165:(NSF) had several initiatives running to help spread the benefits of networking. One of these efforts was called CSNET, and it linked together several computer science departments across the country using TCP/IP. Another was a network of regional computer networks that linked up universities in different parts of the country. In 1981, universities came together to form BITNET, which allowed thousands of new users to experience innovations such as email and file transfers for the first time. All of these new networks showed the possibilities of computer networks and helped stoke demand for a robust nationwide network like NSFNET.
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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
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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. Part of the South African inter-university academic network, initially known as UNINET, and later
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BITNET's eligibility requirements limited exchange with commercial entities, including IBM itself, which made technical assistance and bug fixes difficult. This became a particular problem when trying to communicate on heterogeneous networks with graphical workstation vendors such as
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newsletter and circulated 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).
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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
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systems and the
Internet in the early 1990s, and the rapid abandonment of the base IBM mainframe platform for academic purposes, BITNET's popularity and use diminished quickly.
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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
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for each end of the data circuit, sending one to the connecting point site, and allow other institutions to connect to its site free of charge.
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TENET (Tertiary
Education Network) was implemented using BITNET protocols in the late 1980s, with a TCP/IP gateway to the Internet via
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The name BITNET originally meant "Because It's There
Network", but it eventually came to mean "Because It's Time Network".
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II, which transmits information via the
Internet using BITNET protocols, still has some users.
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An extract of MAD's connection log from 1986 shows the frequency of connections worldwide.
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508:"As emails turn 40, scientists recall India arrival | NDTV Gadgets360.com"
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enabled users to request files from
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483:"Humanist Archives Vol. 4 : 4.1144 Bitnet in Israel (1/69)"
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Data and
Computer Communications: Networking and Internetworking
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A college or university wishing to join BITNET was required to
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534:"The History of the Internet in South Africa - How it began"
193:. BITNET links originally ran at 9600 bit/s. The BITNET
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BITNET’s first electronic magazine, VM/COM, began as a
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NetHistory – Archive of BITNET newsletters and stories
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Warf, Barney (2018). "BITNET". In Warf, Barney (ed.).
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How the Web Was Born: The Story of the World Wide Web
140:. The first network link was between CUNY and Yale.
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418:Cailliau, Robert; Gillies, James (1 January 2000).
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586:A Social History of Bitnet and Listserv, 1985–1991
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235:. Gateways for the lists made them available on
128:university computer network founded in 1981 by
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1642:Global telecommunications regulation bodies
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424:. San Val, Incorporated. pp. 74, 75.
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
175:Remote Spooling Communications Subsystem
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561:. SAGE Publications. pp. 56–57.
559:The SAGE Encyclopedia of the Internet
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47:adding citations to reliable sources
607:Web Masters Episode #32, April 2021
602:Entrepreneur's Handbook, April 2021
197:were eventually ported to non-IBM
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445:Hura, Gurdeep (28 March 2001).
