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Story URL: http://networks.silicon.com/lans/0,39024663,39268395,00.htm

Photos: The tech that holds up the net
Packet switching turns 40...

By Tim Ferguson

Published: Wednesday 06 August 2008

Packet switching is essentially the routing of parcels of data between nodes using data links shared with other data.

The technique was adopted by scientists at US Department of Defence developing the Arpanet (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), widely seen as the predecessor of the internet.

Pethica said: "Two things happened. One is it influenced the people generating the Arpanet around that time - they effectively took on the key structures [Davies] proposed and fed them into the Arpanet."

This is the Pilot Ace computer at NPL in 1950. This was one of the first modern computers in the world and the first in London. Donald Davies was one of the main contributors to the design of the machine and its programs.

Photo credit: NPL