Three years after sending those first packets of data, the network created by Metcalfe and Boggs had 100 machines on it.

BBC: Original Ethernet diagram, 3Com

But Lombardi said Wednesday that media reports that said packets of documents, prepared for sending to specific people, were found in Gabriele's home were unfounded.

CNN: Vatican: Pope not resigning over alleged papers leak

This makes it possible for two machines to communicate simply by lobbing appropriately addressed packets on to the network, like sending postcards.

ECONOMIST: REPORT: DATA NETWORKS: Upgrading the Internet | The

EarthLink will lease the old copper telephone wires connecting homes to their local telephone company, converting calls into packets of data at that point before sending them over telecommunications wholesaler Covad 's (otc: COVD - news - people ) national data network.

FORBES: EarthLink To Bundle Services

All-optical routers that can manipulate packets of light, pulling some signals off a fiber and sending the rest on their way, may not be widely available for years.

FORBES: Hooked on Photonics