NetAffair

In Europe, experimentally driven research for defining the Internet’s architecture began nearly 50 years ago. Yet few people realise that the original voices from these early days of inter-networking are still around. NetAffair wants to ensure that their personal knowledge, experiences and the insights of European research efforts do not just evaporate, but are heard, discussed and used to construct new principles. Especially, as the scientific and political contest unfolds today between different regions of the world, it bears clear resemblances to a not-so-distant European past.

We are currently witnessing a proliferation of ambitious proposals for a “fresh generation” of computer networking paradigms from various regions of the world. European scientists who have been involved in the field for long enough cannot escape the impression that we may already have faced a similar watershed before. In fact, the scientific contest that is unfolding today between the regions of the world bears clear parallels to a not-so-distant European past. This suggests taking a step back and closely reviewing the history of networking research in Europe, starting from the time when telephone circuit switching was the prevalent paradigm.