The Collins Story - The Internet Connection

It's very likely that you are one of over five billion people using the internet on nearly 20 billion devices to shop, stream, research and communicate. But how many of us are aware of the technologies and people that made these connections possible? This film explores the stories of brilliant engineers and groundbreaking mobile technologies from Collins Radio, headquartered in Iowa, that helped shape the foundations of the modern internet.

Through archival images and firsthand interviews, we trace the evolution of computing, networking, and radio communications through the mid to late 20th century. Ride along with the engineers on November 22, 1977, as the first internet message is sent using Collins technology—a breakthrough that paved the way for today’s mobile networks. Pioneers including Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf, the “fathers” of TCP/IP, join Collins and Stanford Research Institute engineers to recall how curiosity, collaboration, a beer garden, a bread truck, a little luck and lots of determination laid the foundation for global connectivity.