Oral history interview with Louis Pouzin by Andrew L. Russell

Abstract

Louis Pouzin reflects upon his career in computing, and particularly his experience as the director of the Cyclades datagram packet-switching research project in the 1970s. Pouzin describes his experiences working in French companies such as Bull and Simca, the French weather bureau, and his time at MIT in the early 1960s. He explains the origins of the Cyclades project, the creation of a harmonious team of workers, their interactions with French, British, and American counterparts, and the political factors behind the eventual demise of Cyclades in the late 1970s. Finally, he reflects on his career after Cyclades, including standardization projects at CNET and the awards that he has received for his contributions to computer networking.

This set of nine interviews conducted with Tilly Bayard-Richard, Najah Naffah, Louis Pouzin, Marc E. Levilion, Michel Gien, Jean-Louis Grangé, Gérard Le Lann, Rémi Després, and André Danthine was funded by the ACM History Committee with a fellowship on “European Contributions to Computer Networks: An Oral History Project.”