The First Network Customer

There comes the point at which all components necessary to allow for a concept to flourish fall into place. At that point – and not before – the invention takes off. In other words, when it's time to railroad, everyone railroads, which explains why multiple inventors often file patents for similar ideas within weeks and why it’s frequently difficult to determine who first invented something.

In 1968, LaRoy Tymes, age 26, joined Tymshare and began working on what would become Tymnet. It is an incredible coincidence, and many assume that LaRoy's surname was the inspiration for the company name and especially his signature project Tymnet.

Not so! The similarity of names was merely a stunning coincidence and completely unrelated. The Tym-prefix was settled on long before LaRoy joined the company.

Networking was a hard-sell. No one seemed to believe it was practical. LaRoy relates how he sold the network to management in a series of “baby-steps” showing at each step that it would save the company money.

In February 1972, Tymnet began carrying traffic for the National Library of Medicine (NLM). The library held a database of poison antidotes which they sought to make available online. NLM became the first customer to buy data service on a publicly accessible network, marking the beginning of commercial networking, a significant milestone. The Tym Before ...