34:needs additional citations for
394:"A Brief History of "Bit.net""
136:(CUNY) and Greydon Freeman at
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1714:History of telecommunications
1663:Telecommunication portal
1444:Telecommunications equipment
1180:Alexander Stepanovich Popov
327:. With the rapid growth of
223:software, but predated the
163:National Science Foundation
134:City University of New York
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884:Telecommunications history
189:internal network known as
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1265:Fiber-optic communication
1010:Francis Blake (telephone)
805:Optical telecommunication
262:BITNET differed from the
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1403:Orbital angular-momentum
840:Satellite communications
679:Communications satellite
591:Living Internet – BITNET
347:BITNET hosted its first
185:, was used for the huge
161:In the early 1980s, the
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1105:Gardiner Greene Hubbard
934:Undersea telegraph line
669:Cable protection system
374:History of the Internet
249:Interchat Relay Network
1424:Communication protocol
1210:Charles Sumner Tainter
1025:Walter Houser Brattain
970:Edwin Howard Armstrong
778:Information revolution
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1398:Polarization-division
1130:Narinder Singh Kapany
1095:Erna Schneider Hoover
1015:Jagadish Chandra Bose
995:Alexander Graham Bell
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251:, popularly known as
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1200:Almon Brown Strowger
1170:Charles Grafton Page
825:Prepaid mobile phone
753:Electrical telegraph
274:" network. That is,
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43:improve this article
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949:Wireless revolution
911:The Telephone Cases
768:Hydraulic telegraph
369:Christmas Tree EXEC
287:University of Maine
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1365:Telephone exchange
1235:Charles Wheatstone
1165:Jun-ichi Nishizawa
1140:Innocenzo Manzetti
1075:Reginald Fessenden
810:Optical telegraphy
643:Telecommunications
598:(from archive.org)
349:multi-user dungeon
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1434:Data transmission
1348:Network switching
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1145:Guglielmo Marconi
1110:Internet pioneers
975:Mohamed M. Atalla
944:Whistled language
568:978-1-4739-2661-5
431:978-0-613-92163-3
325:Rhodes University
272:store and forward
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179:Network Job Entry
169:Technical details
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1375:Multiplexing
1250:Transmission
1215:Nikola Tesla
1205:Henry Sutton
1160:Samuel Morse
1090:Robert Hooke
1055:Amos Dolbear
990:John Bardeen
909:
889:Telautograph
793:Mobile phone
748:Edholm's law
731:social media
664:Broadcasting
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540:. Retrieved
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516:. Retrieved
514:. 2012-10-09
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489:. 1991-03-08
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41:Please help
36:verification
33:
1575:NPL network
1287:Radio waves
1225:Alfred Vail
1135:Hedy Lamarr
1120:Dawon Kahng
1080:Elisha Gray
1040:Yogen Dalal
965:Nasir Ahmed
899:Teleprinter
763:Heliographs
318:) and some
99:August 2010
1708:Categories
1621:Antarctica
1580:Toasternet
1502:Television
985:Paul Baran
917:Television
901:(teletype)
894:Telegraphy
872:transistor
850:Phryctoria
820:Photophone
798:Smartphone
788:Mass media
518:2017-03-07
493:2017-03-07
457:. p.
403:August 30,
380:References
314:), India (
69:newspapers
1605:Americas
1594:Locations
1565:Internet2
1326:Bandwidth
1030:Vint Cerf
927:streaming
905:Telephone
845:Semaphore
736:streaming
455:CRC Press
354:In 1996,
259:feature.
245:UUencoded
199:mainframe
195:protocols
130:Ira Fuchs
1673:Category
1560:Internet
1550:CYCLADES
1467:Ethernet
1417:Concepts
1341:terminal
1292:wireless
1115:Bob Kahn
958:Pioneers
783:Internet
674:Cable TV
542:7 August
363:See also
316:VIDYANET
312:ISRAEARN
264:Internet
221:LISTSERV
58:"BITNET"
1693:Commons
1683:Outline
1636:Oceania
1555:FidoNet
1540:ARPANET
1353:circuit
922:digital
651:History
398:Bit.net
280:UUCPNET
241:TRICKLE
206:VAX/VMS
132:at the
83:scholar
1631:Europe
1601:Africa
1585:Usenet
1545:BITNET
1482:Mobile
1358:packet
867:MOSFET
862:device
659:Beacon
565:
465:
428:
335:Legacy
329:TCP/IP
302:Extent
237:Usenet
233:Gopher
231:, and
210:DECnet
181:(NJE)
156:modems
154:, buy
122:BITNET
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1609:North
1570:JANET
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1497:Radio
1336:Nodes
1331:Links
1252:media
830:Radio
815:Pager
743:Drums
709:video
704:image
694:audio
537:(PDF)
276:email
217:email
90:JSTOR
76:books
1626:Asia
1512:UUCP
1472:ISDN
563:ISBN
544:2012
463:ISBN
426:ISBN
405:2012
356:CREN
308:EARN
219:and
191:VNET
152:node
126:U.S.
62:news
1517:WAN
1487:NGN
1477:LAN
758:Fax
699:DCT
459:779
229:FTP
187:IBM
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