In the introduction to his Q&A with ENIAC co-inventor J. Presper Eckert, Alexander Randall wrote, “There are two epochs in computer history: Before ENIAC and After ENIAC.” Dr. Da Hsuan Feng a technology visionary who is Vice President for Research and Economic Development at the University of Texas at Dallas, wrote about the “after ENIAC” nearly ten years ago.

While a physics professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Feng teamed with University of Pennsylvania Physics Professor Robert Hollebeek to launch HUBS, a proposed region-wide super-network connecting area hospitals, universities, businesses and schools.

Feng left Philadelphia before HUBS could take root, but he got a lot of people in the region talking and thinking about what networked computers mean to the region and the world. Following is an excerpt of an e-mail message he sent to HUBS list members that noted the 50th anniversary of ENIAC and the breaking of the “teraflop barrier.”

"The world of computing never ceases to amaze all of us. I guess this is why on the one hand we are all fascinated by it, and on the other truly frightened by how this technology is going to affect all of us, economically, intellectually and even culturally!

Well, here is something to consider.... The world just broke the one teraflops barrier. Yes, this means that [with] this machine, in one second, 12,000,000,000,000 pairs of numbers could be added up!

It is interesting to note that just 50 years ago, the first electronic computer called ENIAC was born in our town. ENIAC could add (hang on to your hat) 360 pairs of numbers every second. A very simple calculation will tell us that if ENIAC could run continuously for one millennium (yes, one thousand years) nonstop, it could do what this machine could do in one second! This is what mankind is able to achieve in 50 years. Do we dare to predict what our world is going to be like in the next 50?" - "Now that we are all comfortable with terabytes, what about teraflops?” HUBS memo, e-mail news list, December 18, 1996

Ten years ago, the World Wide Web was still new to most of us. In May of 1996, my company introduced its first website at the largest trade show serving the process industries. The website drew a crowd to our booth, including the publishers of every major trade magazine, none of whom were yet on the web. Now the web is K-Tron’s single most important communication medium, and I think for all companies the web’s importance has far exceeded anyone’s most optimistic projections.

Ten years ago we didn’t have blogs or podcasts. We didn’t have online communication, and we didn’t have an organization to serve online communicators. On March 23-24, you have an opportunity to join us in Philadelphia (Valley Forge) for IAOC’s first ever conference, “Where Content and Technology Meet.”  You still have time to register online and save $100, plus get a year’s membership--all for $199. Can’t make it to Valley Forge in March? We’re going to do it all again (with different topics and presenters) in Brussels June 15-16.

I have been tardy preparing the outline for the Online Crisis Communications panel at the IAOC Conference in Valley Forge on Friday, March 24. Below is the draft description I am currently circulating. I think the real payoff is going to be the Online Crisis Communications Checklist we are preparing as a handout.

Consider this: NOLA.com -- the web site of the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper (gotta love that name -- almost as descriptive as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer) -- was up and running within 24 hours of Hurricane Katrina's landfall. On the other hand, Tulane University's e-mail server was down for over a month! Do you want to be like NOLA.com or Tulane when some disaster strikes your hometown or place of business? We are going to help you be like NOLA.com. In fact, I'm still negotiating with a true tech hero at NOLA.com to come speak to us in Valley Forge.

One last comment before I share the panel description with you. One reason we need the IAOC is that technology is moving too fast to be scheduled a year in advance. Many major conferences schedule their programming that far ahead, and it takes all the life out of teaching technology. Let's see, one year ago: no Katrina, almost no one heard about Skype, Wikipedia in its infancy, blogging still mostly done by teenage girls, etc. Some conferences are always a year behind. The IAOC won't settle for that (I hope). Sometimes the programming will be assembled at the last minute, but it results in us teaching the hot topics where the learning curve is still steep -- even for the instructors. Can I get an amen? Can I get some conference registrations? Here's the working description of the panel:

Online Crisis Communications
IAOC Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Panel Discussion, Friday, March 24, 2006, 2:00 - 3:15 p.m.

On August 29th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina took a bite out of the U.S. Gulf Coast, including the levees protecting New Orleans. In a matter of hours, virtually all electronic communications in the region came to a halt. Some companies, such as NOLA.com, never missed a beat, providing vital communications links between displaced residents and first responders back home. Other firms, such as Tulane University, were without e-mail for weeks or months. This crisis pointed up the weaknesses in many corporate communications plans -- and the genius in others. This panel will give an overview of what to expect in a communications crisis, using Katrina as an example, while providing participants with a solid plan for protecting their communications from disaster and/or restoring communications in the wake of disaster.

The World's first computer was unveiled in Philadelphia on February 14, 1946. To mark the 60th anniversary of the birth of the modern computer, Computer World's Alexander Randall 5th published a "lost interview" yesterday with ENIAC co-inventor J. Presper Eckert.

The interview was recorded in 1989, when Eckert was 70 years old. It's a great read and debunks a lot of myths (such as ENIAC dimming Philadelphia's lights). It also explains how Philadelphia came to be the birthplace of the computer.

Vacuum Tube Valley
ENIAC contained 18,000 vacuum tubes. All were off the shelf, and Philadelphia was the place to be if you needed tubes. "… in that era," Eckert told Randall, "Philadelphia was 'Vacuum Tube Valley.' Radios and Televisions were predominately made in Philadelphia."

Even for Vacuum Tube Valley, 18,000 tubes (and spares) was a big order. In the interview, Eckert said a radio had just five or six tubes, a TV up to 30. He said ENIAC could have been built with just four types of tubes, but to get enough (they bought them in lots of a thousand) the developers settled on 10 different tube types.

From Vacuum Tube Valley to Valley Forge
Some call Philadelphia--home to the Liberty Bell--the birthplace of  liberty. A few remember it as the birthplace of the computer. While it doesn’t come close to comparing to those momentous events, for those whose professional lives have been shaped by online communication, you can help make IAOC’s first conference  at Valley Forge a milestone event for online communicators. Register online and save $100, plus get a year’s membership, all for a bargain $199.