The first go at co-operation, the Chiang Mai Initiative of 2000, was to expand and formalise a network of bilateral swap agreements between central banks, under which they promised to provide each other with liquidity.

ECONOMIST: Banyan

In the mid nineteen-nineties, Xerox built a system called Eureka that was a kind of social network where technical representatives could swap ideas on how to install and fix machines around the world.

FORBES: Workplace of Warcraft

Research work by Mr Metcalfe and his co-worker established that they could swap far more data far faster than over the Hawaiian network.

BBC: Original Ethernet diagram, 3Com

The system is also made future proof by a patent-pending capability to swap out the wireless card should hardware technology change or if the user chooses a different network infrastructure in the future.

ENGADGET: ARIS 100-watt wireless speaker shipping for $499 with DLNA and Windows 8 certification

As the Renault-made cars running on the Better Place electricity network hit the road this year and the company laid out money to build up a chain of stations to swap out depleted batteries, the future became increasingly daunting.

WSJ: CEO of Electric-Car Network Better Place Steps Down