[1387] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: CSnet
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Barry M. Leiner)
Fri Sep 20 16:56:58 1991
To: Stephen Wolff <steve@ncri.cise.nsf.gov>
Cc: Robert Ullmann <ARIEL@relay.prime.com>, ietf@isi.edu, com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Fri, 20 Sep 91 14:13:25 EDT."
Date: Fri, 20 Sep 91 13:43:58 MDT
From: Barry M. Leiner <bleiner@ads.com>
I don't know the full story but believe Bob Kahn and Larry Landweber were
two of the "longthinkers". I totally agree with your assessment.
Barry
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> To: Robert Ullmann <ARIEL@RELAY.Prime.COM>
> Subject: Re: CSnet
> Cc: ietf@isi.edu, com-priv@psi.com
> Date: Fri, 20 Sep 91 14:13:25 EDT
> From: Stephen Wolff <steve@ncri.cise.nsf.gov>
>
>
>
> As many have already pointed out, CSnet was "the first" in many ways. E.g.,
>
> * It was NSF's first entry into the networking business.
> * It was the first NSF-initiated-and-funded network to achieve financial
> self-sufficiency; it set a standard of aspiration that has been
> inherited by the present generation of NSF mid-level networks.
>
> But nobody has yet mentioned CSnet's most important "first".
>
> DARPA (then ARPA) and the ARPANET demonstrated that packet-switching
> technology permitted the sharing of expensive switch and transmission
> facilities by different **users**.
>
> With CSnet and ARPANET, DARPA and NSF demonstrated sharing by different
> **sponsors**.
>
> The extraordinary and foresighted agreement between the ARPANET and CSnet
> principals to allow CSnet traffic to flow on ARPANET facilities, though
> clearly consonant with OMB Circular A130, was nevertheless the "first" that
> foreshadowed
>
> - the (much) later initial instantiation of NSFNET (forty NSF-funded
> additional nodes on ARPANET to reach the NSF community),
>
> - the soon-to-expire "FRICC shared use" agreement in which DoE, NASA, NSF
> and DARPA agree to carry each others' traffic if it meets **either**
> network's acceptability criteria,
>
> - the NSF agreement with ANS to permit commercial traffic on NSF-funded
> facilities on a reimbursable-in-kind and non-interfering basis, and
>
> - ultimately the whole (Federal) NREN idea itself.
>
> I don't know for sure who were the ARPA/ARPANET and NSF/CSnet longthinkers
> who made that original deal, but we owe them a lot.
>
