Alex McKenzie Collection of Computer Networking Development Records,

 1969-1990

CBI 123

 

COLLECTION SIZE: 3 cubic feet (9 boxes)

 

CREATOR: McKenzie, Alexander A. (Alexander Anderson), 1940- 

 

BY: Prepared by Lynn M. Leitte, May 1996; revised by Maria Plonski, July 2002.

 

ACQUISITION: Received from Alex McKenzie in 1996.

 

ACCESS:  Access to the collection is unrestricted.

 

COPYRIGHT: CBI holds the copyright to all materials in the collection, except for items covered by a prior copyright (such as published materials). Researchers may quote from the collection under the fair use provisions of the copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code).

 

PREFERRED CITATION:  Alex McKenzie Collection of Computer Networking Development Records (CBI 123), Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

 

Historical Note

In 1972 a group of computer network researchers organized themselves into the International Packet Network Working Group (INWG) with Dr. Vinton Cerf as its first Chair. At the Fall 1972 International Conference of Computer Communication (ICCC) the group had its first meeting. In January 1974 INWG became Working Group 6.1 (WG6.1) and Technical Committee 6.1 (TC6) of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP), but continued to be referred to as INWG. The group took as its charter the development of international standard protocols for internetworking. The concepts which led to Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) were first discussed in this group.

Alex McKenzie of Bolt, Beranek, and Newman (BBN), the firm that developed much of the ARPA computer network (ARPANET), actively participated in INWG, serving as Chair from 1979-1982 and Secretary from 1983- .

 

Scope and Content Note

The collection is divided into three series: International Packet Network Working Group (INWG) records, Internet Experiment Notes (IEN) and ARPANET Reports.

INWG records are divided into six subseries: General Notes, Protocol Notes, Experiments Notes, Legal/Political Notes, Security Note and a Newsletter File. 

General Notes, written between 1972-1979 and numbered consecutively from 1-210 (missing 11 notes) plus one additional file of unnumbered notes, are primarily copies of papers, proposals, studies, diagrams, and some code concerning packet switching, sequencing, and other networking issues. They also include information on INWG workshops and INWG ad-hoc committees. Scattered throughout the General Notes are a few letters and memos. 

Protocol Notes, numbered consecutively from 1-92, are primarily copies of papers, reports, summaries, protocol code, and diagrams presented by INWG members between 1974-1978. The protocol notes address communication between computers on an international scale, giving the most attention to creating functional and compatible means for electronic data transmission between nations.

Experiments Notes contains three INWG "experiments," papers defining plans which may or may not have been implemented.

Legal/Political Notes contains three files addressing electronic data transmission security, particularly aimed at banking and postal services.

Newsletter File includes copies of newsletters and memos distributed to INWG members between 1976-1990. Most INWG News issues, later titled INWG Newsletter, are in letter format. In 1984-1987 The Protocols-Subgroup Newsletter was included with the INWG Newsletter and has a masthead with volume and issue numbers. The 1988-1990 issues were distributed separately.  Some folders contain correspondence, memos, pamphlets and other newsletters.

The Security Note subseries is comprised of one document, Security Note #1.

The Internet Experiment Notes (IEN) include Notes #1-212 (missing 7 notes) by Bolt, Beranek, and Newman, Inc. (BBN), Information Science Institute (ISI), Stanford Research Institute (SRI), and other researchers' work on electronic data transmission. The notes consist of printouts of protocol codes, algorithms, computer language code, and project proposals and descriptions. Many of the notes relate directly to research networks sponsored by ARPA, including ARPANET, the Atlantic Packet Satellite Network (SATNET) and various Packet Radio networks. Some texts direct discussions and methods of communication between nodes. The notes are not a continuous progression following one plan or program development, instead they are coordinated efforts towards linking computer systems and computer networks. Also included is a partial index to the IENs.

The ARPANET Reports group BBN's technical proposal, installation lists, and status reports to ARPA from BBN on the development of ARPANET.

Acronyms used in this finding aid

 

Arrangement of the Collection

 

Index Terms

Subjects:

ARPANET (Computer network)

Cerf, Vinton G., 1943-

Organizations:

International Packet Network Working Group

Bolt, Beranek, and Newman, Inc.

 

Box and Folder List

International Packet Network Working Group (INWG)

General Notes

Protocol Notes

Experiments Notes

Legal/Political Notes

Security Note

 

Newsletter File

Internet Experiment Notes (IEN)

ARPANET Reports