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 © 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.

1. Introduction

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.

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.

2. Action

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.

3. Security Considerations

Moving STD 39 to historic has no known effect on the security of the Internet.

4. References

[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.

5. Authors' Addresses

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

6. Full Copyright Statement

Copyright © The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved.

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Acknowledgement

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