Data Communications at the National Physical Laboratory (1965-1975)
The work
| Authors | Martin Campbell-Kelly |
|---|---|
| Editors | |
| Type | article |
| Year | 1987 |
| Citekey | campbellkelly1987data |
Where it appeared
| Published in | IEEE Annals of the History of Computing |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 221--247 |
Identifiers
| DOI | 10.1109/mahc.1987.10023 |
|---|---|
| OpenAlex | W2122728692 |
Access
| Landing page | https://doi.org/10.1109/mahc.1987.10023 |
|---|
From OpenAlex, which stores abstracts as an index of words and their positions: what is shown is rebuilt from that, and reads fluently whether or not it is what the author wrote.
Abstract
This paper describes the data communications activity at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) during the period 1965-1975. The key feature of the NPL work was the development of the principle of packet switching, which was first proposed in a data communications context by D. W. Davies of the NPL in 1965. The report focuses on the construction of the NPL Data Communications Network, which first became operational in 1970. This network served both as a model for a possible U.K. national network and as a practical local area network (LAN) for the NPL site. The report describes the impact of the NPL work on other early networks, such as ARPANET and the British Experimental Packet-Switched Service (EPSS), and on data communications in general.
How it got here
| How it got here | agent via openalex |
|---|---|
| Added | 2026-09-04 17:54 UTC |
| Not denied by | a person 2026-10-29 17:12 UTC |
Filed under
Cite it as
@article{campbellkelly1987data,
title = {Data Communications at the National Physical Laboratory (1965-1975)},
author = {Martin Campbell-Kelly},
year = {1987},
journal = {IEEE Annals of the History of Computing},
publisher = {Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers},
volume = {9},
number = {3},
pages = {221--247},
doi = {10.1109/mahc.1987.10023},
}
This record lives at https://refs.drheap.org/campbellkelly1987data/ and will keep doing so.