Network Working Group R. Braden
Request for Comments: 3109 ISI
Category: Informational R. Bush
RGnet
J. Klensin
AT&T
May 2001
Request to Move STD 39 to Historic Status
Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This memo changes the status of STD 39, BBN Report 1822,
"Specification of the Interconnection of a Host and an IMP", from
Standard to Historic.
The Internet design grew out of the pioneering packet-switched
network called the ARPAnet. The ARPAnet was a mostly-US national
network built of mini-computer packet switches, called Interface
Message Processors (IMPs), that were linked by 56kbps leased
telephone lines. The IMPs were designed and built by Bolt, Beranek,
and Neumann (BBN) under contract with ARPA, beginning in 1968. One
of BBN's first tasks was to define the standard hardware interface
between a host and a colocated IMP. This interface was described in
BBN Report 1822 [BBN1822], which was a bible for the administrators
of the many different hosts that connected to the ARPAnet.
The BBN Report 1822 host/IMP hardware interface was bit-serial and
asynchronous. In 1968, the 8-bit byte had not yet been adopted as an
industry standard, so the interface had to cope with word-based
machines with arbitrary word length -- some common word lengths were
8, 12, 16, 24, 36, and 60, but there were others. From the software
viewpoint, Report 1822 defined what would today be called the link-
layer access protocol for the ARPAnet.
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RFC 3109 Request to Move STD 39 to Historic Status May 2001
In 1983 the US DoD moved the ARPAnet technology to TCP/IP and split
off parts of the ARPAnet to form a production facility called MILNET.
The DoD mandated a byte-oriented, X.25-based interface for the MILNET
IMPs. However, the machines on the research-oriented ARPAnet
continued to use the 1822 interface under the new Internet protocol
suite. Therefore, BBN Report 1822 was made an Internet Standard, STD
39, although the report was not republished as an RFC.
Since the ARPAnet technology and the BBN 1822 interface are no longer
in use, the IESG is moving BBN Report 1822 from Standard to Historic
status. The STD number 39 is retired.
[BBN1822] STD 39 is BBN Report 1822 "Specification for the
Interconnection of a Host and an IMP". This can be ordered
from Bolt, Beranek, and Newman, 10 Moulton Street,
Cambridge, MA 02138.
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RFC 3109 Request to Move STD 39 to Historic Status May 2001
Robert Braden
USC/Information Sciences Institute
4676 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6695
Phone: +1 310-822-1511
EMail: braden@isi.edu
Randy Bush
5147 Crystal Springs
Bainbridge Island, WA US-98110
Phone: +1 206-780-0431
EMail: randy@psg.com
John C. Klensin
1770 Massachusetts Ave, Suite 322
Cambridge, MA 02140, USA
EMail: klensin@jck.com
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RFC 3109 Request to Move STD 39 to Historic Status May 2001
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved.
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Acknowledgement
Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
Internet Society.
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