Digex – At the dawn of the commercial Internet

1. Digex – At the dawn of the commercial Internet Doug Mohney Digex Employee #10 – October 1993 DEFCON 12 – 31 July 2004, 11:00

2. What will I cover? • Digex history circa ’93-’94 • Internet history • Infrastructure then and now • First commercial web servers/service • mtv.com • cia.gov • peta.org (later, ’96ish)

3. Why should you care? • “Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it…” • Basement startup in 1991 – Literally! • IPO’ed in 1996, bought in 1997 • IPO’ed AGAIN in 1999 • Bought by WorldCom for billions before dot.bomb hit • History starting to repeat with WISPs…

4. Digex Significant (early) Contributions • First commercial server hosting biz! • mtv.com – 1st entertainment web server • The Al Gore Gold Rush • cpsc.gov • cia.gov • peta.org

5. Digex’s founders • Doug Humphrey • Digex on MIT time-share in ’80s • UMD, WATS80, Defcon • Tandem engineer • Mike Doughney • UMD, WMUC radio • WorldCom IDB satellite engineer • Gulf War I, got home, quit • Wanna-be programmer • mtd.com, peta.org, Internet name rights

6. Have you seen this man?(picture via Google)

7. Digex Supporting Characters • Rob “RS” Seastrom • Provided hardware, brought up 1st dial-up system • Later - 1st commercial Net connection in Japan • Rob “Strat” Stratton • Provided first e-mail build, guru on concepts • Went on to UUNet, Wheel Group, In-Q-Tel • Richard Butler • Provided personal credit, tie-breaker

8. Digex - Pre’93 • Incorporated 1990 • Was going to be a e-mail “exchange” • Everyone was an island: AOL, MCI, Compu$erve, Genie, etc…. • Internet dial-up biz started as a sideline • Need to generate some cash to pay the bills.. • First users in Sept 91, 6 phone lines • By end of 1993, 2000+ users, 100+ lines, leased line customers, dedicated SLIP/PPP, web hosting

9. Above the Chinese Restaurant (As the Gods Intended) - 1993-1994

10. 28.8Kbps modem T-3 (45Mbps) – ANS T3 delivered on fiber Fiber rare, but growing 623 web servers What’s a web page? Pentium Windows 3.1/95 Edu/NSFNet fading out Wired “In,” new Few homes had 2nd phone lines DSL, cable, 56Kbps OC-48, OC-192/10Gbs Get T3 on copper pairs.. Fiber to Home (almost) 46 million web servers Grandma’s got a web site P4, AMD-64 Linux, Windows XP All commercial Wired mainstream Most homes ditching 2nd lines for cell phones, broadband Now and then – ’94 vs ‘04

11. Infrastructure snapshot – ‘93 • NSFNet, run by ANS – The "Backbone" • T3 high-speed network • ANS received permission to sell commercial as part of transfer of network ops out of gov’t • T1 was Big Deal • PSInet, UUnet had nat’l T1 backbones • DIGEX got a T1 backdoor deal from ANS • Diamond mine program – seed program • “Free” T1 for 12 months, then pay • Fit in with Digex general rule #1 – “If you want to do business with us, you have to give us something for free.”

12. Two key characters in ’93 • Ed Kern • One-time doorman for 9:30 Club in DC and ??? • Got attention by bitching. Ended up with root and a job • Wore sweats, Birkenstocks, rain or shine, snow or summer. • Fuck a major vocabulary word • Dave McGuire • Systems programmer & hardware savant • Engineered hardware for 1st commercial web server

13. Ed and Dave

14. Digex in 1993 • October 10 people, December nearly 20 • RBOCs (ILECs now) didn’t Get It. • Had to force Bell Atlantic's hand to get fiber • No fiber, no mass dial-tone, no T3s • Maxed out all copper in Greenbelt – 40 dial-up lines • Local residents couldn’t get 2nd lines • Digex get substandard cruddy lines that were “marginal” • Placed 80 line order • Sales rep happy, BA engineers not! • Small bus – Only sold handful of lines/year • Our rep getting T1, 56K, 10s of lines per month • No “thank you” notes from the RBOCs… • Internet popularity drove 2nd/3rd lines into households

15. 1993 – DC’s competition • PSINet • Held NYSERNet for ransom • UUNet – 20-30 people • Started as non-profit to distribute software • Everyone wanted to “be” UUNet • SURANet • Regional power, University consortium • U of Maryland trick horse

16. First commercial server hosting • Summer of ‘93 • People wanted net presence, not the overhead • Outsource mgmt – No telco, Unix, network! • Hardware hack Sun 3/60 workstation board in VME chassis – All Dave McGuire • Fit 12 boards into chassis, Ethernet boot, disk access • According to Sun "Couldn't be done“ • 3/60 boards cheap, Sun dumping • Better than dumpster diving • Presaged “blades” – Density, fewer plugs, no shelves

17. Why good? • PSI & UUNet focused on pipes • Web hosting ("Private domains") for people that didn't want to dork with UNIX • Generate a lot of traffic, leverage for future • Settlements (if they came)  peering • Destination, place to be • Make money! • Low cost of setup, low overhead

18. Initial customers • ALAWASH.org – VERY first paying host • American Librarian Association – They wanted user@alawash.org e-mail • At that time, “World Wide What?” • MTV.COM • Very first entertainment host on the Net • Freaked the Net Purists out

19. Adam Curry – The Internet Cassandra

20. Adam Curry: Net pioneer (!?!) • M-TV VJ, Friday top 20 Video Countdown • Closet geek: account on Panix • “Cybersleaze” gossip column • Done via .PLAN, dragged PANIX to its knees • PANIX told him to take a hike; go talk to.... • Adam Curry’s AmEx information – Priceless  • Curry got mtv.com from Viacom • Viacom wanted pay-per-view model • Agreed to “Experiment”

21. mtv.com early days • Academic Uber-Geeks were afraid of "commercialism“ corrupting the purity of the Internet • Initial probing of userIDs Bevis & Butthead • First day had 50,000 hits • Became one of the most popular site on the Net at the time • Ultimately put Digex among top traffic-movers on the Net (#5; Walnut CD Unix dist #1)

22. Curry – A man before his time • WALKED OFF HIS MTV VJ JOB FOR THE NET! • “There are no secrets, only information you don't yet have.” – Adam Curry’s blog site • Cassandra of the Internet • Music on-line, intellectual property rights • Nobody paid much attention… until later • Ultimately Viacom got back mtv.com domain • Lawsuit, threats, threats, blah-blah • Made gobs of money, moved to Amsterdam, married model, lives happily ever after • www.curry.com –one of the few blogs worth reading

23. The Al Gore Gold Rush • Gore not "father" of Internet, but • “Reinventing Government” • Exec. branch agencies on Internet by fall of ’94. • Rush to get ‘Net presence over summer • (Fed FY closes 30 Sept, if I recall..) • Big windfall for young Internet companies • Digex got-- • cpsc.gov • cia.gov

24. cia.gov • Agency didn’t want to be (officially) hooked • Whois implied they had a T1 via UUNet, ANS(?) • Web site would be a hot target • Some (not lots) Old Guard vs New Guard • DID want a presence to get Al off their back • Outsourcing the most logical solution • DIGEX only game in town – everyone else did not comprehend server hosting • Sun 4 server • Security - "Air gap the size of the Beltway.“

25. Mike Doughney (Left, not right)

26. peta.org – Mike Doughney’s crusade (well, one of them) • Mike was bored towards end (95-97), registered mtd.com, peta.org domains • Set up peta.org • People Eating Tasty Animals! • PETA got upset, sued Mike • Multiyear battle, ultimately got peta.org • Vegan Hypocrites! • Beef.com this year spoofing beef.org • PETA has lots (70+?) parody domains

27. Where did DIGEX go from there? • IPO in 1996 • Sold to Intermedia Communications in 1997 for $150 million cash – 600+employees • Split into leased line, web server units • Web server unit re-IPOed in 1999 • Intermedia sold to WorldCom for $5 billion • Pieces tossed for Digex

28. Digex Chains of ownership • Leased line group • Digex --> Intermedia/Digex --> Allegiance Telecom --> XO Communications • Server group • Digex -> Intermedia/Digex -> Digex(IPO) -> WorldCom/MCI

29. Digex, MCI’s property 2004

30. Where are they now? • Humphrey • Has own SS-7, surplus RN patrol boat • Batz Maru “One hundred feet of British Steel” • Doughney • Stalking “Christian cults” around the country • Kern • Cisco, was at Cogent for 5 seconds • McGuire • Freelance consulting

31. Digex - The book? • Maybe fall 2004, VON Publishing • Cover history from 1990ish - end of 1997, including: • VC rounds, (First) IPO process • Acquisition by Intermedia Communications • Era from 1997-2004 not covered (another project): • Very complex, soap opera of ownership • Intermedia shuffled in Fagan, Shull to head web host Digex • Second Digex IPO in 1999; but 60% owned by Intermedia • “Independent” but not really…. • WorldCom/Bernie Ebbers wanted Digex • Ultimately bought Intermedia for $5 billion, threw away pieces of Intermedia to keep the web biz. • And we all know what happened to Bernie…

32. A “party” favor • Pictures of Digex Christmas Party 1996 • I did not take them, I did not post them, I am not responsible for their content or electronic publication. • Pictures taken by non-Digex employee • Guest with camera – Hmm…lessons learned, anyone? • Posted on web site in Sweden • http://www.lysator.liu.se/~lien/xparty1.html • URL posted on Orkut/Google forum • Public posting of URL, so it’s in the “domain”

33. Personal whoring • VON Magazine • www.vonmag.com • Will ultimately have pointer to published Digex history • Infrastructure, security, some VoIP, Cap Hill & FCC • The Inquirer (UK) • www.theinquirer.net • Security, Internet history, whatever I can sneak by • Mobile Radio Technology • Wireless, Wi-Fi, FCC, new RF to play with

34. The End Thank you, thank you very much…