[TUHS] TUHS Digest, Vol 14, Issue 63

[Marc Rochkind]

Thanks for this, Doug.

When I started at Bell Labs, in the Summer of 1970, my organization was
involved in what I think was called the Digital Data System. I recall that
it was synchronous, meaning, I think, that there were clocks that timed
everything on the network.

Where does that fit into your story?

--Marc

On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 9:00 AM, Doug McIlroy <doug at cs.dartmouth.edu> wrote:

> > One thing that I'm unclear about is why all this Arpanet work was not
> filtering more into the versions of Unix done at Bell Labs.
>
> The short answer is that Bell Lbs was not on Arpanet. In the early
> 80s the interim CSNET gave us a dial-up window into Arpanet, which
> primarily served as a conduit for email. When real internet connection
> became possible, network code from Berkeley was folded into the
> research kernel. (I am tempted to say "engulfed the research kernel",
> for this was a huge addition.)
>
> The highest levels of AT&T were happy to carry digital data, but
> did not see digital as significant business. Even though digital T1
> was the backbone of long-distance transmission, it was IBM, not
> AT&T, that offered direct digital interfaces to T1 in the 60s.
>
> When Arpanet came along MCI was far more eager to carry its data
> than AT&T was. It was all very well for Sandy Fraser to build
> experimental data networks in the lab, but this was seen as a
> niche market. AT&T devoted more effort to specialized applications
> like hotel PBXs than to digital communication per se.
>
> Doug
>
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