New Protocol is Coming
An announcement that a cleaner network protocol specification is coming
Postel, J. and S.D. Crocker, "New Protocol is Coming", RFC 45, DOI 10.17487/RFC0045, April 1970, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc45>.
@misc{rfc45,
series = {Request for Comments},
number = 45,
howpublished = {RFC 45},
publisher = {RFC Editor},
doi = {10.17487/RFC0045},
url = {https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc45},
author = {J. Postel and S.D. Crocker},
title = {{New Protocol is Coming}},
pagetotal = 1,
year = 1970,
month = apr,
} RFC text
Network Working Group J. Postel
Request for Comments #45 S. Crocker
UCLA
14 April 70
New Protocol is Coming
We are currently preparing a clean version of the Network protocol,
hopefully suitable for immediate implementation. As advertised, we
will send these specs out on April 28.
Since the SJCC is one week later, we will host a discussion meeting in
Atlantic City, Thursday, May 7, win the afternoon. The purpose of the
discussion meeting will be for us to explicate unclear details of our
April 29 document, and for everyone to exchange gripes, suggestions
and schedules.
(Note that the network session, chaired by Larry Roberts with papers
from BBN, et al is Thursday morning.)
[ This RFC was put into machine readable form for entry ]
[ into the online RFC archives by Josh Elliott 1/98 ]
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§1Coming Specification
Postel and Crocker announce that a clean version of the Network protocol is being prepared and will be released on April 28, 1970. The announcement emphasizes that this is a significant moment: the early ARPA Network participants have been discussing various protocol ideas, and this specification marks the start of formal, consistent rules for host-to-host communication.
A team is making up the rules for how computers talk to each other. They will share these rules on April 28.
§2Discussion Meeting
The authors announce a discussion meeting at the Spring Joint Computer Conference (SJCC) in Atlantic City on Thursday, May 7. The purpose is for the authors to explain unclear details in the specification and for all participants to share feedback, suggestions, and implementation schedules. This meeting provides a chance for the network community to align before implementation.
They will meet everyone in Atlantic City on May 7 to explain the rules and answer questions.
§3Foundation for Network Coordination
This brief note marks a turning point in the ARPA Network's development. Prior RFCs had been informal discussions and competing proposals. This announcement signals that the group is ready to standardize on a single protocol specification, necessary for the network to function as a unified system rather than a collection of incompatible site-to-site connections.
Up until now, everyone had different ideas about how the network should work. Now they are all going to follow the same rules.