Request to Move STD 39 to Historic Status

Network Working Group                                          R. Braden
Request for Comments: 3109                                           ISI
Category: Informational                                          R. Bush
                                                                   RGnet
                                                              J. Klensin
                                                                    AT&T
                                                                May 2001


               Request to Move STD 39 to Historic Status

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
   not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this
   memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   This memo changes the status of STD 39, BBN Report 1822,
   "Specification of the Interconnection of a Host and an IMP", from
   Standard to Historic.

1. Introduction

   The Internet design grew out of the pioneering packet-switched
   network called the ARPAnet.  The ARPAnet was a mostly-US national
   network built of mini-computer packet switches, called Interface
   Message Processors (IMPs), that were linked by 56kbps leased
   telephone lines.  The IMPs were designed and built by Bolt, Beranek,
   and Neumann (BBN) under contract with ARPA, beginning in 1968.  One
   of BBN's first tasks was to define the standard hardware interface
   between a host and a colocated IMP.  This interface was described in
   BBN Report 1822 [BBN1822], which was a bible for the administrators
   of the many different hosts that connected to the ARPAnet.

   The BBN Report 1822 host/IMP hardware interface was bit-serial and
   asynchronous.  In 1968, the 8-bit byte had not yet been adopted as an
   industry standard, so the interface had to cope with word-based
   machines with arbitrary word length -- some common word lengths were
   8, 12, 16, 24, 36, and 60, but there were others.  From the software
   viewpoint, Report 1822 defined what would today be called the link-
   layer access protocol for the ARPAnet.

   In 1983 the US DoD moved the ARPAnet technology to TCP/IP and split
   off parts of the ARPAnet to form a production facility called MILNET.
   The DoD mandated a byte-oriented, X.25-based interface for the MILNET
   IMPs.  However, the machines on the research-oriented ARPAnet
   continued to use the 1822 interface under the new Internet protocol
   suite.  Therefore, BBN Report 1822 was made an Internet Standard, STD
   39, although the report was not republished as an RFC.

2. Action

   Since the ARPAnet technology and the BBN 1822 interface are no longer
   in use, the IESG is moving BBN Report 1822 from Standard to Historic
   status.  The STD number 39 is retired.

3. Security Considerations

   Moving STD 39 to historic has no known effect on the security of the
   Internet.

4. References

   [BBN1822] STD 39 is BBN Report 1822 "Specification for the
             Interconnection of a Host and an IMP".  This can be ordered
             from Bolt, Beranek, and Newman, 10 Moulton Street,
             Cambridge, MA 02138.

5. Authors' Addresses

   Robert Braden
   USC/Information Sciences Institute
   4676 Admiralty Way
   Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6695

   Phone: +1 310-822-1511
   EMail: braden@isi.edu


   Randy Bush
   5147 Crystal Springs
   Bainbridge Island, WA US-98110

   Phone: +1 206-780-0431
   EMail: randy@psg.com


   John C. Klensin
   1770 Massachusetts Ave, Suite 322
   Cambridge, MA 02140, USA

   EMail: klensin@jck.com

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Acknowledgement

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