Date: Fri, 15 Sep 200614:12:31 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Simon S. Lam" <>
To: "Triebel, Lindsey" <>
cc: "Simon S. Lam" <>
Subject: RE: Interview in Addison-Wesley Textbook
Lindsey,
After looking over my interview, I have changed just one sentence in
my brief bio (see below). Note that only the third sentence has been
changed. I have no other change, and will not change my photo.
Thanks.
Simon
Bio
Simon S. Lam is Professor and Regents Chair in Computer Sciences at the
University of Texas at Austin. From 1971 to 1974, he was with the ARPA
NetworkMeasurementCenter at UCLA where he worked on satellite and radio
packet switching. He led a research group that invented secure sockets
and prototyped, in 1993, the first secure sockets layer named Secure
Network Programming, which won the 2004 ACM Software System Award. His
research interests are in design and analysis of network protocols and
security services. He received his BSEE from WashingtonStateUniversity
and his MS and Ph.D. from UCLA.
On Thu, 14 Sep 2006, Triebel, Lindsey wrote:
> Hi Dr. Lam:
> Thanks for agreeing to update your interview for the new edition of
> Computer Networking! We are very excited to include your interview in
> the 4th edition.
> Please send me your changes and new photo (if you would like to submit
> one) via email. Since the interview is on a two page spread, the
> character count for the biography and interview can not exceed the
> length that it was in your third edition interview.
> Thank you. I look forward to hearing from you!
> Best regards,
> Lindsey Triebel
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Simon S. Lam [mailto:
> Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 20061:48 PM
> To: Triebel, Lindsey
> Cc:
> Subject: Re: Interview in Addison-Wesley Textbook
> Lindsey,
> Thanks. I will take a look and let you know if there are any changes.
> I have a copy of the book.
> Simon Lam
> < Dear Dr. Lam:=20
> < A few years ago you agreed to be interviewed for Addison-Wesley's
> < computer science textbook, Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach
> < Featuring the Internet by James Kurose and Keith Ross. The interview
> was
> < a great addition to the textbook and we're planning to include it in
> our
> < new edition which is currently in production. I'm writing to see if
> you
> < would like to modify your interview since some of your responses may
> < have changed over the past few years. Also, I would like to confirm
> that
> < the biography we have is up-to-date.
> < If you'd like to modify your interview, biography, and photo please
> let
> < me know as soon as possible. We'd need your changes within the next
> week
> < or so. I can either send you a PDF of the interview and then you can
> let
> < me know your changes via email or I can send you a copy of the book
> and
> < you can send me your changes via email.=20
> < Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.
> < Best regards,
> < =20
> < =20
> < Lindsey Triebel
> < Assistant Editor
> < Addison-Wesley
75 Arlington Street, Suite 300
Boston, MA02116
> < (617) 848-7519
Note: Section 5 and 6 not used in book, 2006 revision in red (only one sentence)
December 18, 2003
Hi Simon,
Please review the questions below. Take your time with these, and don't be afraid to elaborate on any issues you feel are beneficial to Networking students. I would like to have the interview finished by the end of January, but I envision having more questions for you after we get through this first round. So if it's possible, please try to get the first round to me by January 23, 2004. Thanks again for participating!
Beth Paquin
Brief Bio (Please include a brief bio indicating what your networking background is, as well as what you’re currently working on in the networking field.):
Simon S. Lam is Professor and Regents Chair in Computer Sciences at theUniversity of Texas at Austin. From 1971 to 1974, he was with the ARPANetworkMeasurementCenter at UCLA where he worked on satellite and radio packet switching. He led a research group that invented secure sockets and prototyped,in 1993,the first secure sockets layernamed Secure Network Programming, which won the 2004 ACM Software System Award. His research interests are in design and analysis of network protocols and security services. He received his BSEE from WashingtonStateUniversity and his MS and Ph.D. from UCLA.
1.Why did you decide to specialize in networking?
When I arrived at UCLA as a new graduate student in Fall 1969, my intention was to study control theory. ThenI took the queueing theory classes ofLeonard Kleinrock and was very impressed by him. For a while, I was working on adaptive control of queueing systems as a possible thesis topic. In early 1972, Larry Roberts initiated the ARPANET Satellite System project (later called Packet Satellite). Professor Kleinrock asked me to join the project. The first thing we did was tointroduce asimple, yet realistic, backoff algorithmto the slotted Aloha protocol. Shortly thereafter, I found many interesting research problems, such as Aloha’s instability problem and need for adaptive backoff, which would form the core of my thesis.
2.You were active in the early days of the Internet in the 1970's, beginning with your student days at UCLA. What was it like then? Did people have any inkling of what the Internet would become?
