Subject: U Illinois Chicago computer center replies to Thomas Date: Sun, 12 Feb 1995 11:13:07 CST Sender: Academic Town Hall <[log in to unmask]> From: "Jim O'Leary (312) 996-4643" <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Why the E-Mail May Stop! > I edit a list on intellectual history [H-IDEAS] affiliated with H-NET > lists in the humanities and history on the UIC LISTSERV. I received the > following note with the subject heading: Nationwide E-Crisis: H-Net > Threatened. Given the technical nature of the note, could someone who > is informed please explain what is or is not occurring since this > impacts on UIC, and in specific my provincial domain. Paranoids, you > know, are usually right. Burt Bledstein, History Since UIC is part of the "heart" of BITNET/LISTSERV, I'll try to do my best to explain what is going on. Please keep in the back of your mind the fact that Eric Thomas (who wrote the excruciatingly detailed technical story that that Dr. Bledstein forwarded to ACADEMY) has a personal financial stake in BITNET. He is the founder and owner of owner of L-SOFT Inc., the company that markets LISTSERV software. LISTSERV is the package behind UIC's highly successful "H-NET" and thousands of other worldwide "discussion groups". Eric does a very good job of explaining BITNET's problems, but at the same time he is using fear, paranoia and his vast network of contacts (including those who run H-NET and other LISTSERV groups) as marketing tools to promote his new products. UIC, in cooperation with CREN (the BITNET administration) and the other 11 or so BITNET 'hub/core' sites, has been putting a LOT of resources and effort into trying to solve the problems of the exponentially growing BITNET traffic. UICVM has been a volunteer BITNET hub for years, but for the last two years, BITNET traffic growth has become a major contributing factor to the overload on UICVM which results in poor response time on CMS. We have recently shifted about 80% of the BITNET traffic from the mainframe to two very large IBM PS/2 PCs that have special co-processors that allow "mainframe" software to run on them. These are the "P/370" computers mentioned and maligned by Eric Thomas. We are also in the process of obtaining a license to the "UNIX LISTSERV" that Eric Thomas is pushing as the best solution. Once the UNIX LISTSERV is in place, H-NET and other important UIC "discussion groups" can be moved to a Unix machine and will be less vulnerable to the problems of the BITNET "mainframe hubs". This should also help further reduce the UICVM overload. One thing I want the UIC faculty, staff and students to get a feel for is the unprecedented growth rates in the volume of e-mail and other services on both the INTERNET and BITNET. BITNET started as 'roll your own' network in 1981, even before the INTERNET started to emerge from the Department Of Defense. Each institution paid its own way and purchased its own communications link. UIC was one of the very first institutions to join BITNET, which has since grown to about 2,000 sites worldwide. Still, BITNET today is far smaller, far slower and FAR less useful than the INTERNET. Everyone expected that BITNET would be dead by now but it has survived and even flourished for one reason only: LISTSERV discussion groups (of which H-NET is an example). LISTSERV was developed by Eric Thomas as 'freeware' and quickly became the most popular BITNET application worldwide. Many of the "discussion groups" hosted on old BITNET mainframes have become so popular that thousands of new INTERNET users subscribe to BITNET discussions each week, putting new strains on the "INTERBIT" gateways. INTERBIT gateways are the 12 U.S. BITNET hubs that can exchange mail between BITNET and INTERNET. CREN is in the process of trying to expand the INTERBIT concept since there are very few BITNET institutions these days that are not also on INTERNET. It will take time before anything useful is in place. Eric Thomas has determined that BITNET/LISTSERV traffic is growing at a rate of about 50% every 6 months! There have also been recent reports that the growth rate of INTERNET traffic has already exceeded, by an order of magnitude, the highest growth rate ever recorded in the history of the U.S.long distance telephone network. Eric has wisely capitalized on this growth by taking his LISTSERV software commercial. Ironically, his software is the main contributing cause of the problems he now complains about! In summary, we're trying to do everything we possibly can with the human and hardware resources we have. There WILL still be bumpy times ahead as we try to cope with growth rates that are almost impossible to predict and cope with. Please bear with your Computer Center - we are trying our level best.