08/27/2026
50 years of internetworking!
On August 27, 1976, Don Nielson and his team from SRI conducted a pioneering mobile network test at the Alpine Inn Beer Garden (aka Rossotti's, aka Zott’s) in Portola Valley, California, connecting a van to the ARPANET.
By transmitting data via radio from a picnic table to the SRI office and on to Boston, this experiment demonstrated the viability of mobile, wireless networking.
Below is an image of the earliest connections.