Actually to complete the story, MFEnet preceded HEPnet & SPAN as DEC was still developing the DECnet protocol at the time. When Sid put together the proposal for SDSC, it was a clone of the operating and successful MFE Computer Center (down to the floor plans of the building). The CTSS operating system for the Cray at that time included the MFEnet protocol. In that same time frame the MFEnet itself was running out of address space and worked through a transition to TCP by running MFEnet over IP. ---------- From: Hans-Werner Braun [SMTP:hwb@rwac.ucsd.edu] Sent: Monday, June 09, 1997 10:19 AM To: Kent W. England Cc: nanog@merit.edu Subject: Re: the original thirteen NSFNET regionals > It's also worth noting that DECNET was a leading contender for the NSFNET. > Sid Karin, director of SDSC, tells the story that he was leaning toward > DECNET until he met a taciturn Teutonic network engineer from Ann Arbor who > convinced Sid among others that a TCP/IP backbone would work. You actually do not quite have your story right. Sid used MFENET (Magnetic Fusion Energy) protocols for the SDSCnet (SDSC consortium) satellite network initially. I was also the networking person at the University of Michigan responsible for the UMichigan-SDSCnet connection (with MFENET protocols) at that time (besides other responsibilities). It did work, and SDSC continued to use it despite the NSFNET using IP. Over time SDSC phased MFENET out and IP in, but besides the reponsibility of the taciturn Teutonic network engineer from Ann Arbor for the NSFNET, I don't think he had much to do with the phaseout of the MFENET usage at SDSC. Sid still claims that he is proud of both his MFENET decision as well as the decision to phase it out, as time moved on.