Editing Packet switching (section)

====SRCnet/SERCnet====

A number of computer facilities serving the [[Science Research Council]] (SRC) community in the United Kingdom developed beginning in the early 1970s. Each had their own star network ([[University of London Computer Centre|ULCC London]], UMRCC Manchester, [[Rutherford Appleton Laboratory]]). There were also regional networks centred on Bristol (on which work was initiated in the late 1960s) followed in the mid-late 1970s by Edinburgh, the Midlands and Newcastle. These groups of institutions [[shared resource]]s to provide better computing facilities than could be afforded individually. The networks were each based on one manufacturer's standards and were mutually incompatible and overlapping.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Rutter |first=Dorian |title=From Diversity to Convergence: British Computer Networks and the Internet, 1970-1995 |date=2005 |degree=Computer Science |publisher=The University of Warwick |url=http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/1197/1/WRAP_THESIS_Rutter_2005.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221010/http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/1197/1/WRAP_THESIS_Rutter_2005.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-10 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Powell |first=Kit |date=1980-07-01 |title=Evolution of networks using standard protocols |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0140-3664%2880%2990069-9 |journal=Computer Communications |language=en |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=117–122 |doi=10.1016/0140-3664(80)90069-9 |issn=0140-3664}}</ref><ref name="ieee-kirstein">{{cite journal |last=Kirstein |first=Peter T. |date=Jan–Mar 1999 |title=Early Experiences with the ARPANET and INTERNET in the UK |url=http://nrg.cs.ucl.ac.uk/mjh/kirstein-arpanet.pdf |journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing |volume=21 |issue=1 |doi=10.1109/85.759368 |access-date=18 May 2020 |archive-date=10 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810133640/http://nrg.cs.ucl.ac.uk/mjh/kirstein-arpanet.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1981, the SRC was renamed the [[Science and Engineering Research Council]] (SERC). In the early 1980s a standardisation and interconnection effort started, hosted on an expansion of the SERCnet research network and based on the [[Coloured Book protocols]], later evolving into [[JANET]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Wells |first=Mike |date=1988-11-01 |title=JANET-the United Kingdom Joint Academic Network |journal=Serials |language=en |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=28–36 |doi=10.1629/010328 |issn=1475-3308 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite conference |last=Reid |first=Jim |date=3 April 2007 |title=The Good Old Days: Networking in UK Academia ~25 Years Ago |url=http://www.uknof.com/uknof7/Reid-History.pdf |location=Manchester |access-date=16 April 2008 |book-title=UKNOF7 |archive-date=28 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528040321/http://www.uknof.com/uknof7/Reid-History.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=6th UK Network Operators' Forum Meeting Agenda |url=https://www.uknof.org.uk/uknof6/ |access-date=2020-02-12 |website=www.uknof.org.uk |quote=See "15:00 Starting the Commercial Internet in the UK (Peter Houlder)" |archive-date=2007-06-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070621051719/http://www.uknof.org.uk/uknof6/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>