<s>
BITNET	B-General_Concept
was	O
a	O
co-operative	O
U.S.	O
university	O
computer	O
network	O
founded	O
in	O
1981	O
by	O
Ira	O
Fuchs	O
at	O
the	O
City	O
University	O
of	O
New	O
York	O
(	O
CUNY	O
)	O
and	O
Greydon	O
Freeman	O
at	O
Yale	O
University	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
name	O
BITNET	B-General_Concept
originally	O
meant	O
"	O
Because	O
It	O
's	O
There	O
Network	O
"	O
,	O
but	O
it	O
eventually	O
came	O
to	O
mean	O
"	O
Because	B-General_Concept
It	I-General_Concept
's	I-General_Concept
Time	I-General_Concept
Network	I-General_Concept
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
college	O
or	O
university	O
wishing	O
to	O
join	O
BITNET	B-General_Concept
was	O
required	O
to	O
lease	O
a	O
data	O
circuit	O
(	O
phone	O
line	O
)	O
from	O
a	O
site	O
to	O
an	O
existing	O
BITNET	B-General_Concept
node	B-Protocol
,	O
buy	O
modems	B-Application
for	O
each	O
end	O
of	O
the	O
data	O
circuit	O
,	O
sending	O
one	O
to	O
the	O
connecting	O
point	O
site	O
,	O
and	O
allow	O
other	O
institutions	O
to	O
connect	O
to	O
its	O
site	O
free	O
of	O
charge	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
of	O
these	O
efforts	O
was	O
called	O
CSNET	O
,	O
and	O
it	O
linked	O
together	O
several	O
computer	O
science	O
departments	O
across	O
the	O
country	O
using	O
TCP/IP	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1981	O
,	O
universities	O
came	O
together	O
to	O
form	O
BITNET	B-General_Concept
,	O
which	O
allowed	O
thousands	O
of	O
new	O
users	O
to	O
experience	O
innovations	O
such	O
as	O
email	O
and	O
file	O
transfers	O
for	O
the	O
first	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Bitnet	B-General_Concept
,	O
with	O
Remote	B-Application
Spooling	I-Application
Communications	I-Application
Subsystem	I-Application
(	O
RSCS	B-Application
)	O
and	O
the	O
Network	B-Protocol
Job	I-Protocol
Entry	I-Protocol
(	O
NJE	O
)	O
network	O
protocol	O
,	O
was	O
used	O
for	O
the	O
huge	O
IBM	O
internal	O
network	O
known	O
as	O
VNET	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
BITNET	B-General_Concept
links	O
originally	O
ran	O
at	O
9600	O
bit/s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
BITNET	B-General_Concept
protocols	O
were	O
eventually	O
ported	O
to	O
non-IBM	O
mainframe	B-Architecture
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
became	O
particularly	O
widely	O
implemented	O
under	O
VAX/VMS	B-Operating_System
,	O
in	O
addition	O
to	O
DECnet	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
BITNET	B-General_Concept
featured	O
email	O
and	O
LISTSERV	B-Protocol
software	O
,	O
but	O
predated	O
the	O
World	O
Wide	O
Web	O
,	O
the	O
common	O
use	O
of	O
FTP	B-Protocol
,	O
and	O
Gopher	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
Gateways	O
for	O
the	O
lists	O
made	O
them	O
available	O
on	O
Usenet	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
BITNET	B-General_Concept
also	O
supported	O
interactive	O
transmission	O
of	O
files	O
and	O
messages	O
to	O
other	O
users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
gateway	O
service	O
called	O
TRICKLE	O
enabled	O
users	O
to	O
request	O
files	O
from	O
Internet	O
FTP	B-Protocol
servers	O
in	O
64Kb	O
UUencoded	B-Device
chunks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Interchat	O
Relay	O
Network	O
,	O
popularly	O
known	O
as	O
Bitnet	B-Protocol
Relay	I-Protocol
,	O
was	O
the	O
network	O
's	O
instant	B-Application
messaging	I-Application
feature	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BITNET	B-General_Concept
