Elon University
The prediction, in brief:

What policies, standard-setting activities and research and development are necessary to support electronic commerce and other applications of the NII that industry cannot or will not undertake? … The key need is to motivate industry to opt to support a very general and flexible Open Data Network architecture.

Predictor: Kleinrock, Leonard

Prediction, in context:

In a May 26, 1994, statement before the House Subcommittee on Technology, Environment and Aviation, Leonard Kleinrock says his NRENaissance Committee of the National Research Council recommends a dual role of government and industry: ”It is important to address the issues of architecture and standards now because the NII [National Information Infrastructure] will extend to homes and uses by the general population, and standards for consumer service interfaces (such as television sets) tend to linger in the form of products and consumer expectations for long periods of time. More generally, many of the investments in the underlying network technologies will be relatively long-lived. What policies, standard-setting activities and research and development are necessary to support electronic commerce and other applications of the NII that industry cannot or will not undertake? The federal government has an opportunity to enhance existing elements of the U.S. communications and information infrastructure and to guide their integration into a more powerful whole. The key need is to motivate industry to opt to support a very general and flexible Open Data Network architecture.”

Biography:

Leonard Kleinrock published the first paper on packet-switching theory in the RLE Quarterly Progress Report while at MIT in 1961. He established the Network Measurement Center at UCLA and worked in the area of digital networks. He also published a comprehensive look at digital networks in his book “Communication Nets.” He developed the ARPANET network with Lawrence Roberts. In 1969, Kleinrock’s NMC team connected an SDS Sigma 7 computer to an Interface Messenger Processor, creating the first node on the ARPANET, the first computer to connect to the Internet. Kleinrock’s team used the early system to iron out the initial design and performance issues on the world’s first packet-switched network. (Pioneer/Originator.)

Date of prediction: May 26, 1994

Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure

Subtopic: Open Access

Name of publication: Federal News Service

Title, headline, chapter name: Prepared Statement of Leonard Kleinrock, Chairman of the NRENaissance Committee, Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, National Research Council, Before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Technology, Environment and Aviation

Quote Type: Direct quote

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Section: In the News

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Krout, Kevin M.