Why Did the Internet Travel in Packets?
In short: Several overlapping reasons explain why the internet adopted packet switching and interoperable networks: Cold War concern for survivable communications, the wish to share scarce computers, heavy ARPA funding, and TCP/IP's agility and official backing against the widely supported OSI. How much each reason mattered remains open to question.
A 2:09 short film in the series “Why Did…?”, narrated by intellect_voice_01.
Sources used in this film: Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Paul Baran | Biography, Packet Switching, Distributed Networks, & Facts | Britannica”; Computer History Museum (CHM), Revolution online exhibition, “Networking Takes Off - CHM Revolution”; Academia.edu (hosted copy of Cerf and Kahn's paper, originally published by IEEE in IEEE Transactions on Communications, 1974; reprinted in ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review, 2005), “A protocol for packet network intercommunication”; IEEE (IEEE Xplore digital library), “A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication”; Science Museum (Science Museum Group, UK), “From ARPANET to the Internet | Science Museum”; Computer History Museum (CHM), Revolution online exhibition, “Protocol Wars - CHM Revolution”; IEEE Spectrum (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), “OSI: The Internet That Wasn’t”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “ARPANET | Definition, Map, Cold War, First Message, & History | Britannica”; Learn Internet Grow (learninternetgrow.com), “1983 TCP/IP Flag Day: RFC 801 as a Migration Plan”; National Science and Media Museum (Science Museum Group), “A short history of the internet | National Science and Media Museum”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Internet - Networking, Protocols, ARPANET | Britannica”.
Sources used in this film
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Paul Baran | Biography, Packet Switching, Distributed Networks, & Facts | Britannica · View →
- Computer History Museum (CHM), Revolution online exhibition — Networking Takes Off - CHM Revolution · View →
- Academia.edu (hosted copy of Cerf and Kahn's paper, originally published by IEEE in IEEE Transactions on Communications, 1974; reprinted in ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review, 2005) — A protocol for packet network intercommunication · View →
- IEEE (IEEE Xplore digital library) — A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication · View →
- Science Museum (Science Museum Group, UK) — From ARPANET to the Internet | Science Museum · View →
- Computer History Museum (CHM), Revolution online exhibition — Protocol Wars - CHM Revolution · View →
- IEEE Spectrum (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) — OSI: The Internet That Wasn’t · View →
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — ARPANET | Definition, Map, Cold War, First Message, & History | Britannica · View →
- Learn Internet Grow (learninternetgrow.com) — 1983 TCP/IP Flag Day: RFC 801 as a Migration Plan · View →
- National Science and Media Museum (Science Museum Group) — A short history of the internet | National Science and Media Museum · View →
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Internet - Networking, Protocols, ARPANET | Britannica · View →
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Encyclopaedia Britannica: Paul Baran | Biography, Packet Switching, Distributed Networks, & Facts | Britannica
- Also: Computer History Museum (CHM), Revolution online exhibition: Networking Takes Off - CHM Revolution
- Also: Academia.edu (hosting Vint Cerf and Robert Kahn's paper, first published in IEEE Transactions on Communications, May 197: A protocol for packet network intercommunication
- Also: IEEE (IEEE Xplore digital library): A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication
- Also: Science Museum (Science Museum Group): From ARPANET to the Internet | Science Museum
- Also: Computer History Museum (CHM), Revolution online exhibition: Protocol Wars - CHM Revolution
- Also: IEEE Spectrum (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers): OSI: The Internet That Wasn’t
- Also: Encyclopaedia Britannica: ARPANET | Definition, Map, Cold War, First Message, & History | Britannica
- Also: Learn Internet Grow (learninternetgrow.com): 1983 TCP/IP Flag Day: RFC 801 as a Migration Plan
- Also: National Science and Media Museum (Science Museum Group): A short history of the internet | National Science and Media Museum
- Also: Encyclopaedia Britannica: Internet - Networking, Protocols, ARPANET | Britannica
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