Interviewed by David C. Brock and and Marc Weber on 2019-09-20 in Mountain View, CA
© Computer History Museum
In this first segment of her three part oral history interview, networking pioneer and entrepreneur Judy Estrin discusses her youth, education, and early career. She begins by reviewing the stories of her parents, early computing contributors Drs. Thelma and Gerard Estrin. Judy Estrin was born in Israel when her parents were creating WEIZAC, the first electronic digital computer there.
Her family then moved to Los Angeles, where her parents became faculty at UCLA. Estrin recollects growing up on the UCLA campus, the character of her parents and household, and her exposure to computing. She reviews her undergraduate studies at UCLA, and her decision to pursue a master’s at Stanford in computing in the group of her father’s former student, Vint Cerf. At Stanford, Estrin describes her involvement with networking technology, particularly the Transfer Control Protocol, TCP, within Cerf’s group.
She discusses her decision to join Zilog, and its efforts in Ethernet and local area networking, as well as the connections between Zilog and Xerox PARC. Estrin reviews her activities at Zilog, the development of its networking efforts, and the trajectory of the firm overall. She discusses her early association with Bill Carrico at Zilog, who would become her professional and personal partner. Estrin details the spin-off of the networking company Ungermann-Bass from Zilog, and her subsequent brief tenure with the firm.
She discusses her path to the formation of the networking start-up Bridge Communications with Carrico, and the general context for networking technology at the time. The interview concludes with Estrin’s discussion of the early organization, technology, strategy, and customers for Bridge.
* Note: Transcripts represent what was said in the interview. However, to enhance meaning or add clarification, interviewees have the opportunity to modify this text afterward. This may result in discrepancies between the transcript and the video. Please refer to the transcript for further information - www.computerhi...
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Catalog Number: 102795140
Acquisition Number: X9156.2020
1 окт 2024
