[ih] Cisco origins (Was: when did APRANET -TIPs become known as -TACs)

[Greg Skinner]

On Sep 29, 2025, at 6:31 PM, Guy Almes via Internet-history <internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
> 
> Bill,
>  This is very useful.
>  So you've confirmed that the hardware base for workstation and 'gateway' was a set of consistent 68000 / Multibus - based modules.
>  Also that the multiprotocol (e.g., both PUP and IP) aspect was present in the SUN software.
>  And that the SUMEX-AIM ARPA funding helped the broader effort. (Without those several episodes of AI hype, where would we all be?)
>  And that the Golden router was PDP-11-based and provided by the MIT folks.
> 
>  You've also sort of confirmed that cisco was not defined in terms of products that we associate with the eventual router giant.  Len and Sandy were evidently indeed fond of the PDP-10 family of machines.  That the original cisco hardware product was an Ethernet interface for MASSBUS makes me smile.
> 
>  I don't dismiss the importance of respecting Intellectual Property etc.  But understanding how cisco quickly came up with a good quality set of routers is easier if you squint at things a certain way and think of the SUN plus cisco (plus SUMEX-AIM) efforts as combining "informally".
>  After all, the transcontinental railroad was a tremendous achievement, despite the horrible robber baron skullduggery.
> 
>  Thanks again,
> 	-- Guy

Regarding SUMEX-AIM’s involvement in Cisco history, in case this hasn’t been posted here before, Tom Rindfleisch, director of SUMEX-AIM from 1973-1990, gives his perspective. [1] He was in regular correspondence with Les Earnest, as seen in his collection of email messages about the Cisco/Stanford intellectual property issues which has been posted here before, but I’m including it again for easier reference. [2]

[1] https://www.tcracs.org/tcrwp/1origin-of-cisco/
[2] https://www.saildart.org/CISCO.MSG[1,LES]

Greg