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Born to change the world

The technological marvel transformed drastically all the aspects of global communication

It was a birthday to remember. The date: 29th October 1969. The time: 10:30 pm. The effect: changes in millions of lives across the globe.

Yes, the birthday baby was none other than the INTERNET!

The technological marvel that transformed drastically all the aspects of global communication.

And what lead to its creation? The launching of the Sputnik I by the Russians in 1957 jolted the US out of its complacency. The US set up ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) for all space and strategic missile research.

Later, the Department of Defence gave ARPA the job of creating a network that facilitates the sharing of information among computers at all times, even during a nuclear disaster, irrespective of their geographical location.

Among the bricks that laid the foundation were: J.C.R. Licklider (MIT) - first proposal of global network of computers.

Leonard Kleinrock (MIT, later UCLA) - theory of network communication through packet switching.

Bolt Beranek and Newman - building of Interface Message Processors (IMP s), a protocol for computers to communicate.

Lawrence Roberts (MIT) - first plan of ARPANET, precursor of today's Internet. National Physical Laboratory (England), RAND (USA) and ARPA - the three independent packet network teams.

The stage was set for computer-to-computer link. Two ARPA nodes were installed at University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) and Stanford Institute of Research (SIR) in Palo Alto. These Honeywell mini computers of 12K memory were separated by a distance of 600 kilometres but connected by 50 km/s lines.

On October 29th 1969, Kleinrock and his team of students in UCLA attempted to send the first message `LOGIN' to SIR. They were in touch with SIR through telephone. The attempt was first of its kind. The atmosphere was charged with anticipations and apprehensions. And as feared, it was no smooth ride!

Charley Kline, a student typed `L.'

UCLA team asked SIR if they got it.

"Got the L," was the response over the telephone.

The next letter was typed. "Got the O," came the telephonic reply.

"Then we typed the `G', and the system crashed," recollected Kleinrock in an interview.

Crashed it might have in the first instance; but `L' `O' and behold the communication revolution that swept the world off its feet! And many consider this date as the birth of the Internet.

Thus, it was the commitment, faith, vision and of course, the brilliance of the pioneers that gave birth to our Internet.

R. SESIKALA

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