BITNET

BITNET, an acronym that stands for “Because It's Time Network,” is a network of universities, colleges, and other academic institutions that was a predecessor to today's Internet—as was ARPANET, a defense and research network. Although crude by today's standards, the purpose of BITNET was to support research and education with a tool for sending email, exchanging files, and generally sharing text-based information between institutions.

BITNET was the product of joint efforts by researchers at the City University of New York (CUNY) and Yale University to create an academic network by linking existing campus mainframe computers. Researchers Ira H. Fuchs of CUNY and Greydon Freeman of Yale are widely credited with recognizing the potential of using existing communications protocols to connect geographically separated scholars and researchers through computer-mediated communication; in fact, the BITNET acronym originally stood for “Because It's There Network,” in reference to the protocols that were freely available on IBM computers at CUNY. In the spring of 1981, the two [Page 32]universities used leased telephone circuits to allow accounts on their respective mainframe computers to communicate, thus initiating what would eventually become known as BITNET.

It did not take long for the network to grow; within two years, the number of linked BITNET institutions had grown to about 20, and had extended to include institutions in California. BITNET also connected with similar networks internationally, such as AsiaNet in Japan, EARN (European Academic and Research Network), and NetNorth in Canada.

In 1984, the network's development was assisted by two important events. First, funding from IBM helped to develop the BITNET Network Information Center (BITNIC), which provided centralized network support services. This funding continued until 1987, when participating institutions and organizations began paying dues to help support the network. Members also provided a large amount of volunteer support to keep the network operating, in the form of developing software and contributing services to keep operating costs low. Second, representatives from participating institutions and organizations formed the BITNET Executive Committee to establish network policies and procedures, as well as to begin long-term planning.

Several factors contributed to the almost immediate adoption of BITNET by the academic community in the United States. The cost of joining the network was minimal, as the only true expense facing a prospective member was acquiring a leased line to connect to the existing network. Once this was done, the only requirement was to agree to serve as an entry point for at least one other institution wishing to join. It is important to note that since one of the initial goals of the network was to minimize costs to member institutions, this latter point also ensured that no redundant paths existed in the network, and that only one connection would exist between any two points in the network.

Because BITNET was a “point-by-point” network, as described above, it used a “store-and-forward” approach to information distribution. Information, in the form of a complete file traveling through the network from one BITNET location (called a “node”) to another, is passed along from one connection point to the next and so forth until reaching its final destination. At each point, the file is forwarded and held until it can be passed along to the next location. When a node is temporarily unavailable, delivery is delayed until the connection is reestablished.

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