Computing Atlas

How Computing Was Built
Concepts

Packet Switching

Technique

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Packet switching is the routing and transferring of data by means of addressed packets, so that a channel is occupied only while a packet is in flight, letting many conversations share one line. The concept was invented independently twice, by Paul Baran at the RAND Corporation in the early 1960s and by Donald Davies at Britain's National Physical Laboratory in 1965; Davies coined the term, and his concepts and designs were incorporated into the ARPANET, the network from which the Internet descends.

Facts
Disputed
Origin Year
1965 1
Invented independently twice: Paul Baran at RAND in the early 1960s and Donald Davies at the NPL in 1965. 1965 is Davies's date, and the term is his coinage; which invention counts as the origin is genuinely split between the two.
Core Principle
Cut data into addressed packets that each find their own way and occupy the line only in flight, instead of holding a circuit open end to end. 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

ARPANET, Systems

Davies's packet switching concepts and designs were incorporated into the ARPANET.

In Field

Sources
1. Wikipedia: Packet Switching
Wikimedia FoundationConcept and History sections
Quote, Concept and History sections
The concept of switching small blocks of data was invented independently by Paul Baran at the RAND Corporation during the early 1960s in the US and Donald Davies at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in the UK in 1965.
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1. Wikipedia: Packet Switching
Wikimedia FoundationConcept section
Quote, Concept section
The routing and transferring of data by means of addressed packets so that a channel is occupied during the transmission of the packet only...
View the Source
1. Wikipedia: Packet Switching
Wikimedia FoundationHistory section
Quote, History section
He coined the term packet switching, and proposed building a commercial nationwide data network in the UK.
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