December 28, 1999 Web posted at: 10:39 a.m. EST (1539 GMT) by Network World Fusion

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(IDG) -- Okay, folks. Here it is. The Top 5 Technology List of the Century.

Fortunately, the list is relatively easy to compile since most events took place relatively late in the century. Unfortunately, the list is highly subjective and I am sure, just like the last Top 5 list, that there will some significant controversy over the items presented in my list. As always, however, I'd welcome your feedback and additions to this list as there have been an overwhelming number of significant events in the technology space over the past 100 years.

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Hardware innovation

1. The cross bar phone switch. Sound basic? It was. But it allowed the commercialization of phone service throughout the world.

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2. The first computer. Yes, yes, there was Ada Lovelace and abacuses and whatnot. I'm talking about the 1940s-era gym-sized precursor to today's Palm Pilots. Think where we'd be without that first giant collection of vacuum tubes.

3. ARPANET and the Internet Protocol. You're reading this thanks to the work of everybody from Paul Baran (switching theory) to Vint Cerf (TCP/IP).

4. Hyper-Text Markup Language (HTML). Without it, the Internet would be just a collection of telnet and FTP applications (oh, sure, and gopher). Interesting, perhaps, but hardly something suitable for the real world.

5. The breakup of AT&T. Sure, it may have been inevitable, but the impact of this event (which is still unfolding) was more than significant - it was a complete re-defining event in the networking industry that helped pave the way for the highly competitive market we have today - and spurred the development of a range of telecommunications technologies.