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The '''International Networking Working Group''' (INWG) was a group of prominent [[Computer science|computer science]] researchers in the 1970s who studied and developed standards and [[Communication protocol|protocols]] for [[Computer network|computer networking]]. Set up in 1972 as an informal group to consider the technical issues involved in connecting different networks, its charter was to develop international standard protocols for internetworking. INWG became a subcommittee of the [[Biography:International Federation for Information Processing|International Federation for Information Processing]] (IFIP) two years later. Concepts developed by members of the group contributed to the original "Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication" proposed by [[Biography:Vint Cerf|Vint Cerf]] and  [[Biography:Bob Kahn|Bob Kahn]] in 1974 and the [[Transmission Control Protocol]] and [[Internet Protocol]] (TCP/IP) that emerged later. 
== History ==
The International Networking Working Group formed in October 1972 at the International Conference on Computer Communication held in Washington D.C. Its purpose was to study and develop "international standard protocols for internetworking".<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Collection: Alex McKenzie collection of computer networking development records {{!}} University of Minnesota Archival Collections Guides |url=https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/3/resources/242 |access-date=2023-01-27 |website=archives.lib.umn.edu}}</ref> The group was modelled on the [[Engineering:ARPANET|ARPANET]] "Networking Working Group" created by Steve Crocker.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.princeton.edu/news/2014/03/18/internet-founders-say-flexible-framework-was-key-explosive-growth|title=Internet founders say flexible framework was key to explosive growth|website=Princeton University|language=en|access-date=2020-02-07}}</ref> 

[[Biography:Vint Cerf|Vint Cerf]] was the first Chair of the INWG. Other active members included Alex McKenzie, Donald Davies, Roger Scantlebury, Louis Pouzin and Hubert Zimmermann.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=McKenzie|first=Alexander|date=2011|title=INWG and the Conception of the Internet: An Eyewitness Account|journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing|volume=33|issue=1|pages=66–71|doi=10.1109/MAHC.2011.9|s2cid=206443072|issn=1934-1547}}</ref><ref name="ieee201703" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Abbate|first=Janet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E2BdY6WQo4AC&pg=PA123|title=Inventing the Internet|date=2000|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-51115-5|pages=123–4|language=en}}</ref> These researchers represented the American ARPANET,{{Refn|Specifically, McKenzie represented BBN and Cerf represented Stanford University.|group=nb}} the French [[CYCLADES]] project, and the British team working on the [[NPL network]] and European Informatics Network.<ref name=":0" /> In January 1974 Pouzin arranged affiliation with the [[Biography:International Federation for Information Processing|International Federation for Information Processing]] (IFIP).<ref name=":5" /> INWG became IFIP Working Group 1 under Technical Committee 6 (Data Communication) with the title "International Packet Switching for Computer Sharing" (WG6.1). This standing, although informal, enabled the group to provide technical input on packet networking to CCITT and [[Organization:International Organization for Standardization|ISO]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y-tFrTTweRIC&q=%22INWG%22&pg=PA337|title=The "Hidden" Prehistory of European Research Networking|publisher=Trafford Publishing|isbn=978-1-4669-3935-6|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Davies|first=Donald Watts|url=https://archive.org/details/computernetworks00davi|title=Computer networks and their protocols|date=1979|publisher=Chichester, [Eng.] ; New York : Wiley|others=Internet Archive|page=466|isbn=9780471997504}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Vinton Cerf : How the Internet Came to Be|url=http://www.netvalley.com/archives/mirrors/cerf-how-inet.html|access-date=2021-12-22|website=www.netvalley.com}}</ref>

