View source for Alexander G. Fraser

{{Short description|British-American computer scientist (1937–2022)}}
{{for|the founder of the [[Achimota School]], Alexander G. Fraser|Alec Garden Fraser}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
   |name              = Alexander G. Fraser
   |image             = Alexander_Sandy_Fraser.jpg
   |caption           = Alexander G. Fraser in 2012
   |honorific_suffix  = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FIEEE|FBCS}}
   |birth_date        = {{Birth date|df=yes|1937|06|08}}
   |birth_place       = Surrey, England
   |death_date        = {{Death date|df=yes|2022|06|13}}
   |residence         =
   |years_active      = 1960-2014
   |citizenship       = [[Great Britain|British]]-[[American citizen|American]]
   |field             = {{Plainlist|[[computer networking]]
}}
   |alma_mater        = {{Plainlist|
* [[University of Bristol]]
* [[University of Cambridge]]}}
   |doctoral_advisor  =
   |doctoral_students = 
   |awards            = {{Plainlist|
* 1989 [[Koji Kobayashi Computers and Communications Award]]
* 1992 [[SIGCOMM Award]]
* 2001 [[IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal]]
}}
   |prizes            = 
}}

'''Alexander G. Fraser''' (8 June 1937 – 13 June 2022),<ref>{{cite web |title=Alexander "Sandy" Fraser, 85, former Bernardsville resident, communication network pioneer, avid cyclist |url=https://www.newjerseyhills.com/bernardsville_news/obituaries/alexander-sandy-fraser-85-former-bernardsville-resident-communication-network-pioneer-avid-cyclist/article_c8609042-d3cc-51d2-a79b-089ec523d6c1.html |website=Bernardsville News |publisher=New Jersey Hills Media Group |date=30 June 2022 |access-date=8 July 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Alexander Sandy Fraser |url=https://www.thekimblefuneralhome.com/obituary/alexander-fraser |website=Kimble Funeral Home |access-date=8 July 2022}}</ref> also known as '''A. G. Fraser''' and '''Sandy Fraser''', was a noted [[Great Britain|British]]-[[United States of America|American]] [[computer scientist]] and the former Chief Scientist of [[AT&T]].

==Early life and education==

Fraser was born in [[Surrey]], England and spent the [[World War 2|war years]] with his family in Lancashire and subsequently in [[Weston Super Mare]]. Fraser received his B.Sc. degree in aeronautical engineering from [[Bristol University]] in 1958, the diploma in computer science from the [[University of Cambridge]] in 1959, and a Ph.D. from the same institution in 1969.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fraserresearch.org/images/agfresume.pdf|title=Resume of Alexander G. Fraser|year=2005|publisher=Fraser Research}}</ref>

==Career==

===Early career===
After graduating with the [[Cambridge Diploma in Computer Science|Diploma in Computer Science]] from Cambridge, Fraser began his career at [[Ferranti]] in 1960, where he wrote subroutines for the [[Ferranti Sirius|Sirius]] computer developed there.<ref name="transcript">{{Cite web|url=https://doc.cat-v.org/unix/oral-history/transcripts/fraser.htm|title=Interview with A.G. Fraser}}</ref> He subsequently developed the higher-level {{abbr|NEBULA|Natural Electronic Business Language}} programming language<ref>{{cite journal|first1=T. G. H.|last1= Braunholtz|first2=A. G.|last2=Fraser|first3=P. M.|last3=Hunt|year=1961|title=NEBULA: A Programming Language for Data Processing|journal=[[The Computer Journal]]|volume=4|issue=3|pages= 197–211|doi=10.1093/comjnl/4.3.197|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/15678/Ferranti-Introduction-to-Nebula/|title= Ferranti Introduction to Nebula|publisher=Centre for Computing History}}</ref> for the [[Ferranti Orion|Orion]] [[operating system]].

