BITNET was established in 1981 and served as a cooperative computer network between various different universities. A point-to-point network, BITNET didn’t work the same way our current Internet protocols do. Closely resembling Usenet, BITNET transmitted files as whole data, rather than breaking it up into pieces and sending it that way.
Technipages Explains Bitnet
BITNET marked the first computer network connection between City University of New York and Yale University, as well as a few others. Originally, the name for it was ‘Because it’s there net’, but it was quickly renamed to ‘Because it’s time net’.
At its peak around 1991, BITNET spanned the entire world, and while it had its own name in different places around the world, it connected a total of 500 educational institutions worldwide. Mainly used as an educational resource, it was used as a sort of subscription list that allowed users to connect with each other.
With the rapid explosion of the Internet Protocols we now use to connect to the Internet in the 1990s, BITNET’s popularity fell pretty quickly and the more versatile world wide web and browser technology that we now use caught on instead.
As of 2007, BITNET is essentially down, as not enough operational nodes remained to be able to connect and exchange data efficiently.
Common Uses of Bitnet
- Because It’s There NET was how the BITNET acronym originally started.
- BITNET protocols originated in IBM mainframes.
- Using LISTSERV software, BITNET was particularly useful for exchanging emails and similar communication.
Common Misuses of Bitnet
- Bitnet is a number of internet-connected devices that each have one or several bots on it.