BITNETS
Encyclopedia
BITNETS was first established on March 13, 1999 in Mumbai
, India
as an Internet consulting service.
BITNETS introduced BEAMERS (an acronym for BITNETS Enhanced AutoMated E-mail Routing System), an intricate mail forwarding service based on formail and procmail
scripts hosted on shared Linux
server space in the Houston, Texas
area.
BITNETS moved to Alberta
, Canada
and gradually switched to its own Windows
-based mail services, adding new technologies as these became available, such as content filtering
, anti-virus
, TLS/SSL
and anti-spam
.
The service was in mid-2003 built from the ground up on the FreeBSD
OS using open-source components and branded MAILHOSTING.CA. It is an e-mail perimeter defense service, designed to stop e-mail borne threats at the network perimeter, with SMB
and SOHO
versions.
It offers e-mail accounts
accessible through POP3
over TLS
, IMAP
over TLS
, a secure SSL
Webmail interface and SMTP
over TLS
for mail delivery. Security
features include end-to-end enforced use of TLS
if required, virus scanning
and spam filtering
.
BITNETS was awarded the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce 2003 InfoTech Award of Distinction.
B - the first letter of the last name of founder and principal Gary Bajaj, IT - an existing acronym for Information Technology, used to make a pronouncable word and NETS - Network for Electronic Transfers (Singapore). The word "net" as in "net result" spelled efficiency - if Bank A owed Bank B $10, and Bank B owed Bank C $10, the end of day settlement would be $10 transferred electronically from Bank A to Bank C.
Bajaj Internet Technology and NETwork Solutions was the original backronym
, since in "IT", "Internet" was more relevant than "Information", and NETS being a shorter version of NETSOL (an abbreviation used by Network Solutions, the only domain registrar at the time) naturally expanded back to NETwork Solutions and fit in nicely, elaborating the description of the business in the name. It was used interchangeably with the replacement backronym Business Internet Technology and NETwork Solutions. BITNETS is stylized in uppercase letters in recognition of the original acronym.
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
as an Internet consulting service.
BITNETS introduced BEAMERS (an acronym for BITNETS Enhanced AutoMated E-mail Routing System), an intricate mail forwarding service based on formail and procmail
Procmail
procmail is a mail delivery agent capable of sorting incoming mail into various directories and filtering out spam messages. Procmail is widely used on Unix-based systems and stable, but no longer maintained; users who wish a maintained program are advised to use an alternative MDA, such as...
scripts hosted on shared Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
server space in the Houston, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
area.
BITNETS moved to Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and gradually switched to its own Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
-based mail services, adding new technologies as these became available, such as content filtering
E-mail filtering
Email filtering is the processing of email to organize it according to specified criteria. Most often this refers to the automatic processing of incoming messages, but the term also applies to the intervention of human intelligence in addition to anti-spam techniques, and to outgoing emails as well...
, anti-virus
Antivirus software
Antivirus or anti-virus software is used to prevent, detect, and remove malware, including but not limited to computer viruses, computer worm, trojan horses, spyware and adware...
, TLS/SSL
Transport Layer Security
Transport Layer Security and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer , are cryptographic protocols that provide communication security over the Internet...
and anti-spam
E-mail filtering
Email filtering is the processing of email to organize it according to specified criteria. Most often this refers to the automatic processing of incoming messages, but the term also applies to the intervention of human intelligence in addition to anti-spam techniques, and to outgoing emails as well...
.
The service was in mid-2003 built from the ground up on the FreeBSD
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
OS using open-source components and branded MAILHOSTING.CA. It is an e-mail perimeter defense service, designed to stop e-mail borne threats at the network perimeter, with SMB
Small and medium enterprise
Small and medium enterprises or small and medium-sized enterprises are companies whose headcount or turnover falls below certain limits.The abbreviation "SME" occurs commonly...
and SOHO
Small office/home office
Small office/home office, or SOHO, refers to the category of business or cottage industry which involves from 1 to 10 workers. SOHO can also stand for single office/home office....
versions.
It offers e-mail accounts
E-mail
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...
accessible through POP3
Post Office Protocol
In computing, the Post Office Protocol is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by local e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection. POP and IMAP are the two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval. Virtually all modern...
over TLS
Transport Layer Security
Transport Layer Security and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer , are cryptographic protocols that provide communication security over the Internet...
, IMAP
Internet Message Access Protocol
Internet message access protocol is one of the two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval, the other being the Post Office Protocol...
over TLS
Transport Layer Security
Transport Layer Security and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer , are cryptographic protocols that provide communication security over the Internet...
, a secure SSL
Transport Layer Security
Transport Layer Security and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer , are cryptographic protocols that provide communication security over the Internet...
Webmail interface and SMTP
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is an Internet standard for electronic mail transmission across Internet Protocol networks. SMTP was first defined by RFC 821 , and last updated by RFC 5321 which includes the extended SMTP additions, and is the protocol in widespread use today...
over TLS
Transport Layer Security
Transport Layer Security and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer , are cryptographic protocols that provide communication security over the Internet...
for mail delivery. Security
Internet security
Internet security is a branch of computer security specifically related to the Internet. Its objective is to establish rules and measures to use against attacks over the Internet. The Internet represents an insecure channel for exchanging information leading to a high risk of intrusion or fraud,...
features include end-to-end enforced use of TLS
Transport Layer Security
Transport Layer Security and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer , are cryptographic protocols that provide communication security over the Internet...
if required, virus scanning
Antivirus software
Antivirus or anti-virus software is used to prevent, detect, and remove malware, including but not limited to computer viruses, computer worm, trojan horses, spyware and adware...
and spam filtering
E-mail filtering
Email filtering is the processing of email to organize it according to specified criteria. Most often this refers to the automatic processing of incoming messages, but the term also applies to the intervention of human intelligence in addition to anti-spam techniques, and to outgoing emails as well...
.
BITNETS was awarded the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce 2003 InfoTech Award of Distinction.
Name
The name BITNETS was inspired by:B - the first letter of the last name of founder and principal Gary Bajaj, IT - an existing acronym for Information Technology, used to make a pronouncable word and NETS - Network for Electronic Transfers (Singapore). The word "net" as in "net result" spelled efficiency - if Bank A owed Bank B $10, and Bank B owed Bank C $10, the end of day settlement would be $10 transferred electronically from Bank A to Bank C.
Bajaj Internet Technology and NETwork Solutions was the original backronym
Backronym
A backronym or bacronym is a phrase constructed purposely, such that an acronym can be formed to a specific desired word. Backronyms may be invented with serious or humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology....
, since in "IT", "Internet" was more relevant than "Information", and NETS being a shorter version of NETSOL (an abbreviation used by Network Solutions, the only domain registrar at the time) naturally expanded back to NETwork Solutions and fit in nicely, elaborating the description of the business in the name. It was used interchangeably with the replacement backronym Business Internet Technology and NETwork Solutions. BITNETS is stylized in uppercase letters in recognition of the original acronym.