The IEEE Boston Section and the IEEE Signal Processing Society presented an IEEE Milestone in Electrical Engineering and Computing to MIT Lincoln Laboratory for the “First Real-Time Speech Communication on Packet Networks, 1974 – 1982,” in a special dedication and program, which took place Thursday, 8 December 2011, at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, MA. The milestone plaque was engraved with the following citation:

First Real-Time Speech Communication on Packet Networks, 1974 - 1982

In August 1974, the first real-time speech communication over a packet-switched network was demonstrated via ARPANET between MIT Lincoln Laboratory and USC Information Sciences Institute. By 1982, these technologies enabled Internet packet speech and conferencing linking terrestrial, packet radio, and satellite networks. This work in real-time network protocols and speech coding laid the foundation for voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) communications and related applications including Internet videoconferencing. Additional information can be found on the IEEE Boston Section website.