In September 1973, Vint Cerf and [[Biography:Bob Kahn|Bob Kahn]] (who was not a member of INWG) gave a paper at an INWG meeting at the [[Organization:University of Sussex|University of Sussex]] in England. Their ideas were refined further in long discussions with Davies, Scantlebury, Pouzin and Zimmerman.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Lyon|first1=Matthew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RLKxSvCBQZcC|title=Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins Of The Internet|last2=Hafner|first2=Katie|date=1999-08-19|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-684-87216-2|pages=225–6|language=en}}</ref> Louis Pouzin introduced the term ''[[Catenet|catenet]]'', the original term for an interconnected network, in October 1973.<ref name=":0" /> Zimmerman published a paper "''Standard host-host protocol for heterogeneous computer networks''" in April 1974,<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Communication Protocols in a Network Context|url=https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.542.8750&rep=rep1&type=pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20211104090605/https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.542.8750&rep=rep1&type=pdf|archivedate=4 Nov 2021|citeseerx = 10.1.1.542.8750|url-status=dead}}</ref> and Pouzin published a May 1974 paper "''A Proposal for Interconnecting Packet Switching Networks"''.<ref>''A Proposal for Interconnecting Packet Switching Networks'', L. Pouzin, Proceedings of EUROCOMP, Brunel University, May 1974, pp. 1023-36.</ref> Kahn and Vint Cerf also published their proposal in May 1974, "''A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication''", which introduced the term ''internet'' as a shorthand for ''internetwork''. The paper acknowledged several members of the INWG.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Cerf|first1=V.|last2=Kahn|first2=R.|date=1974|title=A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication|url=https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall06/cos561/papers/cerf74.pdf|journal=IEEE Transactions on Communications|volume=22|issue=5|pages=637–648|doi=10.1109/TCOM.1974.1092259|issn=1558-0857|quote=The authors wish to thank a number of colleagues for helpful comments during early discussions of international network protocols, especially R. Metcalfe, R. Scantlebury, D. Walden, and H. Zimmerman; D. Davies and L. Pouzin who constructively commented on the fragmentation and accounting issues; and S. Crocker who commented on the creation and destruction of associations.}}</ref>[[File:INWG-arch.png|thumb|350x350px|The Internet architecture as seen by the INWG.<ref name="lostlayer">J. Day. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261458332_How_in_the_Heck_do_you_lose_a_layer How in the Heck Do You Lose a Layer!?] 2nd IFIP International Conference of the Network of the Future, Paris, France, 2011</ref>]]Over three years, the group shared numerous numbered 'notes'. There were two competing proposals,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Russell |first1=Andrew L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jqroAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA196 |title=Open standards and the digital age: history, ideology, and networks |date=2014 |publisher=Cambridge Univ Press |isbn=978-1107039193 |location=New York |page=196}}</ref> INWG 37 based on the early Transmission Control Program proposed by Kahn and Cerf (updated in INWG 72),<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1974|title=Specification of Internet Transmission Control Program|url=https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc675/|journal=}}</ref> and INWG 61 based on the CYCLADES TS (transport station) protocol proposed by Pouzin and Zimmermann. There were two sticking points (how fragmentation should work; and whether the data flow was an undifferentiated stream or maintained the integrity of the units sent). These were not major differences and after "hot debate" a synthesis was proposed in INWG 96.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="lostlayer" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Day|first=John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k9sFgIM-z6UC&pg=PT18|title=Patterns in Network Architecture: A Return to Fundamentals (paperback): A Return to Fundamentals|date=2007-12-27|publisher=Pearson Education|isbn=978-0-13-270456-4|language=en}}</ref>
This protocol, agreed by the group in 1975, titled "''Proposal for an international end to end protocol''", was written by Vint Cerf, Alex McKenzie, Roger Scantlebury, and Hubert Zimmermann.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last1=Cerf|first1=V.|last2=McKenzie|first2=A|last3=Scantlebury|first3=R|last4=Zimmermann|first4=H|date=1976|title=Proposal for an international end to end protocol|journal=ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review|volume=6|pages=63–89|language=EN|doi=10.1145/1015828.1015832|s2cid=36954091}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Davies |first=Donald Watts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=snYbAQAAMAAJ&q=INWG |title=Computer Networks and Their Protocols |date=1979 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-471-99750-4 |pages=468 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Esmailzadeh |first=Riaz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-zS7CwAAQBAJ&q=%22International+networking+working+group%22&pg=SA6-PA55 |title=Broadband Telecommunications Technologies and Management |date=2016-03-04 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-99565-5 |language=en}}</ref> It was presented to the CCIT in 1976 by Derek Barber, who became INWG chair earlier that year. Although the protocol was adopted by networks in Europe,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Hubert Zimmerman|url=http://www.historyofcomputercommunications.info/Individuals/abstracts/hubert-zimmerman.html|access-date=2020-08-27|website=www.historyofcomputercommunications.info}}</ref> it was not adopted by the CCIT nor by the ARPANET. 

