The Route Less Taken: The Homegrown Los Alamos Integrated Computer Network

For detailed discussions of how and why the TCP/IP suite developed and became the standard set of networking protocols in use today, see Janet Abbate, Inventing the Internet (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999), Andrew L. Russell, Open Standards and the Digital Age: History, Ideology, and Networks (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014), and Laura DeNardis, The Global War for Internet Governance (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014). These works challenge previous depictions of the history of ARPANET and the Internet that depicted the development and spread of TCP/IP as open and uncontested processes, when, in fact, the opposite was true. The protocol suite resulted from closed-door planning and implementation decisions, and entered widespread usage largely as a result of the US Department of Defense exerting financial and other forms of coercion on networked institutions and vendors to adopt the suite.

MacKenzie, “The Influence of the Los Alamos and Livermore National Laboratories,” 186; Memorandum from Walter H. Brummet, Jr., Chief Contracts and Procurement Branch, to George Udell, Director, Supply Division, Nov. 17, 1955, “Report of Conferences in Washington, D. C. Regarding Proposed Purchase of Computing Machine for LASL,” Edward A. Voorhees Papers, Box 16, Folder 6 Stretch Solicitation and Selection, LANL Archives; Charles J. Bashe, et al., IBM’s Early Computers (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1986), 430, 432; For a detailed assessment of the intersection between computing and the development of nuclear weapons at Los Alamos, see Anne Fitzpatrick’s Ph.D. dissertation, “Igniting the Light Elements: The Los Alamos Thermonuclear Weapon Project, 1942-1952” (The George Washington University, 1999); Thomas Haigh, Mark Priestley, and Crispin Rope, “Los Alamos Bets on ENIAC: Nuclear Monte Carlo Simulations, 1947-1948,” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 36, No. 3 (July-Sept. 2014) examines specifically Los Alamos’ use of ENIAC for the first simulations of nuclear weapons on a digital computer.

Correspondence from Bengt Carlson to Carson Mark, May 23, 1960, “UHS Computer Study Contracts,” Edward A. Voorhees Papers, Box 32, Folder 1, Series 25, SPARC Correspondence, LANL Archives; Correspondence from Edward A. Voorhees to Paul Armer, Head, Computer Sciences Department, The RAND Corporation, March 17, 1960, Edward A. Voorhees Papers, Box 4, Folder 10, Series 9, File 1, Voorhees Correspondence 1960, LANL Archives; Correspondence between T. L. Jordan and Donald C. Cashman, SHARE Distribution Agent, January 13, 1961 through June 27, 1961, Edward A. Voorhees Papers, Box 4, Folder 18, Series 9, File 2, Jordan Correspondence 1960-61, LANL Archives; MacKenzie, “The Influence of the Los Alamos and Livermore National Laboratories,” 189-193.

The increasing user demand upon computer resources at Los Alamos between the mid-1960s and mid-70s was due to a variety of factors: First, the Partial Test-Ban Treaty of 1963 moved all nuclear testing underground, which made weapons tests more expensive, and increased the reliance upon computer simulation. Second, after having diversified in their research, the US weapons labs experienced a reducing budget year-over-year beginning in 1960, spurring Los Alamos to transfer large numbers of personnel back toward its core mission, which increased the number of heavy computer users, despite the Lab population remaining stable. Third, the weapons themselves became more sophisticated and design tolerances became tighter starting in the mid-1960s, as US nuclear strategic policy shifted toward a counter-force (targeting military assets) strategy. A mix of more complex weapons designs and more complex codes used for development and simulation also markedly increased the processing and storage demands of the heaviest users of Lab computing resources between the 1960s and 70s. Part of T and then C Division's conservatism with new technologies was the need to prevent disruptions in the already overbooked CCF's production schedules.

H. Butler, MP-1, and T. Gardiner, P-1, to Edward Voorhees, CADP, 11-29-66, “Delay in Procurement of Time-Share Service,” Edward A. Voorhees Papers, Box 35, Folder 2, Series 27, LASL Computer Needs, LANL Archives; Bill Collins, interview by Nicholas Lewis, Minneapolis, MN, February 19, 2015; Michael, George, and Marilyn Ghausi. "An Interview with Sidney Fernbach." An Interview with Sidney Fernbach. Accessed March 20, 2016. http://​www.​computer-history.​info/​Page1.​dir/​pages/​Fernbach.​html. Information regarding Sidney Fernbach's potential blindspot for smaller computer systems is derived from George Michael's introduction to Marilyn Ghausi's February 1989 interview with Fernbach. Fernbach stepped down as the Livermore Computation Division leader in 1982, with Fernbach arguing that he had been removed. Fernbach at Livermore had heavily backed the development of the Control Data STAR-100 supercomputer in the early 1970s, but the poor performance of that system (of which Livermore purchased two, while Los Alamos backed out of its contract to purchase a single STAR) had consequences for Fernbach’s position, and for the relative freedom of the two labs in their selection of new computing systems.

Ronald D. Christman, “MUX, a Simple Approach to On-Line Computing,” Communications of the ACM 15, No. 5 (May 1972), 319-329; Jeffery L. Peterson, “MUX, adieu, faithful friend,” The Atom (October 1979), 14-16; Ronald D. Christman, interview by Nicholas Lewis, Los Alamos, NM, July 2, 2014.

Peterson, “MUX, adieu, faithful friend,” 14-16; Christman, interview by Nicholas Lewis, 2014.

Ron Christman, “A Review of the Hydra Project,” (Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, 1974); “The Computer Science and Services Division Annual Report, January—December 1975” (Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, LA-6228-PR, 1976), 5.

“The Computer Science and Services Division Annual Report, January—December 1975,” 5; William J. Worlton, Lab Notebook (Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, 4/6/71), 27.

“The Computer Science and Services Division Annual Report, January—December 1975,” 5-6, 9; Christman, “A Review of the Hydra Project”; Christman, interview by Nicholas Lewis, 2014; John Morrison, interview by Nicholas Lewis, Los Alamos, NM, 7/1/2014.

Morrison, interview by Nicholas Lewis, 2014; Don Tolmie, interview by Nicholas Lewis, Los Alamos, NM, 7/14/2014; The first ever calculation on the ENIAC was a Los Alamos feasibility study of the hydrogen bomb. The calculation was less than ideal, because ENIAC's limited memory forced Los Alamos to simplify the variables of the problem to the point that the results were mostly inconclusive. However, Los Alamos would use ENIAC repeatedly in the 1940s, due to the scarcity of digital computers in the early Cold War years.

Christman, interview by Nicholas Lewis, 2014; MacKenzie, “The Influence of the Los Alamos and Livermore National Laboratories,” 186.

“The Computer Science and Services Division Annual Report, January—December 1975,” 5; Fred W. Dorr, “Computer Science and Services Division of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory” (Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, LA-UR-74-1566, 1974), 2; Leo Romero and Bill Buzbee, “Overview of the Los Alamos Integrated Computing Network” (Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, LALP-85-34, 1985), 23-24.

Romero, “Overview of the Los Alamos Integrated Computing Network,” 23; “The Computer Science and Services Division Annual Report, January—December 1975,” 5-6; Christman, interview by Nicholas Lewis, 2014.

Christman, interview by Nicholas Lewis, 2014; Fred W. Dorr, “Computer Science and Services Division CCF Five-Year Plan” (Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, LA-6921-MS, 1977), 3-4, 13, 43-45, 79; Fred W. Dorr, “Computer Science and Services Division Activities and Plans” (Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, LA-7093, 1978), 4, 12, 19.

Romero, “Overview of the Los Alamos Integrated Computing Network,” 24; Morrison, interview by Nicholas Lewis, 2014.

Romero, “Overview of the Los Alamos Integrated Computing Network,” 24; Robert H. Ewald, et al., “Computing Division Two-Year Operational Plan, FY 1981-1982” (Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1981), 41-42.

Dorr, “Computer Science and Services Division Activities and Plans,” 5; Ewald “Computing Division Two-Year Operational Plan, FY 1981-1982,” 36; Romero, “Overview of the Los Alamos Integrated Computing Network,” 43; Tolmie, interview by Nicholas Lewis, 2014; Andrew and David Dubois, interview by Nicholas Lewis, 7/17/2014.

Donald E. Tolmie, et al., “Interconnecting Computers with the High-Speed Parallel Interface” (Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos National Laboratory, LA-9503-MS, 1982), 2-12; Ewald “Computing Division Two-Year Operational Plan, FY 1981-1982,” 43; Granville Chorn, et al., “The Standard File Transport Protocol” (Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, LA-7388-MS, 1978).

