Srinivasan Ramani

Dr. Ramani proposed an Indian Academic Network in 1983, and this contributed to the launch of the ERNET project, involving a number of institutions that created R&D teams in networking. As coordinator of the ERNET team at India’s National Center for Software Technology (NCST), he led the efforts to set up ERNET’s central mail switch and its international gateway, starting with a link to Amsterdam in 1987, using TCP over X.25. This was the first such international connection from India. A year later, his team connected ERNET to the UUNET in Falls Church, Virginia, as well. Partnering institutions of ERNET, in cooperation with Ramani’s team at NCST, set up domestic TCP/IP links to extend the network nationwide.

Earlier in his career, Ramani led a team to create communication software for an Indian-made computer in 1976-77, using it in the education field. He played a key role in connecting three cities in 1981 through an experimental satellite-based packet switching network, and co-authored a pioneering paper proposing a Low Altitude Equatorial Satellite for computer messaging in 1982. This proposal led others to build such a satellite and to demonstrate its utility internationally.