SOME PERSPECTIVES ON NETWORKS—PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
Paul Baran · IFIP Congress · 1977
This paper reviews the initial motivation for the development of distributed networks using packet switching -the need for military survivability. All the other highly desirable characteristics for distributed packet network configuration, such as economy, fell out as by-products. Early opposition to packet switching by virtue of its ill fit to a world of analog transmission and electromechanical switching is discussed. The subject is brought to date with a rationale and suggested approach for building future networks and systems in a more robust and distributed form. The goal, in part, is to reduce society’s present excessive vulnerability to disruption by natural and man-made disasters ranging from juvenile mischief to terrorist attacks to wars. As an example of the underlying thesis, the paper considers the desirability, feasibility and some possible consequences of building international electronic mail systems on a distributed basis for low cost person-to-person communications.