Mr. David C. Walden

After three years at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, he joined Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc. (BBN) in 1967 and spent the rest of his business career there, retiring in 1995. He began as a Computer Programmer, then as a Technical Manager, and then as a General Manager. While at BBN, he was involved in the beginnings of the Internet. He was a member of a small team of engineers, headed by Frank Heart, which came to be known as NCP (Network Control Protocol). This team developed the ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet. Located at four separate sites, each team went to work on producing the software to enable its computers and the IMP to communicate. As the first Internet programmer, he was involved in numerous Internet innovations between 1968 and 1980. The outgrowths of these early technologies are today key components in the transition humankind is undergoing from the industrial age to the information age. Over the next four years, after his retirement from BBN, he spent some time with the Center for Quality of Management (CQM) and a little time with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT. He is also involved with the IEEE and IEEE Computer Society. In 1998, he was named to the hall of fame of his undergraduate college, San Francisco State, for having been involved in the early days of the Internet. He and his friend and classmate, Stan Mazor ? who was co-inventor of the micro-computer ? went into his college hall of fame at the same time. He was also mentioned in SFSU Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 2, Spring 2001. He has written many technical papers, primarily related to his involvement in computer networking and has published a web book, ?Looking Back at the ARPANET Effort, 34 Years Later?.