Yngvar Lundh

Developer of a new form of distributed, digital PBXs called hub technology, Lundh was a Norwegian engineer and scientist also known for bringing the Internet to Norway and developing some of the country's first computers. He grew up in Tønsberg, where he was the sole heir to a family farm. He studied at the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH), completing an examination in low power technique, before joining the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment.

Lundh worked as a researcher at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) from 1957 to 1984. He was a Visiting Scholar at MIT (1958) and Bell Labs (1970). He served as Chief Engineer in Telecom/Telenor from 1985 to 1996, then moved to a private consultancy, Vista Telematics. Lundh also held a position as Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oslo beginning in 1980, where he taught microelectronics and computer networks.

He implemented several innovative projects using digital technology. This applied particularly to the use of transistors and printed circuits in computers, and to computers for simulation (SAM), signal processing (Lydia and Martinus), automatic control, and telecom (Rasmus). Furthermore, Lundh developed a new form of distributed digital PBXs, called hub technology, which became the basis for products marketed as Digimat and Tadkom. Several group members were later involved in firms or products that represented a new branch of industry based on computer technology, including Norwegian Data, Information Control AS, Kongsberg arms factory data division, and Alcatel.

He collaborated with ARPA on the development of technology for the Internet during the period 1972–1981. Lundh eventually assembled a group of five researchers at FFI for this work, using the experimental network Arpanet as a laboratory. One of the researchers, Pål Spilling, later actively helped universities and colleges connect to the Internet. His interest in the Internet began to grow slowly at first, then more rapidly from around 1980.

In order to exploit the new opportunities the Internet offered, Lundh moved in 1985 to Telecom to develop electronic mail as a public service. This resulted in the firm TelePost, which grew rapidly until the middle of the 1990s, when interest in the Internet overtook traditional technical standards. He was a member of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences.