On September 11th that question was asked countless times. (pause)
"Are you ok?" (pause)

I live and work in New Jersey, 30 miles from the Word Trade Center and I spent September 11th phoning and emailing everyone I know (pause)
asking and being asked (pause)
"Are you ok?" By September 14th the question changed to "Where were you when you hear the news?"

History is marked with events significant enough to ask, "Do you remember where were you when...?" My parents remember where they were when JFK and later when Martin Luther King Jr were shot and killed. I remember where when I learned that Reagan had been shot, and when the space shuttle Challenger exploded.

And now history has a new question: Do you remember where you were when terrorists attacked NY and Washington?

And now history has a new answer! For the first time the answer to such a question is the same for millions of people. The answer, of course, is that they were sitting at their web browser clicking RELOAD again and again.

(pause if audience laughs)

If you were like me, the web site you wanted to see was CNN.com.

On the other end of the connection was Bill LeFebvre and his team facing a technical challenge the likes of which had not been seen before. Twice as many hits as the previous Election day.

(pause)

If you don't know Bill LeFebvre, then I welcome you to your first Usenix Conference. Bill is a long time Usenix member, speaker, author, volunteer and really cool guy. And of course, maybe you've taken one of his excellent tutorials.

Six years ago Bill started consulting with CNN, and recently accepted the position of Technology Fellow. We are extremely lucky to have him here today to tell us what happened on the other side of those HTTP connections that were so important to us on September 11.

Ladies and gentlemen... Bill LeFebvre!