DATAPACDATAPAC, or Datapac in some documents, was Canada's packet switched X.25-equivalent data network. Initial work on a data-only network started in 1972 and was announced by Bell Canada in 1974 as Dataroute. DATAPAC was implemented by adding packet switching to the existing Dataroute networks. It opened for use in 1976 as the world's first public data network based on X.25. Operated first by Trans-Canada Telephone System, then Telecom Canada, then the Stentor Alliance, it finally reverted to Bell Canada when the Stentor Alliance was dissolved in 1999.
DECnetDECnet is a suite of network protocols created by Digital Equipment Corporation. Originally released in 1975 in order to connect two PDP-11 minicomputers, it evolved into one of the first peer-to-peer network architectures, thus transforming DEC into a networking powerhouse in the 1980s. Initially built with three layers, it later (1982) evolved into a seven-layer OSI-compliant networking protocol. DECnet was built right into the DEC flagship operating system OpenVMS since its inception.
Leased lineA leased line is a private telecommunications circuit between two or more locations provided according to a commercial contract. It is sometimes also known as a private circuit, and as a data line in the UK. Typically, leased lines are used by businesses to connect geographically distant offices. Unlike traditional telephone lines in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) leased lines are generally not switched circuits, and therefore do not have an associated telephone number.
VideotexVideotex (or interactive videotex) was one of the earliest implementations of an end-user information system. From the late 1970s to early 2010s, it was used to deliver information (usually pages of text) to a user in computer-like format, typically to be displayed on a television or a dumb terminal. In a strict definition, videotex is any system that provides interactive content and displays it on a video monitor such as a television, typically using modems to send data in both directions.
MinitelThe Minitel was a videotex online service accessible through telephone lines, and was the world's most successful online service prior to the World Wide Web. It was invented in Cesson-Sévigné, near Rennes, Brittany, France. The service was rolled out experimentally on 15 July 1980 in Saint-Malo, France, and from autumn 1980 in other areas, and introduced commercially throughout France in 1982 by the PTT (Postes, Télégraphes et Téléphones; divided since 1991 between France Télécom and La Poste).
Online service providerAn online service provider (OSP) can, for example, be an Internet service provider, an email provider, a news provider (press), an entertainment provider (music, movies), a search engine, an e-commerce site, an online banking site, a health site, an official government site, social media, a wiki, or a Usenet newsgroup. In its original more limited definition, it referred only to a commercial computer communication service in which paid members could dial via a computer modem the service's private computer network and access various services and information resources such as bulletin board systems, downloadable and programs, news articles, chat rooms, and electronic mail services.
Point-to-point (telecommunications)In telecommunications, a point-to-point connection refers to a communications connection between two communication endpoints or nodes. An example is a telephone call, in which one telephone is connected with one other, and what is said by one caller can only be heard by the other. This is contrasted with a point-to-multipoint or broadcast connection, in which many nodes can receive information transmitted by one node. Other examples of point-to-point communications links are leased lines and microwave radio relay.
AX.25AX.25 (Amateur X.25) is a data link layer protocol originally derived from layer 2 of the X.25 protocol suite and designed for use by amateur radio operators. It is used extensively on amateur packet radio networks. AX.25 v2.0 and later occupies the data link layer, the second layer of the OSI model. It is responsible for establishing link-layer connections, transferring data encapsulated in frames between nodes, and detecting errors introduced by the communications channel. As AX.
Prodigy (online service)Prodigy Communications Corporation was an online service from 1984 to 2001 that offered its subscribers access to a broad range of networked services. It was one of the major internet service providers of the 1990s. The company claimed it was the first consumer online service, citing its graphical user interface and basic architecture as differentiation from CompuServe, which started in 1979 and used a command-line interface. Prodigy was described by the New York Times as "family-oriented" and one of "the Big Three information services" in 1994.
