Modem history: how ANU helped Vietnam connect to the internet

In April 1994, a modem, computer and phoneline were set up in the personal office of the Vietnamese prime minister.

The prime minister – Võ Văn Kiệt – used his new setup to correspond with Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt. Their exchange, which focused on Bildt’s upcoming visit, was the first formal use of an email system in Vietnam.

This connection was facilitated by staff at The Australian National University (ANU).

A delegation from internet provider Netnam visited Canberra recently to mark the 30th anniversary of this important moment.

The group attended an event hosted by the ANU College of Engineering, Computing and Cybernetics, where past and present University staff spoke about the role ANU played in Vietnam’s technological journey.

Director of the ANU School of Computing, Professor Tony Hosking, described that long-ago email exchange as a historic moment.

“It highlighted the importance of global communication and cooperation,” he said.

“The work that began over three decades ago …is a testament to the power of international collaboration.”

Dr Rob Hurle oversaw the Coombs Computing Unit at ANU and was instrumental in bringing internet to Vietnam.

Speaking to the delegation, he reminisced about his time at Coombs.

“We had a number of students from Vietnam and my group were teaching them how to use the big computers. In those days, you had a machine the size of this room,” Hurle said.

“I remember the very first one gigabyte disk we bought. It took two strong men to pick it up and put it into a container.

“These days of course you can get a terabyte on a phone.”

In 1991, Hurle travelled to Vietnam as a tourist and brought a modem along with him. His plan was to meet up with some of his former students. He hoped the modem would enable the PhD scholars to connect to the mainframe computers back at ANU, using the Vietnamese public switched telephone network. But he hadn’t considered the expense involved.

“A student of mine pointed out that an international telephone call was about US$5 and an engineer’s salary was about US$20 a month,” Hurle said.

“I started to think about how we could initiate calls from this end [at ANU].”

With this plan in mind, Hurle reached out to Trần Bá Thái, who oversaw the Networking Department at the Institute for Informatics in Hanoi.

Trần, who is now the Chairman of Netnam, shared his memory of their initial discussions.

“Frankly speaking, I couldn’t understand a word you were saying,” he joked. “Now I am familiar with your [Australian] accent.”

Hurle, along with Professor David G Marr from the ANU Department of Pacific and Southeast Asian History, helped to initiate what became known as the Vietnam Internet Project.

“I was also working with professors at Hanoi University,” Marr recalled.

 “They established what might have been the first computer room in the university. It was interesting because everybody had to take their shoes off and put on little paper shoes with air conditioning that made it very cold. 

“The air conditioning was there for the machines, not for us.”

In conjunction with Trần and other researchers, Hurle and Marr worked hard to establish a reliable connection between ANU and Vietnam.

“We used to have regular sessions, calling up for perhaps an hour a day,” Trần said. “And we eventually got to the stage where we set up the whole email system.”

The Coombs Computing Unit went on to manage Vietnam’s .vn domain, with all communication data flows directed through ANU.

The University also covered the connection costs for Vietnam through the Department of Education, laying the foundations for the official launch of the internet in Vietnam in 1997.

Today, there are more than 78 million internet users in Vietnam – nearly 80 per cent of the country’s population.

“Vietnam holds a special place in the history of ANU,” said Hosking. “The work that began over three decades ago with Rob and David and the Coombs Computing Unit is a testament to the power of international collaboration.

“This partnership not only advanced technical capabilities but also fostered academic and research exchanges that have had a lasting impact on both countries.”