Norman R. Morse and Joseph L. Thompson, “Bringing A Large Computer Network Into Focus” (Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, LA-UR-82-83, 1982), 8-11; Tolmie, “Interconnecting Computers with the High-Speed Parallel Interface,” 1-5.

Christman, interview by Nicholas Lewis, 2014; Ewald “Computing Division Two-Year Operational Plan, FY 1981-1982”, 37.

M. Blood, R. Christman, and B. Collins, “Experience with the LASL Common File System,” Fourth IEEE Symposium on Mass Storage Systems (New York: The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., 1980); Bob Ewald, “Overview,” User Interface 67 (May 1981), 3-4; Collins, interview by Nicholas Lewis, 2015; Gary Grider, interview by Nicholas Lewis, Los Alamos, NM, 8/21/2015; Fred Mcclain, "DataTree and UniTree: Software for File and Storage Management," Digest of Papers. Tenth IEEE Symposium on Mass Storage Systems: Crisis in Mass Storage (1990): 126-28. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory also developed its own networked-storage system, which sold commercially as UniTree. As the name indicates, UniTree ran atop the Unix operating system, while Los Alamos’ DataTree/CFS relied on IBM’s MVS OS. While MVS was a more mature platform in the late 1970s, when both networked-storage solutions were under development, it left DataTree/CFS tied to IBM operating sytem development and support at a time when the national labs and supercomputing in general were moving toward Unix in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Robert H. Ewald, “Computing Division Two-Year Operational Plan, FY 1983-1984” (Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos National Laboratory, LA-9712-MS, 1983), 43-52; Ewald, “Computing Division Two-Year Operational Plan, FY 1981–1982,” 27, 31-38; Romero, "Overview of the Los Alamos Integrated Computer Network," 24.

Ewald, “Computing Division Two-Year Operational Plan, FY 1983-1984,” 67; Ewald, “Computing Division Two-Year Operational Plan, FY 1981–1982,” 39-40; Romero, "Overview of the Los Alamos Integrated Computer Network," 24.

Morrison, interview by Nicholas Lewis, 2014; Ewald, “Computing Division Two-Year Operational Plan, FY 1983-1984,” 67.

Ewald, “Computing Division Two-Year Operational Plan, FY 1983-1984,” 47, 67; Robert H. Ewald, “Computing Division Two-Year Operational Plan, FY 1984-1985” (Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos National Laboratory, LA-9978-MS, 1984), 100-101; Romero, "Overview of the Los Alamos Integrated Computer Network," 25.

Morse, “C-Division Annual Review and Operating Plan, January 1987,” 84; N. R. Morse and B. L. Buzbee, “C-Division Annual Review and Operating Plan” (Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos National Laboratory, LA-10631-MS, 1986), 110-111.

Tolmie, interview by Nicholas Lewis, 2014; Don E. Tolmie and John K. Renwick, “HIPPI – Simplicity Yields Success,” IEEE Network – The Magazine of Computer Communications (November, 1992), 1-2, 4.

Tolmie, interview by Nicholas Lewis, 2014; Morrison, interview by Nicholas Lewis, 2014; Don E. Tolmie, “What’s Happening with Supercomputer Networks” (Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos National Laboratory, LA-UR-91-2704, 1991), 1-3.

Norman R. Morse, “C-Division Annual Review and Operating Plan, August 1990” (Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos National Laboratory, LA-11945-MS, 1990), 6, 24, 60; Tolmie, “What’s Happening with Supercomputer Networks,” 1-3.

Yvonne Martinez, et al., “Computing Division Two-Year Operational Plan, FY 1984-1985” (Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos National Laboratory, LA-9978-MS, 1985); Morse, “C-Division Annual Review and Operating Plan,” 34, 37, 49, 57.

Morrison, interview by Nicholas Lewis, 2014; Morse, “C-Division Annual Review and Operating Plan, January 1987,” 79.

Morse, “C-Division Annual Review and Operating Plan, January 1987,” 73; Lynn Jones, interview by Nicholas Lewis, Los Alamos, NM, 8/6/2015; Raymond Miller, interview by Nicholas Lewis, Los Alamos, NM, 6-25-2014.

Morse, “C-Division Annual Review and Operating Plan, August 1990,” 52; Hassan Dayem, “C-Division Annual Review and Operating Plan, May 1992” (Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1992), 54-55; Hassan Dayem, “Computing, Information, and Communications, 1995-1996” (Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos National Laboratory, LALP-96-35, 1996), 44.