MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Ethernet Innovation Summit -- What better place to mark the 40th anniversary of Ethernet, meaning the day 40 years after Bob Metcalfe wrote his Xerox PARC memo detailing the technology, than the Computer History Museum?

OK, the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) itself might have been appropriate, too. But it might not have fit 200 attendees and international press so comforably for two days, and it's harder to find from the freeway.

The gathering kicked off Wednesday with Metcalfe explaining what was in that memo and why -- that is, the specific goals that defined what went into Ethernet. (That's Metcalfe, above, identifying his 1973 self.) That was followed by a couple of hours of panels reminiscing about Ethernet's past before the conference shifted into its main topics of innovation and Ethernet's future.

Click ahead for more pictures of the event.

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— Craig Matsumoto, Managing Editor, Light Reading

When Metcalfe speaks, the cameras come out.
Metcalfe's retro, hand-drawn slides took us through the thinking behind Ethernet -- details such as Manchester encoding, where every bit is accompanied by its complement.
That's Norm Abramson (black jacket, glasses), whose academic work helped inspire Ethernet. Metcalfe turned to him and to some PARC colleagues to confirm some of the finer points of his talk.
You and I know Dan Pitt as the Open Networking Foundation executive director, but back when, he was a Token Ring bearer for IBM.
Real computer history.
Sneaking a break in the hallway, it's InformationWeek's Fritz Nelson, with HP's Mike Banic and PR person extraordinaire Mari Mineta Clapp.
Other members of the Ethernet family recall the early days: Dave Boggs, Norm Abramson, Bill Hawe, Radia Perlman and moderator Paul Saffo.
Geoff Thompson (IEEE 802.3 emeritus) and Bill Hawe (ex-DEC) add their comments to one of the panel discussions.
PARC alumni at lunch: Bill Spencer (left) confers with Yogen Dalal (right).
Melissa Kallos (who did PR for the event) and John D'Ambrosia (IEEE's high-speed Ethernet guru) tried hiding in a remote corner of the lunch area. It didn't work.
Even if you attend via robot, people can tell when you're not fully paying attention.
One of the morning's more serious issues: What's to take the place of the old versions of PARC or Bell Labs? This panel didn't have answers but did agree there's a problem. (See Luminaries Mourn the Xerox PARC Gap.) From left: Bill Spencer (former head of PARC), Bill English (inventor), Paul Grams (NASA), Yogen Dalal (ex-PARC/Mayfield), Judy Estrin (JLabs) and moderator Steve Hoover (current CEO of PARC).