The prediction, in brief:

The network is wired to route around trouble.

Predictor: Stefferud, Einar

Prediction, in context:

In a 1995 article for Newsweek, writers Steven Levy, Katie Hafner and Roger Adams quote Einar Stefferud, a networking consultant. They write:”Will the waves of new users overwhelm the Internet? It doesn’t take a stopwatch to notice that things are going s-l-o-w-e-r than they used to despite more high-speed data ‘backbones’ added to the Internet and a general user upgrade from pokey 9600-baud modems to faster models … Is it possible that the whole Net might totally crash, leaving millions of computer screens with the dread ‘Host Contacted: Waiting for Reply’ message frozen upon them? Unlikely, say the Internet wizards. ‘The network is wired to route around trouble,’ says Einar Stefferud, a networking consultant.”

Date of prediction: December 1, 1995

Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure

Subtopic: Pipeline/Switching/Hardware

Name of publication: Newsweek

Title, headline, chapter name: The Year of the Internet

Quote Type: Direct quote

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 26

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney