Governance Choice - A Simulation Model

Abstract

An electrical engineer in training, Paul Baran joined the RAND Corporation in 1959. While working at RAND on a scheme for U.S. telecommunications infrastructure to survive a “first strike,” he conceived of the Internet and digital packet switching, the Internet’s underlying data communications technology. Using minicomputer technology of the day, Baran (1964) demonstrated in a simulation suite that a distributed packet switched communications network can better withstand massive destruction to individual components than centralized or decentralized networks. Baran’s conceptual drawings in Figure 14.1 serve as a vivid example of the distinctly different network patterns under centralized versus decentralized control.