Network Architecture: NPL

Materials provided by Donald Davies for SIGCOMM99's Technical History of the Internet describing NPL's work on packet switching network architectures (196x-196y).

Network Architecture: Arpanet

• BBN Report 1822 Specifications for the Interconnection of a Host and an IMP: Chapter 3 System Operation. (BBN report 1822 was  modified frequently; this particular version is dated May 1978)
• NIC # 8246: Host/Host Protocol for the ARPA Network, (prepared by Alex McKenzie), January 1972.
• BBN Report 2918: Network Design Issues, November 1974.
• A reflective set of Arpanet Milestones (1969-1978): Principal Milestones, Evolution of the Algorithms, and Evolution of Maintenance and Control Functions.  (written in 1978)

Network Architecture: Early TCP

These 226 pages came from Vint Cerf and Bob Braden, and fill in an important set of specifications that have not been available to the general public.  Two specs that are readily available and thus were not included here are: A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication by Cerf/Kahn, May 1974 and RFC 675 Specification of Internet Transmission Control Program by Cerf, Dalal, and Sunshine, December 1974.

• A Partial Specification of an International Transmission Protocol; Vinton Cerf, 1973.
• IEN #5: Specification of Internet Transmission Control Program: TCP (Version 2), Vinton Cerf, March 1977.
• IEN #18: Proposed Revisions to the TCP; by Birchfiel, Plummer, Tomlinson; October 1976,  (rekeyed pdf)  (view original image)
• IEN #21: Specification of Internetwork Transmission Control Program: TCP (Version 3); by Cerf, Postel, January 1978.

Network Architecture: General

• Computer Network Meeting of October 9-10, 1967
• Iinterview with Doug Engelbart Conducted in 1986-87, this series of four interviews discusses the development of the NIC.

Related Link:  a collection of the slides/and lists of accompanying materials from the Technical History of the Internet Tutorial
(given at SIGCOMM 1999, August 31, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA).

ARPANET Specific

• History of ARPANET - not technical, but summarizes very well the story behind the ARPANET and the Internet's beginning
  
• ARPANET Maps - maps of IMP locations across the country during the course of the ARPANET's growth
  
• ARPANET IMPs - can see the neighbors of each IMP and follow the path a packet might take in the 1986 version of the ARPANET
  
• A log of the first message sent over ARPANET - actual scan of the memo explaining that two IMPs were talking for the first time!
  
• ARPANET archive - a collection of memoranda, interview notes, periodicals, papers, and other materials documenting the development of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (Arpanet) of the US Department of Defense. The materials were collected by Katie Hafner in preparation for a book written with Matthew Lyon, Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet.
  
• Networking Message Group - a message group used from 1976-1985 where individuals discussed networking issues, troubles, and new ideas. Courtesy of The Computer Museam.
  

Organizations & Resources

• IEEE History Center
  
• RFC Archives
  
• SAA (Society of American Archivists)
  
• NDCC (Northeast Document Conservation Center)
  
• The Network Bibliography at Columbia University
  
• Charles Babbage Institute University of Minnesota
  
• BBN Homepage
  
• Internet Society

History Resources

• RFC Brief Listing RFC 160, NIC: 6771 Stanford Research Institute, 18 May 1971
• Internet Chronology by Lawrence G. Roberts
  
• A Brief History of the Internet and Related Networks by Vint Cerf
  
• IETF and ISOC History of the IETF/ISOC relationship, by Vint Cerf
  
• How the Internet Came to Be, Interview with Vint Cerf
  
• Technical History of the Internet by ACM SIGCOMM
  
• Baran's classic RAND papers on packet-switching
• Oral Histories at the Charles Babbage Institute