Last month Brian Berg, IEEE History Committee Vice Chair, IEEE Milestone Coordinator, and IEEE Region 6 History Chair, invited me to attend and photograph three events to honor six new IEEE Milestones and the 50th Anniversary of the Internet. The events included:
– The Office of the Future: 3 IEEE Milestones Honoring SRI and Its Xerox PARC Heritage
– A Celebration of 50 Years of the Internet
– IEEE Milestone Celebration: TCP, 802 Standards, and Google
IEEE.tv livestreamed and recorded the speakers at all three events. These videos will serve as a significant piece of oral history of key developments in Silicon Valley.
The Office of the Future event took place at the SRI PARC location on Friday May 17, 2024. While I was familiar with the Xerox PARC history (the Dialog building on Hillview Avenue was next to Xerox PARC), I did not know that PARC had joined SRI.
Turns out SRI International acquired Xerox PARC in April of 2023, a combination which “brings together two iconic Silicon Valley organizations and will enable SRI to further build, expand, and scale its capabilities among a diverse set of technology and scientific areas.”
As a reminder, in order to be considered for an IEEE Milestone award, the criteria include: “To be proposed as an IEEE Milestone, an achievement must be at least 25 years old, have benefited humanity, and must have had widespread geographic importance.” This means the new PARC Milestones all occurred under Xerox ownership. The new PARC Milestones are:
– Development of the Commercial Laser Printer, 1971-1977
– The Xerox Alto Establishes Personal Network Computing, 1972-1983
– Ethernet Local Area Networking (LAN), 1973-1985
SRI CEO David Parekh gave the welcoming comments. Before introductions, Parekh said “SRI is the proud custodian of nine IEEE Milestones…”
The first Keynote Address was given by Vint Cerf, vice president and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google. Amongst many awards and recognition, Cerf received the IEEE Medal of Honor Award (2022) and the ACM A.M. Turing Award (2004). Cerf is a gifted speaker and storyteller. If you have a chance to hear him talk about his role in developing the Internet, by all means do so. You will not be disappointed. He is funny too!
Bob Metcalf gave the second Keynote. Metcalf outlined the work that led to the creation of the Ethernet including distributed packet switching and local networks.
This work led to the publication of his article, co-written by David Boggs, “Ethernet: Distributed Packet Switching for Local Computer Networks” published in the July 1976 issue of Communications of the ACM. Metcalf received the 2022 ACM A.M. Turing Award for “the invention, standardization, and commercialization of Ethernet.” Metcalf also received the IEEE Medal of Honor in 1996.
The three speakers then participated in a panel led by SRI CEO David Parekh. The three pioneers discussed their leadership roles in the technological developments that took place at Xerox PARC and led to the achievements recognized in the Milestones.
Ron Rider, VP of Digital Imaging (retired), led off and talked about the development of the laser printer. He was followed by John F. Shoch, Office Systems Division President (retired) who discussed the evolution of the Alto Computer. Metcalf added more context to his prior discussion of working with David Boggs in developing the ethernet.
Tom Coughlin, IEEE President highlighted the 140th Anniversary of the IEEE. Brian Berg described the IEEE Milestone Program and his role in coordinating the awards. The day finished up with the Milestone plaque unveiling and a networking reception in the PARC Café.
In my next entry we will look at the 50th Anniversary of the Internet Celebration at the Crowne Plaza Cabana in Palo Alto.
New IEEE Milestone Plaques at SRI PARC
Notes from a Queens Village Boomer 
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