===Return to Cambridge===
In 1966 he returned to Cambridge as a Senior Technical Officer<ref>{{cite web|url=https://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/Documents/acad/2016/lists/aci.html#Computer%20Laboratory%20(earlier,%20Mathematical%20Laboratory)|title=Cambridge University Officers (A Cambridge Alumni Database)|year=2001|publisher=[[Cambridge University Library]]}}</ref> and later (from 1968) as faculty-level Assistant Director of Research<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cst.cam.ac.uk/news/death-computer-science-pioneer-sandy-fraser|title=Death of Computer Science Pioneer Sandy Fraser|year=2022|publisher=[[Cambridge Computer Laboratory]]}}</ref> in the [[Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge|Computer Laboratory]]. He worked with [[Roger Needham]] to design and implement the [[Titan (1963 computer)|Titan]] computer's file system.<ref>{{cite book |first1=DW|last1=Barron|first2=AG|last2=Fraser|first3=DF|last3=Hartley|first4=B|last4=Landy|first5=RM|last5=Needham|title=Proceedings of the April 18-20, 1967, spring joint computer conference on - AFIPS '67 (Spring) |chapter=File handling at Cambridge University |author-link5=Roger Needham |year=1967|doi=10.1145/1465482.1465508|pages=163–167}}</ref> Fraser engineered support for file archival and robustness<ref>{{cite book|title=Classic Operating Systems|author=AG Fraser|chapter=File Integrity in a Disc-Based Multi-Access System |journal=Operating Systems Techniques|pages=227–248|year=1972|publisher=Academic Press|doi=10.1007/978-1-4757-3510-9_10|isbn=978-1-4419-2881-8 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first1=A. G.|last1=Fraser|year=1969|title=Integrity of a Mass Storage Filing System|journal=[[The Computer Journal]]|volume=12|issue=1|pages=1–5 |doi=10.1093/comjnl/12.1.1}}</ref> with support for multi-user [[access control]]<ref>{{cite journal|title=User control in a multi-access system|journal=[[The Computer Journal]]|issue=1|volume=11|pages=12–16|year=1968|author=AG Fraser|doi=10.1093/comjnl/11.1.12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/technology/atlas50th/p005.htm| title=Atlas 2 at Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory (and Aldermaston and CAD Centre)|author=Barry Landy|year=2012}}</ref> and later formalised the notion of persistent names.<ref>{{cite journal|title=On the meaning of names in programming systems|first1=AG|last1=Fraser|journal=[[Communications of the ACM]]|date=1971 |volume=14|issue=6|pages=409–416|doi=10.1145/362604.362615}}</ref> In 1968 he represented Cambridge at the first NATO Software Engineering conference in Garmisch, Germany.<ref name="nato2">{{cite web|url=http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/brian.randell/NATO/nato1968.PDF|title=Report on a conference sponsored by the NATO SCIENCE COMMITTEE Garmisch, Germany, 7th to 11th October 1968|access-date=27 May 2024}}</ref>

===Moving to AT&T===

He moved to AT&T [[Bell Laboratories]] in 1969 where he invented cell-based networks and co-developed a [[reduced instruction set computer]] prototype with techniques for [[instruction set]] optimization. He subsequently became director of its Computing Science Research Center (1982), Executive Director (1987), and Associate Vice President for Information Science Research (1994). As Vice President for Research, he founded [[AT&T Laboratories]] in 1996, and in 1998 was named AT&T Chief Scientist.{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}

At Bell Labs in the 1970s, Fraser became deeply involved with the development of the [[Unix]] [[operating system]]. For [[Version 6 Unix|v6]], he built the Spider local-area ring that anticipated [[Asynchronous Transfer Mode|ATM]] networks.<ref>{{YouTube|id=ojRtJ1U6Qzw|title=Origins of ATM, lecture by A. G. (Sandy) Fraser}}</ref><ref>{{cite patent|country=US|number= 3979733|status=patent|gdate=1976-09-07|title= Digital data communications system packet switch|inventor=Alexander Gibson Fraser}}</ref>  Spider was a packet switched data communications system that provided full-duplex asynchronous channels to connected terminals with automatic error control, and a loop transmission topology<ref>{{cite journal|title=Loop Transmission Systems for Data|year=1974|first1=A.G.|last1=Fraser|publisher=[[Association for Computing Machinery]]|doi=10.1145/1015676.1015677|journal=ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review|volume=4|issue=4|pages=2–8 }}</ref> via a central switching computer. Services on Spider that were precursors to modern equivalents included a [[distributed file system|network file store]], [[block storage]], a [[virtualization]] layer which forwarded UNIX system calls in a dumb terminal to a remote machine, and [[network boot]] support.<ref>{{cite tech report|last=Whitby-Strevens|first=Colin|date=1975|title=Current Research into Operating Systems and Computer Networks|institution=[[University of Warwick]]|number=10|archive-date=2020-01-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200122210643/https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:rq704hx4375/rq704hx4375.pdf|url= https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:rq704hx4375/rq704hx4375.pdf|pages=66–69}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tuhs.org/mailman3/hyperkitty/list/tuhs@tuhs.org/thread/4PGVKOSIPBX4ZWGMTDNGHVGFPKVCO2RP/|title=Sandy Fraser on Spider and Unix, 1975|author=Paul Ruizendaal|date=2017-11-10}}</ref> He also originated the Unix Circuit Design System (UCDS) with [[Steve Bourne]], [[Joseph Henry Condon|Joe Condon]] and Andrew Hume.<ref name="unixreader" />{{rp|12–13}} UCDS was an early [[hardware description language]] that created descriptions using interactive graphics, laid out boards automatically with circuit consistency checks, and optimized combinatorial circuits for [[FPGA]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=A. G.|last1=Fraser|title=UNIX time-sharing system: Circuit design aids|journal=The Bell System Technical Journal|volume=57|number=6|pages=2233–2249|year=1978|doi=10.1002/j.1538-7305.1978.tb02151.x}}</ref>