CCIT went on to adopt the [[X.25]] standard in 1976, based on [[Virtual circuit|virtual circuit]]s, and ARPA ultimately developed the [[Internet protocol suite]], including the [[Internet Protocol]] as connectionless layer and the [[Transmission Control Protocol]] as a reliable connection-oriented service, which incorporated concepts from the French CYCLADES project.<ref>{{cite news |date=13 December 2013 |title=The internet's fifth man |work=Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21590765-louis-pouzin-helped-create-internet-now-he-campaigning-ensure-its |access-date=11 September 2017 |quote=In the early 1970s Mr Pouzin created an innovative data network that linked locations in France, Italy and Britain. Its simplicity and efficiency pointed the way to a network that could connect not just dozens of machines, but millions of them. It captured the imagination of Dr Cerf and Dr Kahn, who included aspects of its design in the protocols that now power the internet.}}</ref> 

Alex McKenzie served as chair from 1979-1982 and Secretary beginning in 1983.<ref name=":5" /> Later international work led to the [[OSI model]] in 1984, of which many members of the INWG became advocates.<ref name="ieee201703">{{cite magazine|author=Andrew L. Russell|date=30 July 2013|title=OSI: The Internet That Wasn't|url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/networks/osi-the-internet-that-wasnt|magazine=IEEE Spectrum|volume=50|issue=8}}</ref> During the '[[Protocol Wars]]' of the late 1980s and early 1990s, engineers, organizations and nations became polarized over the issue of which standard, the OSI model or the Internet protocol suite would result in the best and most robust computer networks. ARPA [[Internet protocol suite#Adoption|partnerships with the telecommunication and computer industry]] led to widespread private sector adoption of the Internet protocol suite as a communication protocol.<ref name="ieee201703" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.cs.duke.edu/courses/common/compsci092/papers/govern/consensus.pdf|title=Rough Consensus and Running Code' and the Internet-OSI Standards War|last=Russell|first=Andrew L.|publisher=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Davies|first1=Howard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DN-t8MpZ0-wC&q=%22protocol+wars%22&pg=PA106|title=A History of International Research Networking: The People who Made it Happen|last2=Bressan|first2=Beatrice|date=2010-04-26|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-3-527-32710-2|language=en}}</ref>

The INWG continued to work on protocol design and formal specification until the 1990s when it disbanded as the [[Internet]] grew rapidly.<ref name=":0" /> Nonetheless, issues with the Internet Protocol suite remain and alternatives have been proposed building on INWG ideas such as [[Recursive Internetwork Architecture]].<ref name="lostlayer" />

== Members ==
The group had about 100 members, including the following:<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" />
{{Div col}}
* D. Barber
* B. Barker
* V. Cerf
* W. Clipsham
* D. Davies
* R. Despres
* V. Detwiler
* F. Heart
* A. McKenzie
* L. Pouzin
* O. Riml
* K. Samuelson
* K. Sandum
*R. Scantlebury
* B. Sexton
* P. Shanks
* C.D. Shepard
* J. Tucker
* B. Wessler
*H. Zimmerman
{{Div col end}}

==See also==
* [[Coloured Book protocols]]
* [[History of the Internet]]
*[[Protocol Wars]]
*Public data network

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|group=nb}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==

* {{Cite journal|last1=Cerf|first1=V.|last2=McKenzie|first2=A|last3=Scantlebury|first3=R|last4=Zimmermann|first4=H|date=1976|title=Proposal for an international end to end protocol|journal=ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review|volume=6|pages=63–89|language=EN|doi=10.1145/1015828.1015832|s2cid=36954091}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Kerssens |first=Niels |date=2019-12-13 |title=Rethinking legacies in internet history: Euronet, lost (inter)networks, EU politics |journal=Internet Histories |volume=4 |pages=32–48 |doi=10.1080/24701475.2019.1701919 |issn=2470-1475 |doi-access=free}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kim |first=Byung-Keun |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lESrw3neDokC |title=Internationalizing the Internet: The Co-evolution of Influence and Technology |date=2005 |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing |isbn=978-1-84542-675-0 |language=en}}
* {{Cite book |last=Russell |first=Andrew L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OVpzAwAAQBAJ |title=Open Standards and the Digital Age: History, Ideology, and Networks |date=2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-91661-5}}

== External links ==

* [https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/3/resources/242 International Packet Network Working Group (INWG)] , Charles Babbage Institute Archives, University of Minnesota Archival Collection

[[Category:Communications protocols]]
[[Category:Network protocols]]

{{Sourceattribution|International Networking Working Group|1}}