The atmosphere was really no different from other system-building projects I have seen in industry and academia. The initially stated goal of the ARPANET was fairly modest, i.e., to provide access to expensive computers from remote locations so that many more scientists can use them. However, with the startup of the Packet Satellite project in 1972 and the Packet Radio project in 1973, ARPA’s goal had expanded substantially. By 1973, ARPA was building three different packet networks at the same time and it became necessary for Vint Cerf and Bob Kahnto develop an interconnection strategy.
Back then, all of these progressive developments in networking were viewed (I believe) as logical rather than magical. No one could have envisioned the scale of the Internet and power of personal computers today. It was a decade before appearance of the first PCs. To put things in perspective, most students submitted their computer programs as decks of punched cards for batch processing. Only some students had direct access to computerswhich were typically housed in a restricted area. Modems were slow and still a rarity. As a graduate student, there was only a phone on my desk and I used pencil and paper to do most of my work.
3.Where do you see the field of networking, and the Internet, heading in the future?
In the past, the simplicity of Internet’s IP protocol was its greatest strength in vanquishing competition and becoming the de facto standard for internetworking. Unlike competitors, such as X25 in the 1980s and ATM in the 1990s, IP can run on top of any link-layer networking technology because it offers only a best-effort datagram service. Thus any packet network can connect to the Internet.
Unfortunately, IP’s greatest strength is now a shortcoming. IP islike a straitjacket that confines the Internet’s development to specific directions. The IP layer is too economically importantto tinker with to support new functionalities, such as multicast and QoS. In recent years, many researchers have redirected their efforts to the application and transport layers for multicast and QoS support. Most of the other current Internet research topics, such as security and P2P systems, involve the application layer only. There is also a great deal of research on wireless ad hoc networks, sensor networks, and satellite networks. These networks can be viewed either as standalone systems or link-layer systems, which can flourish because they are outside of the IP straitjacket.
Many people are excited about the possibility of P2P systems as a platform for novel Internet applications. However, P2P systems are highly inefficient in their use of Internet resources. A concern of mine is whether the transmission and switching capacity of the Internet core will continue to increase faster than the traffic demandon the Internet as it grows to interconnect all kinds of devices and support future P2P-enabled applications. Without substantial overprovisioning of capacity,ensuring network stability in the presence of malicious attacks and congestions would be a major task.
4.What is the most challenging part of your job?
The most challenging part of my job as a professor is teaching and motivatingevery student in my class, and every doctoral student under my supervision, rather than just the high achievers. The very bright and motivated may require a little guidance but not much else. I often learn more from these students than they learn from me. Educatingand motivating the underachievers present a major challenge.
5.What people have inspired you professionally?
As a graduate student, I was inspired by Leonard Kleinrock and Norman Abramson. Each came up with an unconventional idea that subsequently had great impact. Kleinrock conceived the idea of packet switching in store-and-forward networks, the conceptual basis of the Internet. Abramson conceived the idea of random access in a broadcast channel, the conceptual basis of Ethernet and wireless LANs.
I am also inspired by the persistence of Vint Cerf and (the late) Jon Postel, my fellow students at UCLA, who worked on the original ARPANET in 1969 and then kept working on Internet issues for decades until the Internet became the huge success it is today.
6.What are some of the impacts you have seen technology have on learning?
When I was a graduate student, I spent a lot of time in the library reading research articles in journals and conference proceedings. Nowadays, almost all research articles are available online for download before they are even published. Such rapid dissemination of research results speeds up the research process dramatically.
Classroom teaching is now facilitated by PowerPoint presentations, class websites, newsgroups, etc. All of these tools make life easier for both teachersand students. These tools however have a downside. I am sure that students are more likely to skip class because lectures and assignments are available on the class website than otherwise. Unfortunately, viewing lecture slides is generally notan adequate substitute for attending a lecture in person. Even for students who attend lectures, some do not take notes any more and tend to be more passive as a result. On the other hand, as a teacher,I need to remind myself often that it is not sufficient to have prepared a comprehensive set of lecture slides. In particular, each idea included in a slide is an idea that still requires my diligence to introduce, motivate, and explain well in class.
7.What impacts do you foresee it having on learning in the future?
Eventually, almost all human knowledge will be accessible through the Internet, which will be the most powerful tool for learning. This vast knowledge base will have the potential of leveling the playing field for students all over the world. For example, motivated students in any country willbe able to access the best class websites, multimedia lectures, and teaching materials. Already, it was said that the IEEE and ACM digital libraries have accelerated the development of computer science researchers in China. In time, the Internet will transcend all geographic barriers to learning.