The internet community is mourning the loss of Jon Postel, one of its on his role. John Leyden profiles the man Ira Magaziner called "the guy they trust". guiding lights. Postel, a Los Angeles academic whose grey beard and ponytail symbolised the libertarian hippy culture of the internet, died in St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica from complications following heart surgery. He was 55 years old.

His 30-year love affair with computer networks began in 1969 when, while a 25-year-old graduate student at UCLA, he played a leading role on the project to build the Arpanet (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) - the internet's forerunner.

As the Arpanet became more complex, it was evident that a database was needed to keep track of all the numbers and identifiers assigned to each computer. Postel volunteered to maintain the database, and out of this work the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) was born.

From its inception Postel led IANA in controlling the issuing of global IP addresses and keeping order in the system which, without such controls, would have quickly broken down.

He was also the editor of the Requests for Comment (RFC) series, which has become the internet's technical standards.

Postel was also a founding member of several important organisations central to the internet, including the Internet Society (ISOC) and the Internet Architecture Board (IAB).

"Jon's wise counsel often helped me personally, and the IAB, to choose the right course. It is infinitely sad that we will never hear his calming voice again," said Brian Carpenter, UK-based chair of the Internet Architecture Board.

Though Postel wielded immense power in helping to set technical standards, particularly in the area of domain names, he worked quietly and anonymously, and never made a fortune by cashing in on his pioneering position.

"Jon could have been a millionaire. It just wasn't his bag," said Professor Dave Farber, who teaches telecommunications at the University of Pennsylvania and had been Postel's thesis advisor.

Although he was never elected to any position of responsibility within the online world, he was "the guy they trust", according to Ira Magaziner, President Clinton's senior internet policy advisor.

Vint Cerf, co-inventor of TCP/IP, 'father of the internet' and VP of MCI WorldCom, said: "He was our rock, the foundation on which our every web search and e-mail was built."

Pushed into the spotlight

The success of the internet - and its commercialisation - pushed Postel reluctantly into the spotlight as a key figure in the debate on the privatisation of the internet's domain name and IP address systems.

As the number of organisations going online has grown, disputes have arisen over ownership of domains, and the domain registration monopoly of Network Solutions has been attacked.

Postel's death on 16 October followed the final agreement on the handover of internet control from US Government-controlled institutions to the private sector body - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

A final draft of proposals was sent by Postel to US Commerce Secretary, William Daley, days before his death.

However, the plan continues to generate controversy. The Congress' commerce committee is reported to be looking into it, following complaints about insufficient public consultation and Network Solutions' continuing monopoly.

Up until his sudden death Postel maintained that he was motivated solely by the public good. He said that decisions on domain naming "have to be made fairly and with the long-term benefit of the internet community in mind".

This philosophy and his contributions will be critical to the internet's development for many years to come, according to industry figures in Britain.

Jim Dixon, UK board member of the European ISP Association, said: "He is gone, and all our plans, all so intricately and carefully constructed around the fact of his presence, must now change. The trust and co-operative spirit of the internet must not die with him."

Postel won the International Telecommunications Union Silver Medal in July in recognition of his work for the internet.

In contrast with this very formal award, his style was famously casual.

In the early 1970s, he went to help the US Air Force with its computers, but wasn't allowed onto its planes until he agreed to wear shoes.

The Internet Society is soliciting comments and remembrance of Postel via its website, http://www.isoc.org. A memorial service will be held for Postel on Thursday 5 November, at the University of Southern California.

POSTEL: A LIFE DEDICATED TO THE INTERNET

Jon Postel was the director of the University of Southern California's Informations Sciences Institute Computer Networks Division. The division has 70 staff members working on approximately 10 projects, including the National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored Routing Arbiter, and projects in the areas of active networks, middleware, security, distributed systems, and high-speed networking.

He received his BS and MS in Engineering, and his PhD in Computer Science from UCLA in 1966, 1968, and 1974 respectively. Postel was one of the first members of the Internet Society and served on its Board of Trustees from 1993 up until his death.

At UCLA he was involved in the beginnings of the Arpanet in 1969 and the development of the Network Measurement Center.

He has worked in the areas of computer communication protocols, especially at the operating system level and the application level.

At the time of his death he was researching multi-machine internetwork applications, multimedia conferencing and electronic mail, very large networks, and very high-speed communications.