3

Strengthening Telecom and

Computer Techniques

Internet is not only a modern hobby, nor an

exotic new trading arena, nor new mail, nor new

distribution of information. Internet is all of that

and much more. A result of a successful develop-

ment since the late 1960s of basic new technical

principles, it pertains to computer collaboration

and to various forms of information transfer. We

shall refer to these techniques as Internet-tech-

nology. During the same period – the last 25

years of the twentieth century – important devel-

opment took place in two other areas. Electronic

circuit and device techniquesmade it possible

to fabricate computers cheap and small, thereby

making them more interesting economically.

They can now be used as components in new

roles (for that matter the same circuit technology

also made even more powerful computers possi-

ble). Telecommunicationswent through a pro-

found reorganization. This admitted new actors

and driving forces into the technical and com-

mercial evolution of telecom networks.

Those are features of a development presently

causing drastic changes in our relationship with

information and its use. Most likely we are just

at the beginning of a new era. Nobody knows

where it will take us. This technology is already

beginning to change important functions of our

society. Some of the perspectives that can now

be perceived imply exciting new possibilities.

This article describes that technical development

without assuming special technical knowledge

and avoids detail that is better described else-

where. Outlines of the historic development of

the internetworking technology and parts of

computer- and telecom techniques are described.

Special focus is directed at the 1970s when most

of the basic technical development took place.

World Wide Web – WWW

People today tend to think of Internet as synony-

mous with World Wide Web. That technique

opens a splendid new view of a world of infor-

mation. Simple point and click movements catch

posted information anywhere in the world inde-

pendently of distance. Information is posted in

the form of “home pages”. The information is

coded in standardized format and is stored in

computers connected to the network. For the

coding and formatting various aids are readily

available and easy to use. Hence the “Web tech-

nology” can be used by anyone who wants a

message to be presented. It immediately be-

comes available to the whole world. That is a

world that can be described as “countless mil-

lions” and which grows such that it will shortly

comprise at least everyone who has or could

have a telephone. At the same time the technol-

ogy is developed further towards user-facilities

with far more comprehensive abilities than tele-

phones at conveying information.

However, World Wide Web is far from the

entire Internet. It is only one – admittedly very

conspicuous – example of exciting new possibil-

ities that can be implemented on top of the Inter-

net-technology itself. The Web technique first

emerged as a practical internal information dis-

tribution system in a large international research

establishment in Switzerland – CERN – in

1990–91. From there it spread incredibly fast

throughout the Internet, i.e. to “the whole world”.

But the basic ideas were already 25 years old

then. The idea of being able to open windows

via CRT-screens on collections of information

of various types near or far and to navigate in a

world of information by point and click move-

ments of hands and fingers were demonstrated

already in 1968.

Computers and Communication

Early Development of Computing and Internet-technology

– a Groundbreaking Part of Technical History

YNGVAR LUNDH

Building the Arpanet and using it as a laboratory for development was a major contribution both to

computing and to telecom. During the 1970s a very innovative and thorough research and development

took place under the leadership of the United States Department of Defense, Advanced Research

Projects Agency. From the outset the effort can best be characterized as basic technical research.

Ten research groups worked together as a team at developing the Internet-technology itself. At the same

time the development was influenced by many other research groups, mainly in the United States, who

actively pursued specialized networking applications, thereby creating needs and uncovering possi-

bilities. Concurrently dramatic developments took place both in circuit and device techniques for com-

puters and in the politics of telecom operation. A glimpse of the Norwegian perspective is included

through the eyes of the small participating group in Norway. The text endeavours to be readable without

prior technical special knowledge. Its objective is to interrelate main technical events of computing in a

historic perspective.

Yngvar Lundh (69) graduated
from the Norwegian Institute of
Technology in 1956. He served
as leader of development teams
and projects in computer and
telecom technology, with the
Norwegian Defence research
Establishment until 1984, then
with the Norwegian Telecom
Administration / Telenor until
1996, then in his own consulting
company. Since 1980 he also
served as Professor of Informat-
ics at the University of Oslo. His
main projects concerned digital
computing and circuit technol-
ogy, enabling the start of “hi-
tech” companies, notably Norsk
Data AS, and systems for de-
fence and for telecom enhanc-
ing and employing emerging
technologies. Lundh is a mem-
ber of he Norwegian Academy
of Technological Sciences.

[email protected]

Telektronikk 2/3.