Welcome to the early history of Computer Communications.....

It is hard to imagine, but as recent as 1965, computer scientists were uncertain how best
to interconnect even two computers. The notion that within a few decades the challenge
would be how to interconnect millions of computers around the globe was too farfetched
to even contemplate. Yet by 19 that is precisely what was happening. The products and
protocols through which they communicated would loo! crude and incomplete by
standards of today, but they wor!ed well enough to demonstrate the latent productivity in
sharing information electronically between computers and application programs of
potentially every !ind. "ow did such revolutionary innovation occur# $hy were the two
dominant corporations in communications and computers, %merican Telephone &
Telegraph and International 'usiness (achines, the two corporations e)pected to control
the future of computer communications and the models of corporate innovation, left
surviving as marginal mar!et participants# "ow had entrepreneurs sei*ed mar!et
leadership#
+uch were the ,uestions that perple)ed me in 19-. To find answers I began interviewing
scientists and entrepreneurs. (y intention was to write a history of .omputer
.ommunications for the years 196 to 19 based on the insights I gained from those
interviewed. /nly I ,uic!ly learned that there was no one history that could do 0ustice to
the revolutionary changes that had and were occurring. I then began compiling the stories
that had been shared with me into a historical narrative, hoping to capture the inspirations
and unending challenges of those who created many of the leading companies and
dominant technologies, while remaining faithful to the 1facts2 of what had happened. To
recreate a sense of the uncertainty each person or organi*ation faced, as well as to give
the reader the freedom to e)plore the history as fit one3s interest, the reconstruction
assumed the form of a series of overlapping hyperte)t bloc!s organi*ed within time.
$hile this format provides a rich conte)t for reader e)ploration, it does not lend itself to
being published as a traditional boo!. Thus this website. I invite you to e)plore and come
to your own conclusions as to what happened and why.
The reader is directed to the Introduction for a fuller discussion of the boo! organi*ation
but, briefly, this historical reconstruction views the evolution of .omputer
.ommunications from 196 to 19 as the emergence of three uni,ue mar!et sectors4
5ata .ommunications, 6etwor!ing and Internetwor!ing. Data Communications
emerged between 196 and 19-7 after the .arterfone decision of the 8ederal
.ommunication .ommission in 196 and is defined by two ma0or technologies and
product categories4 modems and multiple)ers. Networking emerged between 19-9 and
197 when firms introduced local area networ!s 9:%6s; and data<'=s in response to the
needs of corporations to interconnect their growing base of computers and peripherals.
The need of corporations to interconnect their :%6s into wide area networ!s 9$%6s;
prompted the emergence of Internetworking between 19> and 19. % principal focus
of interest will be why did the hundreds of companies that entered each mar!et self?
organi*e into oligopolies selling dominant designs# %nd why did new firms, venture
capital?bac!ed entrepreneurial start?ups, come to dominant each new mar!et sector# The
schema of mar!et evolution is presented broadly as4 91; the time of @isionaries, 97;
reducing an idea to a wor!ing proof, 9A; technological diffusion, 9>; mar!et emergence,
95; mar!et competition, 96; the emergence of mar!et order and 9-; mar!et adaption and
co?evolution. The 6etwor!ing mar!et is observed through the whole cycle in the most
detail from the idea of pac!et switching to the %rpanet and onto :%6s. The reader can
,uic!ly access the boo! by each mar!et sector3s stage using the right?side panel of
accordions.
$ithin time and mar!et sector, the roughly three hundred hyperte)t bloc!s are
additionally inde)ed by one or more of the following topics4 institutional activity,
organi*ation, technology, product and or individual. 8or e)ample, within 6etwor!ing
between 19-9?191 is the bloc! Bobert (etcalfe and the 8ounding of A.om. 'y using
the inde) of lin!s, this bloc! can be found through 6etwor!ing 9a mar!et sector;, A.om
9an organi*ation; andCor Dthernet 9a technology or product;. 'y using the +earch Dngine,
it can also be found by searching for Bobert (etcalfe.
In addition to the boo!, this site also consists of much of the source material, including
the 5 interviews that are being donated to the .omputer "istory (useum in (ountain
@iew, .alifornia.
You have three choices as to how to access the material4
1. Bead the boo!, either as presented or by 0umping to bloc!s of interest. The boo!
can be accessed by using lin!s on either the left, right or bottom panels.
7. D)plore the boo! or source material by a topic of interest by using the hyperte)t
lin!s found on the left panel.
A. 'y using the +earch Dngine.
I hope you en0oy the stories of some of the many heroes of this history. This wor! would
not be possible without the generous time those I interviewed gave me in 19 or their
willingness to ma!e their interviews public now.
Than! you, Eames :. <el!ey