Fraser established the necessity for a standard [[network interface controller|interface]] between computers and data communications systems in 1972<ref>{{cite journal|title=On the interface between computers and data communications systems|author=AG Fraser|journal=[[Communications of the ACM]]|date=1972 |volume= 15|issue=7|pages=566–573|doi=10.1145/361454.361471}}</ref> and subsequently developed [[Datakit]]<ref>{{cite journal|title=Towards a Universal Data Transport System|author=AG Fraser|journal=IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications|volume=1|issue=5|year=1983|doi=10.1109/JSAC.1983.1145998|pages=803–816}}</ref> for [[Version 7 Unix|Unix v7]], described by [[Douglas McIlroy]] as a "central office" for data communication that improved the UNIX support for [[distributed computing]].<ref name=unixreader>{{cite tech report|author=[[Douglas McIlroy]]|title=A Research UNIX Reader: Annotated Excerpts from the Programmer's Manual, 1971-1986|number=Issue 139 of computing science technical reports|publisher=AT&T Bell Laboratories|url=https://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~doug/reader.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|5}} In the late 1980s, Fraser lead the Experimental Universities Network (XUNET) project to promote graduate research on computer networks.<ref>{{cite conference|title=Xunet 2: a nationwide testbed in high-speed networking|first1=A.G.|last1=Fraser|first2=C. R.|last2=Kalmanek|first3=A. E.|last3=Kaplan|first4=W. T.|last4=Marshall|first5=R. C.|last5=Restrick|conference=IEEE INFOCOM '92: The Conference on Computer Communications|location=Florence, Italy|year=1992|pages=582–589|volume=2|doi=10.1109/INFCOM.1992.263452}}</ref> Eight universities and labs across the country were linked by a network of Datakit [[virtual circuit]] switches joined by high-speed links to provide a wide area systems research laboratory where student researchers could run network experiments.  His 1983 paper was among the first to propose ubiquitous networking connectivity:{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}

{{Blockquote|
text=Ubiquity in telecommunications suggests a standard wall socket distributed about as widely as electric power outlets are now. An appliance plugged into one of these sockets will be able to reach, by some simple and standard procedure, another appliance plugged into any other socket.
|author=A.G. Fraser
|source=Towards a Universal Data Transport System<ref>{{cite journal|title=Towards a Universal Data Transport System|journal=[[IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications]]|volume=1|issue=5|year=1983|pages=803–816|doi=10.1109/JSAC.1983.1145998 |last1=Fraser |first1=A. }}</ref>
}}

Subsequently in the 1990s, Fraser worked on bringing high-speed networking to every home in the USA and supported the development of applications to utilise this capacity. He worked with [[Nikil Jayant]] to create high quality audio compression standards based upon [[perceptual audio coding]]<ref>{{cite journal|title=Report on the Workshop on Quality of Service Issues in High Speed Networks|author=[[Srinivasan Keshav]]|journal=ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review|volume=22|issue=5|page=75}}</ref>  which eventually resulted in the [[MPEG]] [[Advanced Audio Coding|AAC]] international standard. [[Bjarne Stroustrup]] started work on the C++ language during this time to support these networked applications.<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Bjarne Stroustrup]]| title=History of programming languages---II| chapter=A history of C++: 1979--1991|  date=January 1996|pages=699–769|doi=10.1145/234286.1057836| isbn=0-201-89502-1}}</ref>

