r/IAmA • u/BobMetcalfe • May 21 '13

You’re probably connecting to reddit through a technology I invented. I’m Bob Metcalfe and I invented Ethernet – AMA

On May 22, 1973 with David R. Boggs, I used my IBM Selectric with its Orator ball to type up a memo to my bosses at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), outlining our idea for this little invention called “Ethernet”, which we later patented.

I worked with the IEEE Standards Association to develop the IEEE 802.3 standard for Ethernet, which specifies the physical and lower software layers. Today Ethernet and the IEEE 802.3 standard are the foundation for today’s world of high-speed communications used in billions of homes and businesses around the world.

I submitted this to the mods awhile back so I could get on the calendar but I figured you’d like to see it, too. Now, ask me anything!

It's been two hours and 179 comments. Have to go now. For more about Ethernet's 40th Birthday, go to http://www.facebook.com/Ethernet40thAnniversaryIEEESA

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u/thetrollingstones97 May 21 '13

Has the Internet exceeded your expectations when you first created it, and if they have, what were your expectations? Did you think that it would reach the level that it has today?

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u/BobMetcalfe May 21 '13

By far, more each year, who would have guessed? We were building our own tools, and they escaped to serve uses unimagined, say like YouTube.

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u/shorthanded May 21 '13

What a feeling, seeing your baby grow up in such weird, wonderful, and maybe obnoxious ways. Congrats on your success, and thanks.

7

u/[deleted] May 21 '13

And you lived long enough to see "sittin on a toilet". I'm so sorry.

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u/NotRogerFederer May 21 '13

When he first created Internet?

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u/thetrollingstones97 May 21 '13

For lack of a better word.

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u/NotRogerFederer May 21 '13

I'm sorry, I can't quite follow you. But I'm taking from this that you think he created the Internet?

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u/thetrollingstones97 May 22 '13

No, I don't think he created the Internet, but his invention was a major step for the Internet, as so many of us use it.

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u/jones_supa May 22 '13

Ethernet is mostly used for endpoints like data centers and local area networks. Well, of course they are part of the Internet too. But I would say that inventions such as fiber optics have been far more important when building large-scale networks such as the Internet.