RFC 1120 (rfc1120) - Page 1 of 11
Internet Activities Board
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group V. Cerf
Request for Comments: 1120 NRI
September 1989
The Internet Activities Board
Status of this Memo
This RFC provides a history and description of the Internet
Activities Board (IAB) and its subsidiary organizations. This memo
is for informational use and does not constitute a standard.
Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
1. Introduction
In 1968, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
initiated an effort to develop a technology which is now known as
packet switching. This technology had its roots in message switching
methods, but was strongly influenced by the development of low-cost
minicomputers and digital telecommunications techniques during the
mid-1960's [BARAN 64, ROBERTS 70, HEART 70, ROBERTS 78]. A very
useful survey of this technology can be found in [IEEE 78].
During the early 1970's, DARPA initiated a number of programs to
explore the use of packet switching methods in alternative media
including mobile radio, satellite and cable [IEEE 78, IEEE 87].
Concurrently, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) began an
exploration of packet switching on coaxial cable which ultimately led
to the development of Ethernet local area networks [METCALFE 76].
The successful implementation of packet radio and packet satellite
technology raised the question of interconnecting ARPANET with other
types of packet nets. A possible solution to this problem was
proposed by Cerf and Kahn [CERF 74] in the form of an internetwork
protocol and a set of gateways to connect the different networks.
This solution was further developed as part of a research program in
internetting sponsored by DARPA and resulted in a collection of
computer communications protocols based on the original Transmission
Control Protocol (TCP) and its lower level counterpart, Internet
Protocol (IP). Together, these protocols, along with many others
developed during the course of the research, are referred to as the
TCP/IP Protocol Suite [LEINER 85, POSTEL 85, CERF 82, CLARK 86, RFC
1100].
In the early stages of the Internet research program, only a few
researchers worked to develop and test versions of the internet
protocols. Over time, the size of this activity increased until, in
Cerf
