ARPANET: Difference between revisions

The computer experts from the four research laboratories that received research funding from IPTO were called the [[NWG|Network Working Group]]. They were delegated to identify and solve the technical problems associated with the development and completion of the ARPANET. The NWG was formed when a meeting was called by Elmer Shapiro from SRI in 1968 to discuss the host to host problems as per instruction given by ARPA. Shapiro was the chairman of the NWG. [[Stephen Crocker|Steve Crocker]], who represents UCLA recalled that during the NWG first meeting [[Steve Carr]] from University of Utah [[Jeff Rulifson]] from SRI, and [[Ron Stoughton]] from UCSB were present. According to him, the meeting was thought provoking and all their ideas was original. Elmer Shapiro initiated conversation and brainstorming by asking questions to the group. The NWG came up with theoretical ideas and visualized different possibilities to formulate new ideas. The NWG decided to meet regularly and Crocker describe what transpired during the first meeting with the following statement:

''With no specific service definition in place for what the IMPs were providing to the hosts, there wasn't any clear idea of what work the hosts had to do. Only later did we articulate the notion of building a layered set of protocols with general transport services on the bottom and multiple application- specific protocols on the top. More precisely, we understood quite early that we wanted quite a bit of generality, but we didn't have a clear idea how to achieve it. We struggled between a grand design and getting something working quickly.'' <ref>[http://www.dei.isep.ipp.pt/~acc/docs/arpa--2.html History of ARPANET Part II:The Network Working Group]</ref>

The NWG's initial advance protocol development was [[DEL]] (Decode- Encode-Language) and [[NIL]] (Network Interchange Language) which was intended to give instruction on how to understand the messages that was received from the sender. The issue confronting the group was there is no official existing charter within ARPA or the universities thus, their their thing is broad and open. In 1969, BBN submitted a detailed interface specification about the host and IMP which provide the NWG a basic starting point to develop the ARPANET, analyze its cost, performance and reliability. The member of the NWG expected BBN to lead the project however, it did not happen and they continued to work together to complete the project.<ref>[http://www.dei.isep.ipp.pt/~acc/docs/arpa--2.html History of ARPANET Part II: The Network Working Group]</ref>