Oral history interview with Gérard Le Lann by Andrew L. Russell

Abstract

Gérard Le Lann describes his first experiences with computers in the 1960s, and his work on the Cyclades project in France and the Arpanet in the United States in the 1970s. He explains how the field of distributed computing came into being in the 1970s, the conflict between the respective advocates of “datagrams” and “virtual circuits,” and his collaboration with Vint Cerf and Arpanet designers at Stanford University. The interview concludes with some reflections on the management of innovation in France and the United States.

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.”