[BC] First Internet Router

[Chris Gebhardt]

Dave Dunsmoor wrote:
>     Not specifically broadcast related in the classical sense, but it
> certainly is relevant now. Here's a short video clip of what is purported to
> be the first "internet router", situated at UCLA.
> 
>     I'm showing my age, but I just love the way this machine is built.
> 
> http://www.wimp.com/firstrouter/

It's true... the "Interface Message Processor" was delivered to UCLA. 
Leonard Kleinrock, who is shown in that video, was the head of the team 
that took delivery.  Later on, Stanford got the 2nd "IMP".

The first time they tried to get the two routers (they weren't called 
routers then) to talk, the Stanford box crashed.

The company that built the IMP's was BBN.  Some of you may remember BBN 
Planet as one of the early ISPs.  They were issued ASN1! (VIRTBIZ, for 
instance is ASN40395.), which to me is awfully interesting.  For 
instance, there is no Cisco or Alcatel service provider.  Of course, 
that didn't last for very long.   GTE bought out their fiber assets, 
which then became Verizon, and was spun off as Genuity then picked up by 
Level 3.

Were it not for BBN, we would not have been introduced to the "user @ 
domain . tld" format we're now familiar with for email addresses.

I've done a bit of researching on this stuff because we are decorating 
our offices with historical computers and network / telephone equipment. 
    We have a small museum that is taking shape in our conference room 
and are having large-format prints made for the walls.

And while not "specifically" broadcast related, as Dave pointed out, 
that may not be the case for long.  In the move to digital and alternate 
content delivery methods, I think it's fairly clear that the days of 
broadcast being solely related to exciters and amplifiers are numbered.

Chris Gebhardt
VIRTBIZ Internet Services
chris at virtbiz.com | (972) 485-4125