge Amodio via Internet-history <
internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:

> There is another mention of the "Routing Algorithm" on the 1972 memo from
> Crowther, Walden and Mimno, to Frank Heart/IMP Guys, describing the new
> routing algorithm.
>
> -J
>
> On Tue, Nov 23, 2021 at 8:34 AM Jorge Amodio <jmamodio at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >
> > BBN Report #1783 (1969) includes the addition of the "Routing Algorithm"
> > but it does not define the word "router" but the description implies that
> > the IMP with this algorithm acts as a router.
> >
> > Trying to find a copy of Report #1822 ....
> >
> > Cheers
> > Jorge
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Nov 22, 2021 at 2:50 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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> >>
> >
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