International Packet Switched Service

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The International Packet Switched Service (IPSS) was the first international and commercial packet switching network. It was created in 1978 by a collaboration between Britain's Post Office Telecommunications, and the United States' Western Union International and Tymnet.[1][2][3]

History

This network grew from Europe and the United States to cover Canada, Hong Kong and Australia by 1981, and by the 1990s it provided a worldwide networking infrastructure.[4][5][6][7]

Companies and individual users could connect in to the network, via a PSS (Packet Switch Stream) modem, or an X.25 PAD (packet assembler/disassembler), and a dedicated PSS line, and use it to connect to a variety of online databases and mainframe systems. There was a choice of about three different speeds of PSS lines, although a faster line was more costly to rent.[8][9]

By 1984 British Telecom had joined the PSS to the global network and was providing IPSS services to customers. Companies including Dynatech, were providers of interconnectivity and infrastructure devices including line drivers, modems, self configuring modems, 4 port, 8 port and 16 port PADs, and switches. These were physical boxes delivering full implementation of x.25, x.28, x.29 and x.3 protocols with physical connectivity conforming to RS232 asynchronous connectivity specification.

JANET connections were available via IPSS.[10] In 1988 the IPSS directory listed approximately 800 global sites available for connection via X.25.

The network later adopted TCP/IP and provided infrastructure for the early Internet.[11][12][13]

See also

References

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  1. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Roberts, L.G. (1978). "The evolution of packet switching". Proceedings of the IEEE. 66 (11): 1307–1313. doi:10.1109/PROC.1978.11141. ISSN 1558-2256. S2CID 26876676.
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Rybczynski, Tony (2009). "Commercialization of packet switching (1975-1985): A Canadian perspective [History of Communications]". IEEE Communications Magazine. 47 (12): 26–31. doi:10.1109/MCOM.2009.5350364. ISSN 1558-1896. S2CID 23243636.
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Schwartz, Mischa (2010). "X.25 Virtual Circuits - TRANSPAC IN France - Pre-Internet Data Networking [History of communications]". IEEE Communications Magazine. 48 (11): 40–46. doi:10.1109/MCOM.2010.5621965. ISSN 1558-1896. S2CID 23639680.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Events in British Telecomms History". Events in British TelecommsHistory. Archived from the original on April 5, 2003. Retrieved November 25, 2005.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Council, National Research; Sciences, Division on Engineering and Physical; Board, Computer Science and Telecommunications; Applications, Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and; Committee, NII 2000 Steering (1998-02-05). The Unpredictable Certainty: White Papers. National Academies Press. ISBN 978-0-309-17414-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found..
  7. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."AFRICA INTERNET HISTORY: HIGHLIGHTS" (PDF). p. 18. At the beginning of the 1990s, African countries relied upon X.25 IPSS .. for international and internetwork computer communications.
  8. ^ Script error: No such module "template wrapper".
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Kirstein, P. T. (December 1984). "The University College London International Computer Communications Interconnection Service" (PDF). Internal Working Paper.
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Earnshaw, Rae; Vince, John (2007-09-20). Digital Convergence - Libraries of the Future. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-84628-903-3.
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hauben, Ronda (2004). "The Internet: On its International Origins and Collaborative Vision". Amateur Computerist. 12 (2). Retrieved May 29, 2009.
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Council, National Research; Sciences, Division on Engineering and Physical; Board, Computer Science and Telecommunications; Applications, Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and; Committee, NII 2000 Steering (1998-02-05). The Unpredictable Certainty: White Papers. National Academies Press. ISBN 978-0-309-17414-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found..

Sources