When Milo Medin left NASA's Ames Research Center in 1995 to help found the At Home network, his colleagues knew it was the perfect opportunity for the dauntless engineer who brought a religious fervor and determination to his projects.
"He was always saying, 'I want to bring packets to the people ... bytes to your doorstep,'" said Christine Falsetti, project manager for NASA's research and education network, who worked with Medin for about 10 years at NASA's Ames Research Center.
"Everyone needs access, and that's his vision," she said. "People here realized it was a tremendous opportunity for the country. It was a huge problem to get 20,000 scientists hooked up, and now he wants to get everyone in the world.... That's a big challenge."
Medin, 35, has a history of charting new territory. He was one of the first engineers to push for the widespread adoption of TCP/IP -- the foundation of the modern Internet -- and large, interconnected computer networks.
With At Home, Medin is trying to build a more pervasive network based on cable modems that provide everyday users an Internet connection nearly 100 times faster than most have today.
"Our vision has always been to change the way people use information. What started off aimed at PCs has migrated into something on different platforms and devices," said Medin. "It's about horizontal access. Now, with set-tops and telephones operating in a network-centric model, all that information can be moved inside the network and moved to you. That's the really powerful thing," he said.
