We’ve all heard that “DARPA invented the Internet.” But few have heard of BBN, the contractor that did the most work to bring the ARPAnet into existence.
"NCP Protocols" not "Telnet Protocols". NCP was the precursor to TCP/IP as the host-host protocol. "Telnet" is the application layer TTY protocol, that still exists.
Thanks for your help. Just updated the article with that info and added a footnote acknowledging you.
And I really appreciate that BBN alums like yourself seem to enjoy the piece. A number have reached out since the piece was written and it's great to know the piece helps bring the magic of the place alive to modern scientists, engineers, funders, and curious readers who don't know how great BBN was at the time.
Great piece about the takeaways for building the research organization of the future - thank you! The history is worth recounting for that perspective. It may be worth noting that another excellent reference is the book "Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet" by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon, First Touchstone Edition, 1998 (published by Simon & Schuster).
This article is so cool, and provides a lot context that I did not know about for my own history. When I was still a college kid, I worked a small firm that had spun out of MIT Lincoln Labs, and one of my first professional projects was to write software that allowed PDP-11s (and later, VAXen) to talk to ARPAnet IMPs, which we did as a contract for (!!) Citibank, who wanted in. Then I got hired by a small company, Symbolics, where I helped write software that connected Lisp Machines to the ARPAnet using "official" protocols (TCP/IP) as opposed to the MIT-invented CHAOSnet. Symbolics was later issued Internet domain #1, presumably because it was the first envelope opened one fateful day by a person in Washington DC.
In truth, none of us can remember who sent in the application or who signed the check or where exactly it went! "All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain."
"NCP Protocols" not "Telnet Protocols". NCP was the precursor to TCP/IP as the host-host protocol. "Telnet" is the application layer TTY protocol, that still exists.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Control_Protocol_(ARPANET)
Otherwise a great article
(signed, someone who started his career at BBN in the late 70's)
Thanks for your help. Just updated the article with that info and added a footnote acknowledging you.
And I really appreciate that BBN alums like yourself seem to enjoy the piece. A number have reached out since the piece was written and it's great to know the piece helps bring the magic of the place alive to modern scientists, engineers, funders, and curious readers who don't know how great BBN was at the time.
Great piece about the takeaways for building the research organization of the future - thank you! The history is worth recounting for that perspective. It may be worth noting that another excellent reference is the book "Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet" by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon, First Touchstone Edition, 1998 (published by Simon & Schuster).
This article is so cool, and provides a lot context that I did not know about for my own history. When I was still a college kid, I worked a small firm that had spun out of MIT Lincoln Labs, and one of my first professional projects was to write software that allowed PDP-11s (and later, VAXen) to talk to ARPAnet IMPs, which we did as a contract for (!!) Citibank, who wanted in. Then I got hired by a small company, Symbolics, where I helped write software that connected Lisp Machines to the ARPAnet using "official" protocols (TCP/IP) as opposed to the MIT-invented CHAOSnet. Symbolics was later issued Internet domain #1, presumably because it was the first envelope opened one fateful day by a person in Washington DC.
that would have been "first email opened by Jake Feinler at SRI"
In truth, none of us can remember who sent in the application or who signed the check or where exactly it went! "All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain."
In the photo of the early NCC, that’s Beverly Lussier on the phone as Jim Powers points to the ARPANET status map.