Internet Experiment Note
Encyclopedia
An Internet Experiment Note (IEN) is a sequentially numbered document in a series of technical publications issued by the participants of the early development work groups that created the precursors of the modern Internet
.
After DARPA began the Internet program in earnest in 1977, the project members were in need of communication and documentation of their work in order to realize the concepts laid out by Bob Kahn
and Vint Cerf
some years before. The Requests for Comments (RFC) series was considered the province of the ARPANET
project and the Network Working Group (NWG) which defined the network protocols used on it. Thus, the members of the Internet project decided on publishing their own series of documents, Internet Experiment Notes, which were modeled after the RFCs.
Jon Postel
became the editor of the new series, in addition to his existing role of administering the long-standing RFC series. Between March, 1977, and September, 1982, 206 IENs were published. After that, with the plan to terminate support of the Network Control Program
(NCP) on the ARPANET and switch to TCP/IP, the production of IENs was discontinued, and all further publication was conducted within the existing RFC system.
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
.
After DARPA began the Internet program in earnest in 1977, the project members were in need of communication and documentation of their work in order to realize the concepts laid out by Bob Kahn
Bob Kahn
Robert Elliot Kahn is an American Internet pioneer, engineer and computer scientist, who, along with Vinton G. Cerf, invented the Transmission Control Protocol and the Internet Protocol , the fundamental communication protocols at the heart of the Internet.-Career:After receiving a B.E.E...
and Vint Cerf
Vint Cerf
Vinton Gray "Vint" Cerf is an American computer scientist, who is recognized as one of "the fathers of the Internet", sharing this title with American computer scientist Bob Kahn...
some years before. The Requests for Comments (RFC) series was considered the province of the ARPANET
ARPANET
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network , was the world's first operational packet switching network and the core network of a set that came to compose the global Internet...
project and the Network Working Group (NWG) which defined the network protocols used on it. Thus, the members of the Internet project decided on publishing their own series of documents, Internet Experiment Notes, which were modeled after the RFCs.
Jon Postel
Jon Postel
Jonathan Bruce Postel was an American computer scientist who made many significant contributions to the development of the Internet, particularly with respect to standards...
became the editor of the new series, in addition to his existing role of administering the long-standing RFC series. Between March, 1977, and September, 1982, 206 IENs were published. After that, with the plan to terminate support of the Network Control Program
Network Control Program
The Network Control Program provided the middle layers of the protocol stack running on host computers of the ARPANET, the predecessor to the modern Internet...
(NCP) on the ARPANET and switch to TCP/IP, the production of IENs was discontinued, and all further publication was conducted within the existing RFC system.
External links
- Internet Experiment Notes index
- IEN archive at postel.org (plain text)
- IEN archive at postel.org (PDF)