The development of the fiber distributed data interface (FDDI), a 100-Mb/s token ring that uses optical fiber that has become the premier high-speed local area network (LAN) standard, is examined. The important decisions that shaped FDDI are described. It is shown that technical innovation came from a variety of contributors and that adopting their ideas converted contributors into supporters. Adopting new ideas also improved the FDDI standards; by the time FDDI matured, it had become a family of standards with much broader appeal than was imagined initially.>