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.