"Johnson Junction" creator honored for contributions to AEDC

  • Published
  • By Shawn Jacobs
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  Arlis Johnson retired as an engineering specialist around 1997, but his legacy at Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) lives on.

The Tullahoma resident was recognized for a couple of his contributions in a casual ceremony Sept. 29.

One is the "Johnson Junction" box, which he developed in 1986 when the Department of Defense (DoD) issued a security directive requiring all terminals connected to a computer that can perform classified work to be in a closed area.

Dr. Ralph Jones, branch manager for the Technology and Analysis Branch, explained, "It was basically a switch box to allow folks to connect or disconnect a computer terminal from the network that housed the supercomputer. If we didn't have the ability to switch them ... we would have basically had to have made the whole building a closed area, so it was a tremendous efficiency gain because it let folks connect to the classified network, do their work and then get back off.

"There were actually three of the boxes that were mounted on a wall on the second floor of the DO (Directorate of Operations) Building because we basically had our entire computational group contained in this building. They had individual computer terminals, so they each had a switch to change their connectivity."

The second floor of the DO was remodeled last year, and one of the boxes was saved and presented to Johnson at the ceremony.

At the time of the development of the Johnson Junction, it was estimated the device would save AEDC $335,000 in one-time costs and $87,500 annually in lost productivity.

Dr. John Adams, retired director of the Applied Technology Department, also helped present Johnson with a copy of High Mach from August of 1986 which contained an article describing the invention.

"Arlis did what he did best in his career, and that was take care of the guys trying to do their job," Dr. Adams said. "Arlis did his job."

Ed Dorman, manager of Network Engineering also helped with the presentation.

"I worked for Arlis from '86 until he retired in '97," he said. "He combined technical expertise with the concern for the national security aspect that you had to do things the right way, so that basically you could get the information to the people who are supposed to get it but keep it away from the bad guys."

Johnson had also worked on a concept called "virtual presence," a project to give test customers the ability to monitor on-line testing on their own site as if they were at AEDC. Dorman said Johnson worked on both the technical and security aspects of the plan.

The idea was postponed at the time due to a lack of interest among test customers. Johnson's plan was pulled off the shelf last year, however, when a customer requested the capability.

Randy Sloan, manager of enterprise server support, revealed the new capability has been given the acronym ARLIS, for Arnold Remote-Link Information System.

"A lot of his [Johnson's] concepts were folded into this," Sloan said. "This is still in its infancy and really starting to pay dividends."

Johnson said it was very gratifying - and surprising - to have his work recognized in this way.

"I thought I was coming out for a coffee for the guys to kind of acknowledge themselves for having accomplished what they were talking about today," he said. "It turns out that I got to be the focal point, so I was flattered and kind of caught off guard. I loved it and it was great.

"The ARLIS concept was very flattering - to come up with an acronym like that. It was very enjoyable, very humbling."