bnelson@CCB.BBN.COM ("Barry C. Nelson") (05/04/88)
It is not surprising that it is difficult to connect Bitnet to Compuserve. Compuserve is a Public Data Network (PDN) while I believe Bitnet (and Usenet?) are supported by universities wishing to exchange files or mail amongst themselves. Although it may be possible to send a Bitnet file to some host which also has Compuserve access, this would require external billing, as has been mentioned on this digest. In this case, such a host would be acting as a 'gateway' to Compuserve and would probably be billed by Compuserve as any other X.25 subscriber. It would then be the job of that host admin to recover the actual cost from the Bitnet user, or absorb the Compuserve service cost. Since such gateway business would be costly, I would suspect that this service would be either very limited or, conversely, advertised for profit in order to offset capital and operating costs. Internetworking of Public Data Networks with private networks and public Value Added Network (VANs) is a highly political business. Bi-lateral agreements must be adopted at each link, and in many cases between remote end-points as well. America is one of the few places that a PDN has competition. In many countries, even a totally PRIVATE network must have a federal license to connect each site. Some such networks are actively monitored to detect ANY leakage of public data. We have been spoiled by ARPA-subsidized services, cheap PDNs and phones. Barry C. Nelson /Senior Systems Engineer / BBN Communications Corporation / 70 Fawcett Street, Cambridge, MA "This document contains statements of opinion by the author which are not attributable to BBN Communications Corporation or its management."