BITNET
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BITNET was a co-operative U.S. university computer network founded in 1981 by Ira Fuchs at the City University of New York (CUNY) and Greydon Freeman at Yale University.[1] The first network link was between CUNY and Yale.
The name BITNET originally meant "Because It's There Network", but it eventually came to mean "Because It's Time Network".[2]
A college or university wishing to join BITNET was required to lease a data circuit (
for each end of the data circuit, sending one to the connecting point site, and allow other institutions to connect to its site free of charge.In the early 1980s, the National Science Foundation (NSF) had several initiatives running to help spread the benefits of networking. One of these efforts was called CSNET, and it linked together several computer science departments across the country using TCP/IP. Another was a network of regional computer networks that linked up universities in different parts of the country. In 1981, universities came together to form BITNET, which allowed thousands of new users to experience innovations such as email and file transfers for the first time. All of these new networks showed the possibilities of computer networks and helped stoke demand for a robust nationwide network like NSFNET.
Technical details
BITNET, with
BITNET featured
BITNET differed from the
BITNET’s first electronic magazine, VM/COM, began as a University of Maine newsletter and circulated broadly in early 1984. Two email newsletters that began as Bitnet newsletters in the fall of 1987 are known to still be transmitting. They are the Electronic Air and SCUP Email News (formerly SCUP Bitnet News).
BITNET's eligibility requirements limited exchange with commercial entities, including IBM itself, which made technical assistance and bug fixes difficult. This became a particular problem when trying to communicate on heterogeneous networks with graphical workstation vendors such as Silicon Graphics.
Extent
At its zenith around 1991, BITNET extended to almost 500 organizations and 3,000 nodes, all educational institutions. It spanned North America (in Canada it was known as NetNorth), Europe (as
Legacy
BITNET hosted its first multi-user dungeon (MUD) in 1984, the text-based MAD.[7] Players connected from the United States, Europe or Israel to a single server running in France.[citation needed]
In 1996, CREN ended their support for BITNET. The individual nodes were free to keep their phone lines up as long as they wished, but as nodes dropped out, the network splintered into parts that were inaccessible from each other. As of 2007, BITNET has essentially ceased operation. However, a successor, BITNET II, which transmits information via the Internet using BITNET protocols, still has some users.
See also
References
- ^ "A Brief History of "Bit.net"". Bit.net. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-613-92163-3.
- ISBN 9780849309281.
- ^ "Humanist Archives Vol. 4 : 4.1144 Bitnet in Israel (1/69)". Dhhumanist.org. 1991-03-08. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
- ^ "As emails turn 40, scientists recall India arrival | NDTV Gadgets360.com". Gadgets.ndtv.com. 2012-10-09. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
- ^ Lawrie, Mike. "The History of the Internet in South Africa - How it began" (PDF). Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ISBN 978-1-4739-2661-5.