Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins Of The Internet

by Katie Hafner

Then in May 1961 a computer, and a very large one at that, demanded his attention. A program in military command and control issues had been started at ARPA using emergency DOD funds. For the work, the Air Force had purchased the huge, expensive Q-32, a behemoth of a machine that was to act as the backup for the nation’s air defense early-warning system. The machine had been installed at a facility in Santa Monica, California, at one of the Air Force’s major contractors, System Development Corporation (SDC), where it was supposed to be used for operator training, and as a software development tool. Then the Air Force had been forced to cut back, which left the Santa Monica firm begging for some way to keep its employees working with the computer. The Air Force, which had already sunk millions into the SDC contract, suddenly had an embarrassing white elephant on its hands in the form of one massive, ungainly computing machine.