differed	O
from	O
the	O
Internet	O
in	O
that	O
it	O
was	O
a	O
point-to-point	B-Architecture
"	O
store	B-Protocol
and	I-Protocol
forward	I-Protocol
"	O
network	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
From	O
this	O
perspective	O
,	O
BITNET	B-General_Concept
was	O
more	O
like	O
UUCPNET	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BITNET	B-General_Concept
’s	O
first	O
electronic	O
magazine	O
,	O
VM/COM	O
,	O
began	O
as	O
a	O
University	O
of	O
Maine	O
newsletter	O
and	O
circulated	O
broadly	O
in	O
early	O
1984	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Two	O
email	O
newsletters	O
that	O
began	O
as	O
Bitnet	B-General_Concept
newsletters	O
in	O
the	O
fall	O
of	O
1987	O
are	O
known	O
to	O
still	O
be	O
transmitting	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
are	O
the	O
Electronic	O
Air	O
and	O
SCUP	O
Email	O
News	O
(	O
formerly	O
SCUP	O
Bitnet	B-General_Concept
News	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BITNET	B-General_Concept
's	O
eligibility	O
requirements	O
limited	O
exchange	O
with	O
commercial	O
entities	O
,	O
including	O
IBM	O
itself	O
,	O
which	O
made	O
technical	O
assistance	O
and	O
bug	O
fixes	O
difficult	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
its	O
zenith	O
around	O
1991	O
,	O
BITNET	B-General_Concept
extended	O
to	O
almost	O
500	O
organizations	O
and	O
3,000	O
nodes	O
,	O
all	O
educational	O
institutions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BITNET	B-General_Concept
was	O
also	O
very	O
popular	O
in	O
other	O
parts	O
of	O
the	O
world	O
,	O
especially	O
in	O
South	O
America	O
,	O
where	O
about	O
200	O
nodes	O
were	O
implemented	O
and	O
heavily	O
used	O
in	O
the	O
late	O
1980s	O
and	O
early	O
1990s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Part	O
of	O
the	O
South	O
African	O
inter-university	O
academic	O
network	O
,	O
initially	O
known	O
as	O
UNINET	O
,	O
and	O
later	O
TENET	O
(	O
Tertiary	O
Education	O
Network	O
)	O
was	O
implemented	O
using	O
BITNET	B-General_Concept
protocols	O
in	O
the	O
late	O
1980s	O
,	O
with	O
a	O
TCP/IP	B-Protocol
gateway	O
to	O
the	O
Internet	O
via	O
Rhodes	O
University	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
rapid	O
growth	O
of	O
TCP/IP	B-Protocol
systems	O
and	O
the	O
Internet	O
in	O
the	O
early	O
1990s	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
rapid	O
abandonment	O
of	O
the	O
base	O
IBM	O
mainframe	B-Architecture
platform	O
for	O
academic	O
purposes	O
,	O
BITNET	B-General_Concept
's	O
popularity	O
and	O
use	O
diminished	O
quickly	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BITNET	B-General_Concept
hosted	O
its	O
first	O
multi-user	B-Application
dungeon	I-Application
(	O
MUD	B-Application
)	O
in	O
1984	O
,	O
the	O
text-based	O
MAD	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1996	O
,	O
CREN	O
ended	O
their	O
support	O
for	O
BITNET	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
of	O
2007	O
,	O
BITNET	B-General_Concept
has	O
essentially	O
ceased	O
operation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
a	O
successor	O
,	O
BITNET	B-General_Concept
II	O
,	O
which	O
transmits	O
information	O
via	O
the	O
Internet	O
using	O
BITNET	B-General_Concept
protocols	O
,	O
still	O
has	O
some	O
users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Another	O
system	O
that	O
is	O
being	O
developed	O
is	O
linking	O
systems	O
together	O
using	O
the	O
NJE	O
protocol	O
that	O
BITNET	B-General_Concept
used	O
.	O
</s>
