[ih] invention of multicast addressing

[dcrocker at gmail.com (Dave Crocker)]

Hmmm.  I have a vague recollection of hearing that the Irvine Ring had some sort 
of multicast-ish capability.  Its addressing was based on process table lookup, 
rather than physical interface labels, so this seems a plausible memory.  I note 
that you copied Dave.

That, of course, would pre-date the Arpanet/Internet exploration of multicasting 
by a few years.

d/

On 5/7/2010 10:20 AM, Craig Partridge wrote:
> Hi folks:
>
> I'm trying to nail down when the concept of a "multicast address" came about
> (just a little citation in a larger paper I'm writing).
>
> In 1976 in the original Ethernet paper, there was unicast and broadcast.
>
> In 1978, in their survey of local networks, Clark, Pogran and Reed mention
> in passing that Mockapetris is playing around with bit wildcarding that
> permits multiple addressees using one address.
>
> In the 1980 Ethernet specification there are Ethernet multicast addresses as we
> know them today.
>
> Digging a bit deeper from references in later papers, it appears that
> Mockapetris, Lyle and Farber may have proposed a form of multicasting in 1977
> (IFIP Congress paper of August 1977 that I don't have).
>
> That suggests that someone saw the Mockapetris-Lyle-Farber idea, simplified it
> and put it into the 1980 Ethernet standard (where it sat unused for several
> years...).  But I can find no trail... Anyone got insights?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Craig
>

-- 

   Dave Crocker
   Brandenburg InternetWorking
   bbiw.net