I opened my copy of the Arizona Republic today to read an interesting Associated Press Article entitled “Internet turns 40; barriers imperil its growth.”  I was a junior in high school way back in the day when, on September 2, 1969, “about 20 people gathered in Kleinrock’s lab at the University of California, Los Angeles, to watch as two bulky computers passed meaningless test data through a 15-foot gray cable.”  I was oblivious to it then, and little did I realize how my entire career would be affected so profoundly by that pioneering work.

Despite the challenges that face the Internet now, a few of which are pointed out in the article, it has been enjoyable to pause a few minutes to reflect on the advances in technology over that span of time and try to anticipate what the next 40 years may bring.

In the photo above, “Internet pioneer Len Kleinrock poses next to an Interface Message Processor, a device used to develop the Internet 40 years ago at UCLA.”  Gotta love all those switches on the front panel!

A related article published in the Globe and Mail includes a summary time line of key milestones in the development of the Internet.