BITNET
Encyclopedia
BITNET was a cooperative USA university network founded in 1981 by Ira Fuchs
at the City University of New York
(CUNY) and Greydon Freeman at Yale University
. The first network link was between CUNY and Yale.
The requirements for a college or university to join BITNET were simple:
From a technical point of view, BITNET differed from the Internet
in that it was a point-to-point "store and forward
" network. That is, email
messages and files were transmitted in their entirety from one server to the next until reaching their destination. From this perspective, BITNET was more like Usenet
.
BITNET came to mean "Because It's Time Network", although the original meaning was "Because It's There Network".
Bitnet's NJE (Network Job Entry) network protocols, called RSCS
, were used for the huge IBM
internal network known as VNET
. BITNET links originally ran at 9600 baud
. The BITNET protocols were eventually ported to non-IBM mainframe
operating system
s, and became particularly widely implemented under VAX/VMS in addition to DECnet.
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 EARN), India (TIFR) and some Persian Gulf
states (as GulfNet). BITNET was also very popular in other parts of the world, especially in South America, where about 200 nodes were implemented and heavily used in the late 1980s and early 1990s. With the rapid growth of TCP/IP
systems and the Internet in the early 1990s, and the rapid abandonment of the base platform (IBM mainframe) for academic purposes, BITNET's popularity and use diminished quickly.
The non-profit, educational policies, however well intended, limited exchange with commercial entities, including IBM itself when it came to assistance and software bug fixes. This became a particular problem on heterogeneous networks when trying to communicate assistance with graphical workstation vendors like Silicon Graphics
.
BITNET featured email
and the LISTSERV
software, but predated the World Wide Web
, the common use of FTP
, and Gopher. It also supported interactive transmission of files and messages to other users. A gateway service called TRICKLE
enabled users to request files from Internet FTP servers in 64Kb UUencoded chunks. The Interchat Relay Network, popularly known as Bitnet Relay, was the network's instant messaging
feature. Bitnet’s first electronic magazine, VM/COM, began as a University of Maine
newsletter and surfaced 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).
In 1984, a text-based
BITNET game called MAD
became the first global Multi-User Dungeon
(MUD). Players connected from the USA, Europe or Israel to a single server running in France.
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.
Ira Fuchs
Ira H. Fuchs is an internationally known authority on innovative technology solutions for higher education and is a co-founder of BITNET, an important precursor of the Internet.Since 2010 he has been Executive Director of Next Generation Learning Challenges...
at the City University of New York
City University of New York
The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...
(CUNY) and Greydon Freeman at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. The first network link was between CUNY and Yale.
The requirements for a college or university to join BITNET were simple:
- LeaseLeasingLeasing is a process by which a firm can obtain the use of a certain fixed assets for which it must pay a series of contractual, periodic, tax deductible payments....
a data circuit (phone line) from a site to an existing BITNET node. - Buy modemModemA modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
s for each end of the data circuit, sending one to the connecting point site. - Allow other institutions to connect to a site without chargeback.
From a technical point of view, BITNET differed from the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
in that it was a point-to-point "store and forward
Store and forward
Store and forward is a telecommunications technique in which information is sent to an intermediate station where it is kept and sent at a later time to the final destination or to another intermediate station. The intermediate station, or node in a networking context, verifies the integrity of...
" network. That is, email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
messages and files were transmitted in their entirety from one server to the next until reaching their destination. From this perspective, BITNET was more like Usenet
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
.
BITNET came to mean "Because It's Time Network", although the original meaning was "Because It's There Network".
Bitnet's NJE (Network Job Entry) network protocols, called RSCS
RSCS
RSCS,the fundamental software that powered the world’s largest network prior to the Internet and which directly influenced both internet development and user acceptance of networking between independently managed organizations, was an acronym for the Remote Spooling Communications Subsystem...
, were used for the huge IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
internal network known as VNET
VNET
VNET is an international computer networking system deployed in the mid 1970s and still in current, but highly diminished use. It was developed inside IBM, and provided the main email and file-transfer backbone for the company throughout the 1980s and 1990s...
. BITNET links originally ran at 9600 baud
Baud
In telecommunications and electronics, baud is synonymous to symbols per second or pulses per second. It is the unit of symbol rate, also known as baud rate or modulation rate; the number of distinct symbol changes made to the transmission medium per second in a digitally modulated signal or a...
. The BITNET protocols were eventually ported to non-IBM mainframe
Mainframe computer
Mainframes are powerful computers used primarily by corporate and governmental organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing.The term originally referred to the...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s, and became particularly widely implemented under VAX/VMS in addition to DECnet.
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 EARN), India (TIFR) and some Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
states (as GulfNet). BITNET was also very popular in other parts of the world, especially in South America, where about 200 nodes were implemented and heavily used in the late 1980s and early 1990s. With the rapid growth of TCP/IP
Internet protocol suite
The Internet protocol suite is the set of communications protocols used for the Internet and other similar networks. It is commonly known as TCP/IP from its most important protocols: Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol , which were the first networking protocols defined in this...
systems and the Internet in the early 1990s, and the rapid abandonment of the base platform (IBM mainframe) for academic purposes, BITNET's popularity and use diminished quickly.
The non-profit, educational policies, however well intended, limited exchange with commercial entities, including IBM itself when it came to assistance and software bug fixes. This became a particular problem on heterogeneous networks when trying to communicate assistance with graphical workstation vendors like Silicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics, Inc. was a manufacturer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software, founded in 1981 by Jim Clark...
.
BITNET featured email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
and the LISTSERV
LISTSERV
LISTSERV was the first electronic mailing list software application, consisting of a set of email addresses for a group in which the sender can send one email and it will reach a variety of people...
software, but predated the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
, the common use of FTP
File Transfer Protocol
File Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server...
, and Gopher. It also supported interactive transmission of files and messages to other users. A gateway service called TRICKLE
TRICKLE
TRICKLE was a file-forwarding service on the BITNET network which allowed a user to request a file from an FTP server on the Internet via a gateway server which was connected to both networks...
enabled users to request files from Internet FTP servers in 64Kb UUencoded chunks. The Interchat Relay Network, popularly known as Bitnet Relay, was the network's instant messaging
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
feature. Bitnet’s first electronic magazine, VM/COM, began as a University of Maine
University of Maine
The University of Maine is a public research university located in Orono, Maine, United States. The university was established in 1865 as a land grant college and is referred to as the flagship university of the University of Maine System...
newsletter and surfaced 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).
In 1984, a text-based
Text-based
Usually used in reference to a computer application, a text-based application is one whose primary input and output are based on text rather than graphics or sound. This does not mean that text-based applications do not have graphics or sound, just that the graphics or sound are secondary to the...
BITNET game called MAD
MAD (MUD)
In 1984, on BITNET, a cooperative worldwide university network founded in 1981, two French students from the École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris, Bruno Chabrier and Vincent Lextrait developed and operated a global MUD named MAD . It ran on the BITNET node of their school...
became the first global Multi-User Dungeon
MUD
A MUD , pronounced , is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, with the term usually referring to text-based instances of these. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat...
(MUD). Players connected from the USA, Europe or Israel to a single server running in France.
In 1996, CREN
Corporation for Research and Educational Networking
The Corporation for Research and Educational Networking better known as CREN was a non-profit corporation originally composed of the higher education and research organizations participating in BITNET and CSNET. Its corporate name was adopted at the time of the merging of these two networks in 1989...
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.