He knew it was ridiculous – but also realized putting devices online was opening up a whole new world
In 1990, there were 3 million people on the internet. (Today there are 1,000 times that many.) And while there were experiments – such as a “wired” soda machine at Carnegie Mellon University – there were no smart devices online, at least not as we think of them today. It was an internet of no things. (Today there are 7 billion – not including computers and mobile devices.)
This is the story of the internet’s first thing, its secret enemies, its precious limited resources, and its long-term legacy. This is the story of John Romkey and the Sunbeam Deluxe Automatic Radiant Control toaster, the internet’s first thing.
“It was ridiculous,” says Romkey, an internet pioneer who co-authored the first set of communications protocols allowing IBM computers to connect to the early internet in 1982. “That’s one reason we did it.” But there were serious reasons, too. The early Internet of Things has come into historical focus this summer with TOP SECRET, an exhibit at the London Science Museum now featuring cybersecurity and tech history. “It just goes to show people have always enjoyed putting ridiculous things on the internet.” Romkey founded FTP Software in 1986, and his company built an early implementation of the internet protocol stack, TCP/IP. At a 1989 computer trade show called Interop, organizer Dan Lynch challenged him to put a device online and demonstrate it at the next year’s show. Romkey accepted the challenge. “I wanted to show what you could do with existing protocols,” says Romkey, who today con ..
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