On Saturday morning we reached a historic landmark. The 12th of November marked the twentieth anniversary of Internet access in South Africa, and in Sub-Saharan Africa, and all of this began at Rhodes.
The Internet is a phenomenon that's defining a generation. Some argue that it is the single most important advancement since the industrial revolution.
It's part of every day life; it has changed the way we work and play; it is ubiquitous. Yet, hard as it is to believe, the Internet is no more than a couple of decades old.
It all began on 12 November 1991. At 10:44AM the first IP "ping" packet passed between Rhodes University's computing centre and the home of Randy Bush in Portland, Oregon. This connection, mired in the politics of sanctions, was incredibly important -- it provided academic staff with a means to communicate, in near real time, with their counterparts working at universities throughout the world which made it easier for South African researchers to compete on a world stage. As a result of the University's existing links to other South African 'varsities, Rhodes was, for a brief while, the hub of all Internet traffic in Southern Africa.
Mike Lawrie, then director of Rhodes' computing centre (now the IT Division), went on to drive Internet access in South African higher education and is widely regarded as the "father" of the Internet in this country. He was also responsible for the now-familiar .za at the end of all South African email addresses and web sites. Randy Bush, whose efforts on the other side of the world made this all possible, was awarded an honorary degree for his contribution by Rhodes in 2002. Both remain actively involved in the Internet community to this day.
Some protagonists are still with Rhodes today: Francois "Jacot" Jacot-Guillarmod, now director of the Information Technology Division, Pat Terry, professor emeritus in Computer Science, and others who were involved behind the scenes.
Thus, on this the twentieth anniversary, it seems appropriate that we stop and reflect for a while. Let us consider a world before the Internet, and how enormously important and influential it is to modern universities (and indeed the world at large). Let us pay tribute to the enormous contribution that these early Internet pioneers made to Rhodes, and South Africa. As Rhodents we should be proud of our University's pivotal role in ushering in the Internet era.
