BBN’s full implementation of remote diagnostic tools and debugging capabilities would later become a huge asset. When the network matured, remote control would enable BBN to monitor and maintain the whole system from one operations center, collecting data and diagnosing problems as things changed. Periodically, each IMP would send back to Cambridge a “snapshot of its status,” a set of data about its operating conditions. Changes in the network, minor and major, could be detected. Heart’s group envisioned someday being able to look across the network to know whether any machine was
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