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BBN became bigger during the 1950s. The partnership moved from the rented rooms at MIT to another office and eventually occupied a three storey building in Cambridge. Because of the rapid growth of the partnership, BBN was incorporated in 1953. Beranek resigned from MIT and served as Chairman and CEO of the company.  In 1957, '''[[J.C.R. Licklider]]''' joined the company as vice president and head psychoacoustics, engineering psychology and information systems research departments. In 1958, he encouraged Beranek to buy a computer. Althought at the time he doesn't know what to do with the computer, he told Beranek  that the company needs to get into the computer business to become famous and they need to learn what they can do to the computer. BBN purchased its first computer (LPG-30) worth $30,000 from Royal McBee company. The company had five research divisions including acoustics, life and information sciences, noise control, applied physics. Two of the division were involved in digital computing. Some of BBN's significant discoveries during the period include the voice masking for privacy, muffling system for Boeing aircraft which reduced the noise cause by the propeller by 15 decibels, structural dumping and the development of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) program for pattern recognition. <ref>[http://www.bbn.com/about/timeline/ Timeline- 1950s]</ref> <ref>[http://mit.edu/6.933/www/Fall2001/BBN.pdf Bolt, Beranek and Newman Inc. A Case History of Transition, Section 2: 1948-1957:The Early Years of BBN]</ref>

BBN became bigger during the 1950s. The partnership moved from the rented rooms at MIT to another office and eventually occupied a three storey building in Cambridge. Because of the rapid growth of the partnership, BBN was incorporated in 1953. Beranek resigned from MIT and served as Chairman and CEO of the company.  In 1957, '''[[J.C.R. Licklider]]''' joined the company as vice president and head psychoacoustics, engineering psychology and information systems research departments. In 1958, he encouraged Beranek to buy a computer. Althought at the time he doesn't know what to do with the computer, he told Beranek  that the company needs to get into the computer business to become famous and they need to learn what they can do to the computer. BBN purchased its first computer (LPG-30) worth $30,000 from Royal McBee company. The company had five research divisions including acoustics, life and information sciences, noise control, applied physics. Two of the division were involved in digital computing. Some of BBN's significant discoveries during the period include the voice masking for privacy, muffling system for Boeing aircraft which reduced the noise cause by the propeller by 15 decibels, structural dumping and the development of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) program for pattern recognition. <ref>[http://www.bbn.com/about/timeline/ Timeline- 1950s]</ref> <ref>[http://mit.edu/6.933/www/Fall2001/BBN.pdf Bolt, Beranek and Newman Inc. A Case History of Transition, Section 2: 1948-1957:The Early Years of BBN]</ref>

==Entry to the Computing Research==

==BBN's Entry in Computing Research==

In 1961, BBN suffered a major setback when the specifications for the acoustic design of the Philharmonic Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York was not implemented by the architect. BBN spent millions of dollars and it took the company three years to modify the acoustic design of the hall. That particular contract damaged the reputation of the company. Beranek decided to redirect the company and engaged in other areas of research development. Licklider perceived the opportunity to push his vision in computing research.<ref>[http://mit.edu/6.933/www/Fall2001/BBN.pdf Section Four: 1957-1962: J.C.R. Licklider at BBN]</ref> With Beranek's support, Licklider lead a group of computer researchers in pursuing time sharing using his paper entitled "Man-Computer Symbiosis" as guide that was published in 1960.His group developed and performed the first public demonstration of computer time sharing using the PDP-1 computer, which was purchased by BBN from Digital Equipment Corporation ([[DEC]]). The development of time sharing led the company to pursue further research in network computing and created applications such as debugging, computer calculations and text editing. BBN hired John Swets to take over the computer research projects of Licklider when he left the company to serve as head of the Behavioral Sciences Office and the Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO) of the  Advanced Projects Research Agency ([[ARPA]])on October 1962. BBN's computer research department flourished and hired more than 600 computer experts by 1968. During that time, the company's computer research department was working in three areas including artificial intelligence, computer graphics and computer systems. <ref>[http://mit.edu/6.933/www/Fall2001/BBN.pdf Section Five: 1960 – 1962: Time Sharing]</ref> <ref>[http://memex.org/licklider.pdf In Memoriam: J.C.R. Licklider]</ref>

In 1961, BBN suffered a major setback when the specifications for the acoustic design of the Philharmonic Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York was not implemented by the architect. BBN spent millions of dollars and it took the company three years to modify the acoustic design of the hall. BBN's reputation in acoustical design was damaged by the contract. Beranek decided to redirect the company and engaged in other areas of research development. Licklider took the opportunity to push his vision in computing research.<ref>[http://mit.edu/6.933/www/Fall2001/BBN.pdf Section Four: 1957-1962: J.C.R. Licklider at BBN]</ref> With Beranek's support, Licklider lead a group of computer researchers in pursuing time sharing using his paper entitled "Man-Computer Symbiosis" as guide that was published in 1960.His group developed and performed the first public demonstration of computer time sharing using the PDP-1 computer, which was purchased by BBN from Digital Equipment Corporation ([[DEC]]). The development of time sharing led the company to pursue further research in network computing and created applications such as debugging, computer calculations and text editing. BBN hired John Swets to take over the computer research projects of Licklider when he left the company to serve as head of the Behavioral Sciences Office and the Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO) of the  Advanced Projects Research Agency ([[ARPA]])on October 1962. BBN's computer research department flourished and hired more than 600 computer experts by 1968. During that time, the company's computer research department was working in three areas including artificial intelligence, computer graphics and computer systems. <ref>[http://mit.edu/6.933/www/Fall2001/BBN.pdf Section Five: 1960 – 1962: Time Sharing]</ref> <ref>[http://memex.org/licklider.pdf In Memoriam: J.C.R. Licklider]</ref>

 

The ARPANET was a project of the [[IPTO]] funded by the Defense Advance Research Agency ([[DARPA]]) which evolved as the internet today. The plan for the ARPANET was developed by Licklider during his tenure as Director of the agency from 1962 to 1964. Licklider envisioned a universal network.<ref>[http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ii_licklider.htm J.C.R. Licklider And The Universal Network]</ref> Inspired by this vision, his successors [[Ivan Sutherland]] and [[Robert Taylor]] both served as IPTO director and [[Lawrence Roberts]] who served as ARPANET program manager pushed for the development of wide area communications network.<ref>[http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ii_roberts.htm Lawrence Roberts Manages The ARPANET Program]</ref> In 1969, IPTO awarded BBN the contract to develop Interface Message Processors for 140 companies. The BBN team was led by Frank Heart  with [[Boh Kahn]], a communications theoretician expert in error control and identifying problems related with sending data over the telephone lines; '''Dave Walden''', a programmer expert in real time systems; '''Bernie Cosell''', a debugger; '''Severo Ornstein'', hardware expert; and '''Will Crowther''', a programmer expert in creating complex code.<ref>[http://www.bbn.com/about/timeline/arpanet The Arpanet Forerunner of Today's Internet]</ref>

==References==

==References==

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