Long Range Wireless Technology

IBM developed new routers and MCIsupplied bps circuits,and NSFNET was reborn with roughly timesthe bandwidth of its predecessor. The previous subsection noted the privatization ofthe NSF regional networks.

Because of rapidly increasing demand, though,NSF in selected MERIT at the University of Illinois. Shortly thereafter,similar workbegan at the National Physical Laboratory in the UK. While this is still small compared to thetotal telecommunications business estimated at about 300billion today, its rapid growth and the rich evolution ofnew products and services suggest thatthe modest research investments of the federal government havepaid off in myriad ways, not all of them merelymonetary. MCI has unveiled major internationalInternet service, as well as an information and electroniccommerce service called marketplaceMCI.

The backbone itselfwas initially implemented using gateways systemsused to route traffic developed at the University of Illinois. Out ofthat pivotal meeting came anInternational Network Working Group INWG composed of researcherswho had begun to explore packet switching conceptsin earnest.

NYSERNET the New York Stateregional networkwas the first to spin out forprofit company, Performance SystemsInternational, which is one of the more successful Internet serviceproviders. Out ofthat pivotal meeting came anInternational Network Working Group INWG composed of researcherswho had begun to explore packet switching conceptsin earnest. UUNETand PSI have gone public. In1968 DARPA developed and released Request for Quotation fora communication systembased on set of small, interconnected computers it called InterfaceMessage Processors or IMPs.

In accordancewith NCSA policies, this software was made widely available onthe Internet for free. AT&Tis expected to announce major new service later inthe year. Shortly thereafter,similar workbegan at the National Physical Laboratory in the UK. The ARPANET was to touch offan explosion of networking research that continues to the present.

Cerf is married, has two sons, and has an abiding interestin fine foods, fine wine, and mindrotting science fiction.. Virtuallynone of this would have happened as rapidly, or in thesame open and inclusive fashion, had not the federalgovernment consciously provided sustained research funding andencouragement of open involvement and open standards, andthen wisely stepped out of the picture as theresulting systems became selfsustaining. Cerf is Fellow of the American Association for the Arts and Sciences anda recipient of the Kilby Award.