Lawrence G. Roberts

A brief history of the internet

This paper was first published online by the Internet Society in December 20031 and is being re-published in ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review because of its historic import. It was written at the urging of its primary editor, the late Barry Leiner. He felt that a factual rendering of the events and activities associated with the development of the early Internet would be a valuable contribution. The contributing authors did their best to incorporate only factual material into this document. There are sure to be many details that have not been captured in the body of the document but it remains one of the most accurate renderings of the early period of development available.

Dynamic allocation of satellite capacity through packet reservation

If one projects the growth of computer communication networks like the ARPANET to a worldwide situation, satellite communication is attractive for intercommunicating between the widespread geographic areas. For this variable demand, multi-station, data traffic situation, satellites are uniquely qualified in that they are theoretically capable of statistically averaging the load in total at the satellite rather than requiring each station or station-pair to average the traffic independently. However, very little research has been done on techniques which permit direct multi-station demand access to a satellite for data traffic. For voice traffic statistics, COMSAT Laboratories has developed highly efficient techniques; the SPADE system currently installed in the Atlantic permitting the pooled use of 64KB PCM voice channels on a demand basis, and the MAT-1 TDMA (Time Division Multiple-Access) experimental system. Both systems permit flexible demand assignment of the satellite capacity, but on a circuit-switched basis designed to interconnect a full duplex 64KB channel between two stations for minutes rather than deliver small blocks of data here and there. This work forms the technical base for advanced digital satellite communication, and provides a very effective means for moving large quantities of data between two points. However, for short interactive data traffic between many stations, new allocation techniques are desirable.

The past and future history of the Internet

The Internet also represents one of the most successful examples of sustained investment and commitment to research and development in information infrastructure. Beginning with early research in packet switching, the government, industry, and academia have been partners in evolving and deploying this exciting new technology. Today, terms like “leiner@mcc.com” and “http://www.acm.org” trip lightly off the tongue of random people on the street.1 The Internet today is a widespread information infrastructure, the initial prototype of what is often called the National (or Global or Galactic) Information Infrastructure. Its history is complex and involves many aspects—technological, organizational, and community. And its influence reaches not only to the technical fields of computer communications but throughout society as we move toward increasing use of online tools to accomplish electronic commerce, information acquisition, and community operations.2

The Lincoln WAND

An ultrasonic position-sensing device has been designed which will allow a computer to determine periodically the x, y, and z coordinates of the tip of a pen-sized wand. The device can replace the lightpen and RAND Tablet for 2-D work, and extend the usefulness of such devices by virtue of the extra dimension available. The extremely large working space in which the WAND can operate allows it to be used for an entirely new set of pointing functions not directly connected with a display as well as the normal display control functions.

Toward a cooperative network of time-shared computers

Incompatible machines represent an old problem in the computer field. Very often, because of computer incompatibility, programs developed at one installation are not available to users of other installations. The same program may therefore have to be rewritten dozens of times.

A graphical service system with variable syntax

Man-machine interaction in many fields of endeavor should be greatly facilitated in the near future through the use of interactive graphical languages. To provide a variety of display scope communication procedures, a Graphic Service System which functions as a generalized graphical language translator, is being developed to aid the definition as well as the use of new graphical languages.

Conic Display Generator Using Multiplying Digital-Analog Converters

A simple waveform generator for display systems has been designed on the basis of homogeneous coordinate mathematics. This generator will draw points, lines, and general conic sections. The fundamental waveform used is the parabola. Circles, ellipses, and hyperbolas are merely perspective transformations of the basic parabola, which is represented by the parametric vector t= [t2, t, 1]. The design of the homogeneous conic generator is based upon the assumption that a multiplying digital-to-analog decoder can be built economically. The decoder produces an output voltage proportional to the product of a ten-bit digital number and a positive reference level; it must maintain 0.1 percent accuracy up to about 100 kHz. In its simplest form the generator would contain 11 decoders. Allowing subpicture scaling and centering requires 14; adding cubics requires 18; and the most complicated system, with three-dimensional cubics with a final perspective transformation as well as the two-dimensional transformation, requires 34 decoders.

The history of telenet and the commercialization of packet switching in the U.S.

This article, the fifth in a series on the history of packet switching, provides an account of the early days of commercial packet switching services in the United States. It is remarkable and refreshing - and possibly controversial - in stressing the business of technology more than the technology itself. The previous articles covered the early history of packet switching in the UK (by Peter Kirstein, February 2009) and in Canada (by Tony Rybczynski, December 2009), the early history of the Internet (by Len Kleinrock, August, 2010), and the development of X.25 virtual circuit networking in France (by Remi Deprés, November 2010). Commercial packet switching networks were launched in most countries by the Postal Telephone & Telegraph administrations (PTTs), but the situation in the U.S. was different. AT&T was the dominant communications service provider, but initially showed little interest in packet communications. Entrepreneurial companies, particularly Telenet and Tymnet, became leaders in commercializing packet switching services. The earlier articles in this series described the technical history of packet switching and the development of the international X.25 standards. This article focuses on commercial, competitive and regulatory developments in the U.S. and is written by key figures in these developments. Larry Roberts is generally considered one of the pioneering architects of packet technology and, in particular, the ARPANET, and was co-founder and President of Telenet, the first regulated commercial packet carrier in the world. Stu Mathison was VP of Planning at Telenet from its creation until it became a part of Sprint in the 1980s. Phil Walker, an attorney, was also a co-founder and managed Telenets regulatory and legal affairs.