[ih] The "Research to Operation" (R2O) aspect of Internet History

[Vint Cerf]

CHERI (see Peter G. Neumann et al at SRI) might be considered a distant
descendent of PSOS - it is strongly hardware oriented to give very
fine-grained memory control. The project has DARPA support for some time,
as I recall. https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/security/ctsrd/cheri/

v




On Mon, Aug 25, 2025 at 4:41 PM Jack Haverty via Internet-history <
internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:

> On 8/25/25 10:53, Barbara Denny via Internet-history wrote:
> >   Another story....
> > I thought SINCGARs radios we were getting at SRI were milspec.  I was
> surprised when in one shipment a radio had been broken by the post office.
> Nothing major, just a corner piece had broken off.
> > Some of you might be wondering what SRI was doing with these radios.  We
> had a project with ITT to develop a packet applique (another box) to
> transform the analog radio to one that supported packet switching. We used
> the packet radio protocols as a starting point for  the nodes and we did
> demonstrate it during exercises at military bases (Fort Bragg and Fort
> Gordon).  Hosts were using TCP/IP for the applications. Last I heard ITT
> and General Dynamics were competing? for the next production of the radios
> and this included support for packet switching.  This was back in the late
> 80s(?),  shortly after our project ended. I know ITT had also done more
> internal IR&D in this area. I don't know how much of the original packet
> radio technology got incorporated.
> > barbara
>
> Hi Barbara,
>
> Thanks for the SINCGARs story.  I've always wondered what happened to
> Packet Radio technology further down the road.
>
> Internet History buffs,
>
> No, it's R2O, not R2O2...
>
> I think R2O is a part of the Internet History which I haven't seen
> discussed much at all - namely how, and whether or not, technology
> progressed from the research labs of ARPA (and others, such as in
> Europe) into the world where it was used.   That "R2O" pipeline was of
> course the intent of the research when it was begun.   Research was
> initiated in the hope it would prove useful to meet operational needs.
>
> I lived through the progression of the ARPANET from an ARPA research
> project to its eventual deployment as the Defense Data Network, as well
> as numerous "clone" networks using IMPs, running the same code as
> ARPANET, in many branches of government and commercial environments.
>
> Similarly, I can remember the progression of The Internet, beginning as
> an ARPA research project.  NSF got involved, and funded a bunch of
> regional networks, but with a guaranteed and scheduled end to its
> funding.   By doing so, it generated the first self-sufficient ISPs, and
> the Internet industry began.   Tim Berners-Lee created web technology,
> W3C promoted it, and it exploded throughout the world.
>
> Other technologies I remember starting along such a pipeline. SATNET
> began as a component network of The Internet, providing connectivity
> between the US and Europe.  MATNET used the same technology as SATNET,
> but was deployed in a military testbed environment, with a presence on
> the USS Carl Vinson, the Navy's aircraft carrier used as a technology
> testbed "in the field".  But I haven't heard what, if anything, happened
> afterwards.
>
> There was a sort of "pipeline" carrying technology from ARPA research
> out into the operational military, as well as into the broader
> commercial world.   Perhaps some historians can explain how that worked
> and what technologies made it through the pipeline. Perhaps also explain
> ones that were abandoned as failures and why.
>
> For example, it seems like there could be a path beginning with projects
> such as AlohaNet, Packet Radio, SATNET, and others, that somehow leads
> to today's Starlink.   How did the research technology work its way
> along that path -- if it did at all?  Did it involve code transfer,
> adoption of successful algorithms or procedures, information
> dissemination through documents and papers, spinoffs of startups (cisco
> systems comes to mind), or perhaps just the movement of people, bringing
> knowledge and ideas from one project to another?
>
> For a possible failure, I recall projects in the early 1980s to develop
> "secure operating systems".   One was called KSOS (Kernelized Secure
> Operating System).  Another was PSOS (Provably Secure Operating
> System).  The idea was that it would be good to have a computer platform
> that not only did what it was specified to do, but also did not do
> anything else.   Such a system would be immune to the typical "zero-day"
> attacks that allow an intruder to take over control of a machine.   The
> fact that all the OSes I use today receive a constant stream of updates
> to fix critical vulnerabilities makes me think this research ended up as
> a failure.
>
> I think such "pipeline" R2O stories are an important, but
> under-recorded, part of Internet History.
>
> Jack Haverty
>
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