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This paper reviews the history of the digital age of communications that began with the invention of the stored program computer in 1948 and is today realised by the World Wide Web, super fast broadband and the smart phone. Taking a predominantly UK focus, the paper examines the key technological advances that were made, where they occurred and what archaeological evidence remains of their existence. The paper begins by examining how digital technology was applied to the telephone network, how that network then provided the means by which early computers could be connected together, and from there to subsequently offer access to information services. Packet switching, the home computer, modems, optical fibre and the Internet are reviewed in terms of their importance in the creation of and growth in the World Wide Web. Finally, the application of digital technology to the mobile phone is discussed in terms of the development of mobile networks and the evolution of the handset into today's smart phones. The paper concludes by recognising that much of the archaeological evidence of communication's digital age has already been lost and that urgent action is needed to put in place appropriate preservation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the early activities related to packet-switching technology by British engineers in Great Britain. It focuses on packet-switched work in the area up to the early 1980s, starting with the early work at the British National Physical Laboratory, led by Donald Davies, the British Post Office and those at the University College London. It also considers the contemporary network services situation in the research community, the first international node of the ARPAnet and the contemporary work on the Cambridge Ring LAN.

This special issue contains four papers selected from the 26th UK Performance Engineering Workshop (UKPEW), which was held during 8–9 July 2010 in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Warwick. UKPEW is the leading UK forum for the presentation of work relating to all aspects of performance modelling and the analysis of computer and telecommunication systems. This year's selected papers demonstrate the variety of topics on offer at UKPEW: performance issues in cloud computing, energy-aware routing in packet networks, source location privacy and multi-hop ad hoc networks for wireless networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]