We continue to dig deeper into the new Network Solutions book project. I realize it’s impossible to write a book on the topic without getting involved in many of the technical details about what makes the Internet work. Accuracy in what we report is very important, and having gone through much of it I know that various interests differ on what really happened at that time. Many have their own personal files, telephone records, and such, so we should be able to piece together an interesting story. Most of the people involved are still alive and there’s a reasonable chance they will be willing to cooperate if they can find the time. As in the case of developing a plan for The SAIC Solution, we solicited the advice and counsel of our blog readers along the way. My intent is to do the same here because the contributions of the blog readers turned out to be quite important to formulating a credible story. Let us know what you think, including if you think the project should include certain information you want to be sure we don’t omit, is too ambitious, or shouldn’t be done at all. This is a particularly opportune time to tell this story as the 40th anniversary of the Internet is coming up in October 2009 — about the same time we plan to publish the book.

On Monday night the local San Diego office of Ernst & Young sponsored a gala event for the Entrepreneur of the Year award. I presented the trophy for the technical award. Several hundred people attended at the Hyatt in La Jolla, including people from all the companies involved, their sponsors, their venture capital folks and business advisors, and family and friends. It’s one of the spectacles attracting local attention and I’m honored to be a part of it.