<s>
BITNET	B-Protocol
Relay	I-Protocol
,	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
the	O
Inter	O
Chat	B-Protocol
Relay	O
Network	O
,	O
was	O
a	O
chat	B-Protocol
network	O
setup	O
over	O
BITNET	B-General_Concept
nodes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
predated	O
Internet	B-Protocol
Relay	I-Protocol
Chat	I-Protocol
and	O
other	O
online	B-Protocol
chat	I-Protocol
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
program	O
that	O
made	O
the	O
network	O
possible	O
was	O
called	O
"	O
Relay	O
"	O
and	O
was	O
developed	O
by	O
Jeff	O
Kell	O
of	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Tennessee	O
at	O
Chattanooga	O
in	O
1985	O
using	O
the	O
REXX	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
system	O
drew	O
its	O
name	O
from	O
"	O
relay	O
race	O
"	O
which	O
shares	O
a	O
comparable	O
behavior	O
,	O
where	O
messages	O
travel	O
hop-by-hop	B-Protocol
along	O
the	O
network	O
of	O
Relay	O
servers	O
until	O
they	O
reached	O
their	O
destination	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
one	O
or	O
more	O
network	O
links	O
were	O
down	O
,	O
BITNET	B-General_Concept
would	O
store	B-Protocol
and	I-Protocol
forward	I-Protocol
the	O
messages	O
when	O
the	O
network	O
links	O
recovered	O
,	O
minutes	O
or	O
even	O
hours	O
later	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Before	O
BITNET	B-Protocol
Relay	I-Protocol
was	O
implemented	O
,	O
any	O
form	O
of	O
communication	O
over	O
BITNET	B-General_Concept
required	O
identifying	O
the	O
remote	O
user	O
and	O
host	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Relay	O
ran	O
on	O
a	O
special	O
ID	B-Application
using	O
several	O
BITNET	B-General_Concept
hosts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
use	O
it	O
,	O
a	O
message	O
was	O
sent	O
to	O
a	O
user	B-Application
ID	I-Application
called	O
RELAY	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Relay	O
program	O
running	O
on	O
that	O
user	B-Application
ID	I-Application
would	O
then	O
provide	O
multi-user	O
chat	B-Protocol
functions	O
,	O
primarily	O
in	O
the	O
form	O
of	O
"	O
channels	O
"	O
(	O
chat	B-Protocol
rooms	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
message	O
could	O
contain	O
either	O
a	O
command	O
for	O
Relay	O
(	O
preceded	O
by	O
the	O
popular	O
"	O
/	O
"	O
slash	O
character	O
command	O
prefix	O
,	O
still	O
in	O
use	O
today	O
)	O
,	O
or	O
a	O
message	O
at	O
the	O
remote	O
host	O
(	O
typically	O
a	O
mainframe	B-Architecture
computer	I-Architecture
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Computers	O
connected	O
to	O
BITNET	B-General_Concept
were	O
generally	O
located	O
at	O
universities	O
and	O
government	O
agencies	O
,	O
due	O
to	O
limited	O
access	O
to	O
computer	O
network	O
bandwidth	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
not	O
uncommon	O
for	O
a	O
university	O
's	O
entire	O
network	O
connection	O
to	O
run	O
over	O
a	O
single	O
leased	B-Architecture
telephone	I-Architecture
line	I-Architecture
or	O
even	O
a	O
4800	O
baud	O
dial-up	O
connection	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Thus	O
using	O
scarce	O
computing	O
and	O
network	O
resources	O
for	O
"	O
frivolous	O
"	O
purposes	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
chat	B-Protocol
,	O
was	O
often	O
discouraged	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
of	O
the	O
reasons	O
Relay	O
gained	O
acceptance	O
was	O
that	O
its	O
system	O
of	O
peer	O
servers	O
decreased	O
the	O
network	O
bandwidth	O
consumed	O
by	O
group	O
chat	B-Protocol
,	O
due	O
to	O
no	O
longer	O
having	O
to	O
send	O
multiple	O
copies	O
of	O
the	O
same	O
message	O
individually	O
to	O
each	O
server	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
of	O
this	O
efficiency	O
and	O
the	O
limited	O
bandwidth	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
,	O
users	O
were	O
often	O
not	O
allowed	O
to	O
use	O
or	O
develop	O
alternate	O
chat	B-Protocol
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Experimental	O
chats	B-Protocol
like	O
Galaxy	O
Network	O
and	O
VM/Shell	O
were	O
asked	O
to	O
shut	O
down	O
before	O
they	O
achieved	O
noteworthy	O
success	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Bitnet	B-Protocol
Relay	I-Protocol
gained	O
popularity	O
in	O
the	O
late	O
1980s	O
when	O
Valdis	O
Kletnieks	O
at	O
Virginia	O
Tech	O
created	O
a	O
Pascal	B-Application
version	O
that	O
consumed	O
far	O
less	O
CPU	O
time	O
,	O
and	O
again	O
in	O
the	O
early	O
1990s	O
when	O
Smart	O
Relay	O
improved	O
handling	O
of	O
message	O
delivery	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Though	O
Jeff	O
Kell	O
himself	O
had	O
made	O
observations	O
about	O
the	O
possible	O
demise	O
of	O
BITNET	B-Protocol
Relay	I-Protocol
,	O
only	O
TCP/IP	B-Protocol
and	O
the	O
Internet	O
brought	O
about	O
the	O
end	O
of	O
BITNET	B-General_Concept
and	O
Relay	O
.	O
</s>
