Ritu Jha–
Indian-origin computer scientist Abhay Bhushan, the author of the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) who played a significant role in the development of the Internet by pioneering early architecture models that influenced Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and early e-mail standards, has been selected for the 2023 Internet Hall of Fame.
Bhushan spoke to indica about his journey that has shaped the Internet and inspired many.
“There were a number of honorees and they were looking at many categories. One was the Internet pioneers who helped create the Internet. The other was people who are expanding the Internet in different countries,” Bhushan said. “I was selected for the FTP and the early architecture of TCP IP and the email standards that I put in. That was back in the 1970s when I was at MIT before I joined Xerox.”
Apart from FTP and Computer Communications, Bhushan has his heart set on helping people.
“I took a year off during 1978-79 and spent the time working in villages of India. My heart has been set on trying to help people and that’s why I love the Internet and the vision of the Internet Society that gives the Hall of Fame awards. The Internet Society’s vision is to make the Internet accessible to everybody. That’s why they honor people who are making the Internet accessible in the poorest of the regions, like in the villages of Nepal, and India. And, what that does is it makes knowledge free. It helps in the democratization of information like the cell phone has made life for the poor guy in India so much easier because it gave them access to information that was controlled, and that became a source of power,” he said.
When Bhushan started walking this path that made him one of the pioneers of the Internet, there were no computer labs or computer departments. “Then there was no computer department or computer science, there was electrical engineering in all academic institutes. Computer science originated from the electrical engineering departments in every place like UC Berkeley, MIT, and the IITs.”
Recalling the days when he was developing the FTP, Bhushan said: “I wrote many papers. I worked with a great group of people — the first network working group that started connecting computers, building hardware, and developing software, and protocols. It was exciting work.”
Was he aware then that he was scripting Internet history, or that it would be a huge industry by itself? “Of course, we were aware and we were planning to do the things we knew that the computers needed to be connected, that the communication had to go in information packets. Computer networking was the way of the future. But we did not expect commercial use, all the websites being used for commercial purposes like ordering products, buying goods and services, and business-to-business, business-to-consumer transactions. All this came later, and that started the World Wide Web. And that’s fueled the growth because once the commercial thing starts, there are a lot of funds. But initial funds came from the government,” he said.
“The ultimate vision of the FTP was to make it possible so that the world’s information can be accessed from any one point. That means suppose you wanted a file that was residing somewhere else, you could easily get it. For instance, right now you search on the Internet, and you can access information that may be stored somewhere else in India, or in some other country. Internet search engines like Google used FTP, but now other tools have come in. So, FTP evolved up to a point but now gigabytes of information are being changed. I think FTP has come to the end of its life now, after 50 years,” Bhushan added.
“When I started looking for a job, I wanted to go into an industry that nobody understood. They told me, ‘What is computer communication? We understand communication, but we don’t understand computer communication or networking.’ They thought computers would be standalone. Even IBM didn’t believe in PCs, they believed in central computers and terminals. The first PC started in the mid-70s but a lot of things needed to develop. Like the hardware had to become cheaper, the network had to be faster,” Bhushan said while recounting his early days in his interview with indica.
“At that time, the largest computers had a core memory of two megabytes, or six megabytes, or ten megabytes. That was considered a big computer. Right now, computers and even PCs have gigabytes of memory, not megabytes. Back then computers’ input-output was through terminals or through paper tape, and magnetic tapes. So, we had to be very efficient in our design because computer processing and speed were slow.”
While a PhD student, building the FTP and Internet protocols took precedence for him. “I was doing a dissertation for the PhD on resource sharing networks, but the thesis committee didn’t expect it, so my boss asked me whether I needed to get a PhD. I said, no, so they gave me a research staff job in 1971, which paid me three times as much, and then I had two kids. So, I said, I’ll do that and did an MBA course instead. I wanted to build things as opposed to work on theoretical subjects, and the PhD would need me to work on theoretical computer languages and related things, which I didn’t want to do. I decided to work and build, which was the right decision, because at that time, building the standards and protocols and connecting the computers became more important. And it was one of the pioneer things at that time.”
“There were a number of driven young men in their early to mid-20s in 1967, and 1969. I was 25 and was the chair of all the applications for FTP and I was pushing the applications. We all participated in building the early architecture of how computers would be connected, and communicate with each other. It was wonderful because I got to see the US, we had meetings all over – in Colorado, California, Illinois, and different research centers. We would have our network working group meetings in Washington DC. It was a lot of fun and all I can say is I didn’t consider it a job. I was having fun,” he added.
Talking about the many patents he has to his name, Bhushan said: “So much has happened in the last 50 years. After the first version of FTP, I wrote many subsequent versions. And, then in 74, I left MIT to work on Xerox and its network systems. Xerox was a pioneer at that time with all the ethernet windows, workstations, and the Xerox Network Systems (XNS). And then Xerox got out of that business in the late 80s. We had all the technology, but the management didn’t believe in it. They didn’t believe that networks and PCs would be important. Back then there were people like Ken Olson, who started Digital Equipment Corporation. He said there’ll be no need for a PC. It’ll be all mini computers and terminals connected to it. That’s what he brought and that’s what he believed in. And many of us thought differently and we worked on that idea and helped create it.”
“Mahatma Gandhi’s vision was to decentralize the power. Charkha was his instrument of decentralization of production. The PC is an instrument of decentralization of processing power and information. And the mobile phone also, it democratizes. Even the poorest guys, domestic servants in the cities, and villagers have cell phones now. And they’re able to get the latest prices of products.”
Bhushan says that while the Internet has changed a lot of things, it has also disrupted. “It’s a disruptive technology. I feel sad for the smaller businesses because online companies like Amazon are driving them out of business. The bookstores, which I used to love, and some of the other stores too. But that’s the commercial aspect that we didn’t think of while building the Internet. The commercial aspect has disadvantages. It fuses growth and makes things easier, but it’s also disruptive for people who are expanding. Now with Artificial Intelligence and virtual reality, I don’t know what the future holds, sometimes it seems very scary. But the one important thing that we should note is things that are easy for human beings are very difficult for AI. Simple tasks, that we do at home, and take for granted are difficult for the AI. While big, complex tasks are easy for AI. So, there’s a symbiosis that can happen but it has to be managed. Then there’s a whole scenario of rogue AI and how does the network contribute to it?”
Bhushan believes that making technology open-source and available to the people is the way ahead. “AI was there when I was at MIT in the 70s but it was a much more primitive stage than it is now. XNS, which I worked on, was actually a much better system, but they didn’t make it public. You have to make it free, public and available, open source. Open source becomes the driving force because everybody is participating in the development and it’s the power of people.”
Talking about AI he said: “The network and AI in many ways, share some common things. They don’t exist in isolation. Network enables things and things are built with the Internet as the foundation. Like Amazon could not exist without the Internet. The AI applications and related things are built on top of it because the information that AI depends upon is sourced from the network. And, the usage of AI, like even Chat GPT or people who are doing that, use the network. The Internet is the base of the rest.”
Indian-origin computer scientist and FTP pioneer Abhay Bhushan inducted into Internet Hall of Fame
