Bitnet

3 definitions found

From Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (Version 1.9, June 2002) [vera]:

  BITNET
       Because It's Time NETwork (network)
       
       

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:



  BITNET /bit'net/ n., obs. [acronym: Because It's Time NETwork]
     Everybody's least favorite piece of the network (see {the network}) -
     until AOL happened. The BITNET hosts were a collection of IBM dinosaurs
     and VAXen (the latter with lobotomized comm hardware) that communicate
     using 80-character {{EBCDIC}} card images (see {eighty-column mind});
     thus, they tend to mangle the headers and text of third-party traffic
     from the rest of the ASCII/{RFC}-822 world with annoying regularity.
     BITNET was also notorious as the apparent home of {B1FF}. By 1995 it
     had, much to everyone's relief, been obsolesced and absorbed into the
     Internet. Unfortunately, around this time we also got AOL.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  BITNET
       
           /bit'net/ (Because It's Time NETwork) An academic
          and research computer network connecting approximately 2500
          computers.  BITNET provides interactive, {electronic mail} and
          file transfer services, using a {store and forward}
          {protocol}, based on {IBM} {Network Job Entry} protocols.
       
          Bitnet-II encapsulates the Bitnet protocol within {IP}
          {packet}s and depends on the {Internet} to route them.  BITNET
          traffic and Internet traffic are exchanged via several
          {gateway} hosts.
       
          BITNET is now operated by {CREN}.
       
          BITNET is everybody's least favourite piece of the network.
          The BITNET hosts are a collection of {IBM} {dinosaurs},
          {VAXen} (with lobotomised communications hardware), and {Prime
          Computer} supermini computers.  They communicate using
          80-character {EBCDIC} card images (see {eighty-column mind});
          thus, they tend to mangle the {headers} and text of
          third-party traffic from the rest of the {ASCII}/{RFC 822}
          world with annoying regularity.  BITNET is also notorious as
          the apparent home of {BIFF}.
       
          [{Jargon File}]
       
          (2002-09-02)