3 ms·

Today, the "Internet Assigned Numbers Authority" refers to an organization. But for many years it didn't refer to an organization, it was Jon Postel's title.

iamtedd 6y ago
Beautifully worded.
Anthony-G 6y ago
Upvoted – but don’t forget Joyce K. Reynolds. There’s a lovely anecdote of how the IANA operated in the early 90s in “The story of getting SSH port 22”: https://www.ssh.com/ssh/port https://www.ssh.com/ssh/port
- LukeShu 6y ago
  No disrespect toward Ms. Reynolds, certainly! But Mr. Postel had been in that role for 11 years before Ms. Reynolds joined him (1972-1983). Though it turns out that my history is a little fuzzy on the name itself; though Mr. Postel had been in the role for many years, the earliest reference to the name "IANA" that I can find is from 1988. Regardless of whether they were using the name "IANA" in 1972-1983, Mr. Postel was the sole authority during those years, and many of those who were around then would later refer to him as having been the IANA during that time.
  - Anthony-G 6y ago
    Thanks for the historical insight. I hadn’t realised that Jon Postel’s work went that far back. I only came across the Internet in the late nineties – and though I’m aware of the existence of DARPAnet, I don’t really think of the Internet as being a “thing” until the eighties (when most of the common protocol standards I’ve read were written) so I should really find a good book on the subject.
    - LukeShu 6y ago
      Sadly, I don't have a solid book recommendation about the early Internet. But, my favorite Internet history book of all time is "IPng: Internet Protocol Next Generation" edited by Scott O. Bradner and Allison Mankin. It's about the development of what would become IPv6, and each chapter is written by a different engineer who was involved in the process. Some chapters were written for the book, and some chapters were publications/reports from the process.

iamtedd 6y ago

Beautifully worded.

Anthony-G 6y ago

Upvoted – but don’t forget Joyce K. Reynolds. There’s a lovely anecdote of how the IANA operated in the early 90s in “The story of getting SSH port 22”: https://www.ssh.com/ssh/port https://www.ssh.com/ssh/port

LukeShu 6y ago
No disrespect toward Ms. Reynolds, certainly! But Mr. Postel had been in that role for 11 years before Ms. Reynolds joined him (1972-1983). Though it turns out that my history is a little fuzzy on the name itself; though Mr. Postel had been in the role for many years, the earliest reference to the name "IANA" that I can find is from 1988. Regardless of whether they were using the name "IANA" in 1972-1983, Mr. Postel was the sole authority during those years, and many of those who were around then would later refer to him as having been the IANA during that time.
- Anthony-G 6y ago
  Thanks for the historical insight. I hadn’t realised that Jon Postel’s work went that far back. I only came across the Internet in the late nineties – and though I’m aware of the existence of DARPAnet, I don’t really think of the Internet as being a “thing” until the eighties (when most of the common protocol standards I’ve read were written) so I should really find a good book on the subject.
  - LukeShu 6y ago
    Sadly, I don't have a solid book recommendation about the early Internet. But, my favorite Internet history book of all time is "IPng: Internet Protocol Next Generation" edited by Scott O. Bradner and Allison Mankin. It's about the development of what would become IPv6, and each chapter is written by a different engineer who was involved in the process. Some chapters were written for the book, and some chapters were publications/reports from the process.