Thursday, March 19, 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 5
'Net knocks BITNET offline
University will end network connection
By Aaron Knopf
aknopf@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Today, the University of Kansas drops its connection to BITNET, an international e-mail network that once rivaled the Internet.
BITNET has been surpassed by a rapidly growing Internet during the past years.
"Before the Internet was ubiquitous, this was a cheaper way of getting long-distance networking," said Wes Hubert, assistant director of academic computing services. "You had the cost of the line you put in and BITNET membership dues, and that was really all."
Most students and faculty now take for granted the ability to send e-mail to colleagues, friends and family anywhere.
But sending e-mail past the lines of the campus was not a possibility until the University established its connection to BITNET 12 years ago.
- "It started us all down the road
on the importance of networking across the nation," said Jerry Niebaum, academic computing services director.
The BITNET connection predated the University's connection to the Internet by about six months.
"It is now possible to exchange messages with hundreds of colleges and universities in the United States, Canada, Europe, Israel and Japan without any additional charge to either the sender or receiver other than local computer time," announced the April/May 1986 edition of Computing News, a computing services bimonthly newsletter.
Hubert said BITNET was used widely by academic institutions in the 1980s.
"At it's peak, it connected somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 systems in the United States," Hubert said. "For a while, it certainly was a lot more heavily used than the Internet."
But the Internet proved more successful in the long run. Whereas there are now millions of systems connected to the Internet, Hubert estimated that there were, at most, 500 systems remaining on BITNET.
The Internet's phenomenal growth has come from the many services that are available across the network, such as the World Wide Web. Hubert said that BITNET was used for little more than sending e-mail between academic sites.
BITNET was structured like a chain. The University of Kansas leased a 56k telephone line to Kansas State University, which connected to Iowa State University, which connected to another university.
"The principle was that you agreed to connect and then you agreed to have someone to connect to you." Niebaum said.
Mail then traveled along that chain of computers in a set path.
"With BITNET, there was a specific path that it would be following through routing tables that were updated each month," Hubert said.
He said the local maintenance of those routing tables was no longer worth the effort because of BITNET's low use. He also said the Corporation for Research and Educational Networking, which maintains the BITNET routing tables, planned to discontinue maintenance of these tables in the near future, effectively ending BITNET.
Put brakes on theft during break
By Ronnie Wachter
rwachter@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
University of Kansas students and Lawrence residents need to consider house and property security before flocking to the beaches and the ski slopes for spring break, said Tom Moore, Lawrence police officer.
missing."
Moore said that every spring break, Lawrence experienced an increase in burglaries, especially in student-populated areas. However, this trend could end if students take some precautions, he said.
"The first thing you can do is tell your neighbors you're going to be gone so they can look out for you," Moore said. "See if one of them will check inside your house a few times while you're gone to make sure nothing is
Moore said that someone walking in or out of the house might give potential burglars the impression the house was occupied.
"It could throw a potential thief off guard or at least cause them to target someone else," he said.
But if neighbors will be out of town, Moore recommended students postponed newspaper and mail delivery.
"That's a dead giveaway, when there's a paper or two on your lawn," he said.
Moore also said vacationers should move valuables, such as computers, stereos, TVs or VCRs, away from windows, where the items could be seen easily.
"If you have a sliding-glass window," Moore said, "you should put a broomstick on it to
keep it forced shut."
Sgt. Chris Keary of the KU Public Safety Office said that although most residence halls would close during break, students living on campus still could protect their valuables.
"If they can keep it with them, they should take it with them." Keary said. "For things like jewelry, and anything else small and valuable, if you have it with you, you know no one else has it."
Lewis and McCollum halls will be the only residence halls open during the break.
Keary said police would patrol campus parking lots next week but students should try to take their cars with them on break.
"If they do leave them on campus, they need to make sure nothing valuable is visible," Keary said. "Put things under the seats or in the trunk."
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Foreign Language Proficiency Evaluation Project (PEP).
PEP Will be conducted at the University of Kansas, March 30 through April 2,1998. All students who participate will be issued a Certificate of Proficiency, which describes your proficiency in Listening and Reading using the Federal Interagency Language Roundtable proficiency levels. This is an excellent opportunity for graduating seniors or anyone who has completed advanced language courses.
For more information please contact: John Huy, Ermal Garinger Academic Resource Center, 864-4782,jhuy@ukans.edu.
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