This post makes part 2 of the story of the Internet. You don't want to miss part 1, do you? Part 1: A Fact that Provoked the Idea of the Internet.
Story of the Internet
Part 1: A Fact that Provoked the Idea of the Internet
Part 2: The First Computer Network to be Created (the current post)
The tender that was announced to build the first computer network ever, was clear and straight to the point. This was sent to about 140 technology companies, and it was received well. But after critical analysis, a huge percentage of the replies was pessimistic. Most said the job was impossible. The leading companies, during then, IBM (International Business Machines) and Control Data Corporation, were no exception. Similar were the telephone companies with the AT&T controlling the long-distance phone calls in US then. "It's openly impossible".
The Bright Side
On the other hand, there were companies with great plans about this same project, and there was nothing to distract them. Later, the incoming bids proved very competitive that Bob Taylor, the man incharge of ARPA computer projects, had a lot of work to come to a decision. His profound intentions in the judgment was broadly directed towards ARPA's success, and so did he want to be diplomatic. All in all, there is always a winning side.
The Winner
BBN (Bolt, Beranek & Newman) finally won the bid. This was slitely after beating Raytheon - a much bigger company, which was a tough competitor. The BBN of Cambridge, Massachusetts, came up with a programme that the network could run even under heavy loads and this was to be ten times faster that the ARPA was asking.
The Techology
The project start time was the beginning of 1969. The deadline, 1st September the same year: 1969. The technology employed was Packet Switching - an efficient way to send data electronically. The message is broken down into pieces called packets and sent out to communication network. Each packet is free to find the best route to its destination. This means that there is no need for the data to travel together, or in a particular order. Packet Switching was to take advantage of the digital technology, where the digital signals (binary digits) are easy to break and put back together again without losing any data {Check out for Modulation and Demodulation}.
The Architecture
The network architecture was specific. An IMP was to be built and connected between each mainframe computer. This was because the ARPA's four machines were speaking different languages hence couldn't communicate directly. The IMP was to learn one more language, its host's language, in order to facilitate communication between the computers in the network.
Frank Heart, the man incharge of the BBN team, based the IMP's hardware on the Honeywell's DDP-516 (a computer that could work even after being crashed by a hammer). This was to avoid the IMPs breaking down crisis since they were the heart of the network.
The software that the BBN team designed was one that could work even when the hardware didn't. And, this is just the way the Internet works today. This was to have the ability to understand how to avoid a broken hardware; to be able to detect if a packet hasn't been sent; and to resend the packet using a different route.
But, nobody understands why the BBN team was given so little time for the project. The thing that is Universally approved is that Frank Heart led a great team. By 27th August 1969, the first IMP was delivered to UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles), and the second one to Stanford Research Institute on 1st October 1969. The IMPs for the two more hosts at Utah and Santa Barbara were completed and connected to the ARPAnet before the end of 1969. This made Bob Taylor's dream of a four computer network a living great success for both the hosts and the ARPA.
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