PDU versus RFS

A decade before the browser wars of the 90s there was the internecine battle within Bell Labs about which technology to use for sharing network files in the subsequent release of Unix - PDU (Portable Distributed Unix) or RFS (Remote File Sharing). System V Release 0, or simply System V, had been in use for quite some time. System V Release 2 was gaining new users every day, mostly people within the former Bell telephone companies, other telecommunications companies, and a smattering of university students, researchers, and some breakout companies trying to monetize the open software technology.

Of course, most bitheads weren't paying attention to what was going on with the System V side of the Unix house, but rather were more interested in what was going on with the BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution) side of the Unix house. The California regeants had already decided their upcoming release, still under development, was going to use a brand-spanking new technology called NFS (Network File Sharing) if they could only iron out all the kinks. History proved that NFS had legs, it was good foundation to build from. But I don't think anyone ever talks about PDU or RFS anymore, at least I haven't seen any recent articles about it. Just another faded memory of a dust-up between warring factions in the scrap-heap of commercially unsuccessful software technology.....

I was still a young pup by Bell Labs standards, and it was my job to upgrade existing mini-computers with new hardware and corresponding new system software. Mind you, these were not the days of packaged software and automated installation scripts with visual aids. These were the days of makefiles and option switches and command line orientation. I had gotten used to sysgen'ing new kernels on VAXen and 3B20 mini-computers - maybe it was fun the first dozen or so times I did it, but it was getting kinda old by now. Learning how to tweak the tunable parameters to optimize the system performance was exciting, and creating new /dev entries was a tad tedious, but formatting and partitioning all those physically huge disk drives (the size of frigging washing machines!!) and migrating all those user data files really required attention to detail and fortitude. So opening up the six-foot tall, eight-foot wide, three-foot deep blue monster and installing an Interlan NI1010A ethernet network card into the VAX's central nervous system shouldn't have been a big deal. Popping the card into an available slot wasn't an issue - sysgen'ing a new Unix kernel with the network interface software working properly proved to be more of a task than I had bargained for. Little did I know it would involve a couple of weeks of 18 hour days, more than a few all-nighters, and when all else failed, calling in one of the original coders of - you guessed it - a contender for one of the upcoming SVR3 (System V Release 3) networking technologies, THE developer of PDU.....

His name has long been relegated to those parts of my primary memory I can no longer access, but I remember he came from the development group in Denver. A ten-year Bell Labs veteran, he was very passionate about PDU, and was convinced this was the right network strategy to move System V into the future. During the days and nights we worked together, he told me about his ten years at the labs, all the interesting projects he had worked on, the brilliant people he had worked with. He explained that he was coming up on his ten year anniversary soon, within weeks in fact, and he was excited to see what would happen with his career. He said that at ten years, you either become a supervisory manager or a distinguished member of technical staff. If neither happened, then you knew you had no future at the labs and should either accept your fate as a solidly contributing MTS (Member of Technical Staff) with no possibility for promotion or else seek fame and fortune elsewhere, leaving gracefully. He was excited about his work with PDU, and saw it as his ticket to a cushy DMTS (Distinguished Member of Technical Staff) role with all the privileges and accouterments pertaining thereto. I was excited for him, and hopeful that he would achieve his dreams. I felt privileged to work beside this technical genius, learning so much about Unix, network software, system software, and the AT&T Bell Labs corporate culture. Eventually we got everything up and running, our debugging and troubleshooting all those long days and late nights had paid off. Everything worked like a charm. The VAX 11/780 was now running a BETA version of SVR3 using PDU as its networking technology. We partied with the group, toasted our success, and this icon of a technocrat went back to his group in Denver. I wished him good luck, much success and prosperity in the future......

A couple of months went by, and we maintained email contact regarding the upgraded VAX 11/780, as well as new system software and other developments and timeframes for the SVR3 project. Since I worked in an applied research division (Transmission Switching Systems), not a basic research division like the Unix development group, I used all my contacts to find out what was going on with SVR3, and my Denver friend had a lot of good inside information. Eventually I finally got bold enough to ask him how his 10-year review went.....

I think we all know the end of this story. The PDU versus RFS wars raged on for months, and ultimately the RFS faction won out. My Denver friend and all his PDU efforts became a mere footnote in the annals of technology history. It was a huge disappointment for him, and was probably one of the causes for him to reach his 10 year career point without getting promoted to either a supervisory management role or the DMTS role he so coveted. Within six months he was sniffing around for other companies to work at, and within a year he was gone. I haven't heard from him since. He probably landed a good job at one of those networking companies that were starting to sprout up like weeds, Novell, Banyan, maybe something like that. I really never knew for sure. We lost touch. But I will always remember that time, when I worked at the feet of a genius, cutting my technical chops on networking systems sofware and hardware, on the big iron, before automated install scripts and visual aids and support hotlines, before the browser wars..... during the internecine battle within Bell Labs over PDU versus RFS.....