BITNET

The BITNET ( Because It 's Time NETwork ) was a cooperative computer network. It combined mainframe of scientific institutions and public research institutions in the United States. The first connection was made ​​in 1981 between the City University of New York ( CUNY ), and Yale University.

BITNET used a standardized communication method was also used by computer networks such as EARN in Europe and NetNorth in Canada. This created a global homogeneous computer network. At its peak in the early 1990s, communicated to the computer in 3500 over 1400 organizations together. After that, the computer became smaller and more numerous. The Internet took over the communication. The BITNET was dissolved.

Services

The focus of the services first was the communication between computers and between man and machine.

An important feature was the use of computing and storage remotely located computer imputed. So a scientist in Europe could a computing job - briefly called job - Send to a computer set up in the USA and have the results of his calculations to print in his institute.

Also, files could be transferred, similar to the File Transfer Protocol (FTP ) on the Internet.

Another service was the electronic mail (e -mail) to interpersonal communication. These messages were sent not only within BITNET / EARN / NetNorth, but also in networks that use different communication methods.

Listserv, a sophisticated distribution system for electronic mail, allowing efficient and secure group communication. There were closed and open distribution lists ( mailing lists). The closed lists were reserved for a certain group of people, to open everyone could participate.

BITNET Relay Chat was a service that allowed direct communication of the participants who were simultaneously at their terminals.

Using a similar procedure could contact a server to request a file or to enroll in an open distribution list.

Connect to the World

At the beginning of the 1990s, the single overall network extended over 52 countries in five continents. The main components of this network were:

• BITNET in the United States, Costa Rica and Mexico,
• EARN in Europe and Africa,
• NetNorth in Canada,
• AsiaNet and CAREN in Hong Kong, India, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan,
• RUNCOL and ANSP in South America,
• GULFNET in the states around the Persian Gulf.

The distinction was not technically but for political reasons.

EARN

The European Academic and Research Network, EARN short, was the first European computer network through which a constant connection between academic institutions in North America and Europe was created. The first dedicated line for EARN across the Atlantic was switched in 1984.

EARN connected the computers in Europe, Russia, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and the Ivory Coast. About BITNET a connection to Australia, Asia, Canada, South America and the Gulf region was possible.

Because there were no technical differences between EARN and the other subnets, were all participants the same services.

Technology

The network protocol and the computer programs were already available at the time of adoption of BITNET and were used for the internal VNET corporate network of the company IBM. The network protocol called Remote Job Entry ( RJE ), later Network Job Entry / Network Job Interface ( NJE / NJI ). The Remote Spooling and Communications Subsystem ( RSCS ), based on which the network was working at first, was part of the operating system VM / CMS, which has been used by many universities and research institutions. Therefore, BITNET originally stood for Because It 's There Network. IBM introduced the process of the scientific public, and non -IBM computers were integrated into the computer network. 1988 were appropriate programs for the operating systems VMS (DEC ), Unix, NOS ( Control Data Corporation), and 25 more are available.

The network had a fixed topology. Each computer node had its fixed neighbor nodes with which he communicated directly. If files or computational job - programs, data and control information - were transferred to, they were stored whole at a neighboring node and transported from there until they finally arrived at the place of destination ( store and forward ). Of course, the user needed this internal structure not to know, but only the name of the target computer.

The network topology was centrally managed. If compute nodes have been removed or added more, so the information about the new topology has been made ​​available to all administrators.

The computing nodes connected by leased lines whose data transfer rates were designed for the transport of programs and data. Typical transfer rates in the U.S. were 9.6 kbit / s or 56 kbit / s Later leased lines were added at a transmission rate of 1.544 Mbit / s.

Gateways BITNET was associated with other types of computer networks. About e- mail gateways electronic mail between the BITNET and the Internet or UUCP -based networks could be replaced.