===Retirement and Fraser Research===

After his retirement in 2002 he established Fraser Research in [[Princeton]], New Jersey.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fraserresearch.org|title=Fraser Research|year=2007}}</ref> He resumed his initiative towards designing a next-generation Internet architecture as part of the 100x100 [[future internet]] project.<ref>{{Cite web|title= 100x100network. 100 × 100 clean slate project |url= http://100x100network.org/ |url-status= dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20100819222330/http://100x100network.org/ |archivedate= 19 August 2010 |accessdate= 15 October 2011 }}</ref> 
The next-generation network Fraser designed was structured around a high capacity global Ethernet and a network operating system which controlled activities across that network.<ref name="frmonograph">{{cite tech report|last=Fraser|first=Alexander G.|date=2023|title=A Next Generation Internet Architecture|pages=118|doi=10.48456/tr-978|institution=[[University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory]]|number=UCAM-CL-TR-978}}</ref>{{rp|15}}

==Awards and recognition==

Fraser was a member of the [[National Academy of Engineering]],<ref name="nae-mem">{{cite web|author=[[Brian Kernighan]]|title=Alexander G. Fraser (1937-2022): Memorial Tributes: Volume 27|url=https://www.nae.edu/317426/ALEXANDER-G-FRASER-19372022|year=2024|publisher=[[National Academy of Engineering]]}}</ref> and a Fellow of the [[British Computer Society]] and [[IEEE]] for contributions and leadership in the design of switched virtual circuit networks.<ref>
{{Cite web|
url=https://www.comsoc.org/membership/ieee-fellows/1989|
title = IEEE Fellows 1989 &#124; IEEE Communications Society}}
</ref> He has received the 1989 [[Koji Kobayashi Computers and Communications Award]] "for contributions to computer communications and the invention of [[virtual circuit|virtual-circuit switching]]",<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=IEEE Koji Kobayashi Computers and Communications Award Recipients|url=https://www.ieee.org/content/dam/ieee-org/ieee/web/org/about/awards/recipients/kobayashi_rl.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191226142803/https://www.ieee.org/content/dam/ieee-org/ieee/web/org/about/awards/recipients/kobayashi_rl.pdf|archive-date=2019-12-26 |access-date=2020-10-09|website=[[Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers]] (IEEE)}}</ref> the 1992 [[SIGCOMM Award]] for "pioneering concepts, such as [[virtual circuit]] switching, space-division [[packet switching]], and window [[flow control (data)|flow control]]",<ref>{{Cite web|title=SIGCOMM Award Recipients {{!}} acm sigcomm|url=http://www.sigcomm.org/awards/sigcomm-awards|access-date=2020-10-09|website=www.sigcomm.org}}</ref> and the 2001 [[IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal]] "for pioneering contributions to the architecture of communication networks through the development of virtual circuit switching technology".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ieee.org/documents/hamming_rl.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620000223/http://ieee.org/documents/hamming_rl.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 June 2010|title=IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal Recipients |publisher=[[IEEE]] |access-date={{Format date|2011|5|29}}}}</ref><ref>{{YouTube|id=eyaujJWaIGA|title=2001 IEEE Honors Ceremony|t=3751}}</ref>

The [[Cambridge Computer Laboratory]] held a posthumous memorial<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cst.cam.ac.uk/news/sandy-fraser-memorial-his-achievements|title=Sandy Fraser: a memorial to his achievements|publisher=[[Cambridge Computer Laboratory]]|year=2023}}</ref><ref>{{YouTube|id=zDPIlxn3TAc|title=Sandy Fraser memorial seminar}}</ref> in February 2023 to recount Fraser's achievements, and also published his last monograph which collates Fraser's research on his clean-slate design for a next-generation Internet.<ref name="frmonograph" />
The [[National Academy of Engineering]] featured Fraser in the 27th volume of its Memorial Tributes series in August 2024.<ref name="nae-mem"/>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Richard W. Hamming Medal recipients}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Alexander G.}}
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:2022 deaths]]
[[Category:American computer scientists]]
[[Category:British computer scientists]]
[[Category:Computer systems researchers]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering]]
[[Category:Scientists at Bell Labs]]
[[Category:Fellows of the British Computer Society]]
[[Category:People from Surrey]]