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A Brief History of BITNET


The international BITNET network began in the spring of 1981 when Ira H. Fuchs
and Greydon Freeman, of the City University of New York and Yale University,
respectively, decided that IBM's Remote Spooling Communications Subsystem (RSCS)
protocol made computer-based communication practical between their universities.
BITNET, the "Because It's Time" network, began in the US as these two
universities began using a leased telephone circuit for communications between
accounts on their mainframe computers. BITNET eventually reached across the US
to California and was joined by its European counterpart EARN (European Academic
and Research Network) in 1982. Other cooperating international networks joined,
in the ensuing years, to make BITNET a worldwide network.

At its peak in 1991-2, this network connected millions of users in more than
1,400 organizations in 49 countries, for the electronic non-commercial exchange
of information in support of research and education. In this truly cooperative
network, each participating organization contributed communications lines,
intermediate storage, and the computer processing necessary to make its part of
the network function. It provided electronic mail and thousands of electronic
mailing lists based on the LISTSERV software for managing such lists. LISTSERV
was originally created by Ira Fuchs, Dan Oberst, and Ricky Hernandez and later
improved upon by Eric Thomas. BITNET was also used for transfer of data and
software files, and for rapid transmission of "interactive" messages and
commands to software such as LISTSERV. It was, for several years the largest
academic network in the world for computer-based communications, but by the
1992-1993 time frame, the number of academic organizations connected to the
Internet outnumbered those participating in BITNET. The number of BITNET
participants began to decrease in 1993.

BITNET's development in the US was facilitated by an IBM grant in July 1984
which provided initial funding for the establishment of centralized network
support services. The BITNET Network Information Center, BITNIC, received its
initial funding from this IBM grant but after the grant's conclusion in 1987, it
was funded entirely by membership dues from the participating organizations. The
network continued to rely heavily on the volunteer support of its participating
colleges and universities for creative new ideas and software, and for essential
operational support.

A BITNET Executive Committee, consisting of representatives from the major US
BITNET nodes, was formed in 1984, to develop BITNET policies and to plan for its
future. In 1987 the BITNET Executive Committee formed a nonprofit corporation
whose members were the organizations participating in the BITNET network. In
1989, when BITNET merged with the Computer+Science Network, CSNET, it adopted
the new corporate name, the Corporation for Research and Educational Networking,
CREN. (The growth of the Internet overtook CSNET in 1991, and its services were
discontinued.) CREN was governed by a Board of Trustees elected by its member
organizations.

BITNET users shared information via electronic mail to individuals and
shared-interest groups; transferred documents, programs, and data; accessed
BITNET server machines and associated data services; and sent brief interactive
messages. Nearly 3,000 discussion groups on BITNET covered most topics of
academic interest and had from five participants to several thousand. Gateways
allowed the exchange of electronic mail between BITNET and the Internet, and
also other networks.

BITNET was a "store-and-forward" network; information originated at a given
BITNET-connected computer (node) was received by intermediate nodes and
forwarded to its destination. Although BITNET used IBM's Remote Spooling
Communications Subsystem (RSCS) protocol, VAX/VMS systems actually constituteid
the majority of BITNET nodes; Unix and other systems were also supported, in
addition to IBM systems running VM or MVS. 

As BITNET participants migrated onto the Internet, CREN and many of the other
organizations supporting BITNET throughout the world turned their focus to
supporting their members' use of the Internet and assisting in their members'
migration. CREN's historic strategic mission was to support low-cost access to
worldwide electronic networking and its use for the benefit of the education and
research communities. CREN's mission was augmented to support institutions of
higher education by providing seminars, workshops, educational and training
materials, and software tools which enabled their information technology
professionals to understand and exploit advances in technology; train faculty,
students, and staff in strategic technology areas using distance education
modules; and provide leadership in using distance education and collaboration
technology. CREN ultimately focused on the Internet and the world-wide-web as
the platform for such services.

CREN believed that the people who advocated and supported the information
technology infrastructures on member campuses should have the opportunity to
directly experience advanced technology for the delivery of training and
learning materials. CREN's "Virtual Seminars" provided just such an opportunity.

CREN developed list-management software for use on low-cost Unix platforms,
which was optimized to the Internet protocols and compliant with Internet
standards. This software (ListProc) was available to CREN's members and also to
non-members, to facilitate the development and use of electronic mailing lists.

As a Founding Organizational Member of the Internet Society, CREN continued its
support of the Internet Society and its participation in the Internet
Engineering Task Force to develop standards, policies, and information useful to
CREN members and the broader networking community.

CREN continued to investigate and support other software and services in order
to facilitate the use of networking services for the benefit and improvement of
research and education.

� CREN and BITNET are registered service marks of the Corporation for Research
and Educational Networking. IBM is a registered trademark of International
Business Machines, Inc. Unix is a registered trademark of Unix Software Labs.