On 31 December 1996 (Tuesday), BITNET will pass into history after 15
years of service.
 
For most Miami computing clients, this passage will occur unnoticed, as
dependence for network connectivity and communication (specifically,
electronic mail and file transfer capability) has gradually shifted from
BITNET to the Internet.
 
There are, however, some changes that may affect users of the centrally
managed, multi-user systems, MiamiU (IBM VM/CMS) and MiaVX1 (Digital
OpenVMS) and other BITNET-connected systems (including MiaVX3 on the
Middletown campus):
 
     *  electronic mail
 
        All e-mail will need to be addressed to Internet host.domain
        names (i.e., MiamiU.MUOhio.Edu) rather than BITNET node names
        (i.e., MiamiU).
 
        MCIS Technical Support has developed two local tools to help:
        (1) the command BITLOOK (on both MiamiU and MiaVX1) allows
            users to look up the Internet host.domain equivalent of a
            BITNET node.
        (2) the command BITCNVRT (on both MiamiU and MiaVX1) allows
            users to automatically convert entries in their e-mail
            addressbooks on either system from BITNET nodes to
            Internet host.domains.
 
        The mail systems on both MiamiU and MiaVX1 can perform on-the-
        fly BITNET-to-Internet address conversions for most outbound
        BITNET-addressed e-mail, *or* those systems can automatocally
        route BITNET-addressed e-mail to an Internet-BITNET gateway
        for as long as other institutions maintain such gateways.
 
     *  interactive communication
 
        Interactive communication between users of MiamiU or MiaVX1
        and other BITNET-connected systems using the TELL and SEND
        commands, respectively, will no longer be available, and
        will be replaced by use of e-mail messages.
 
     *  file transfers
 
        File transfers using the SENDFILE on MiamiU or SEND/FILE on
        MiaVX1 to send to other BITNET-connected systems will no
        longer be available, and will be replaced by use of e-mail
        messages and/or File Transfer Protocol (FTP) services.
 
 
For more information, please visit the BITNET Demise website at URL:
 
     http://www.muohio.edu/bitnetdemise/
 
or send questions or comments to [log in to unmask]
 
John
 
--
 
          Miami University
 
          John B Harlan
          Campus Wide Information Systems (CWIS) Coordinator
 
          Miami Computing & Information Services (MCIS) Client Services
          137 Hoyt Hall
          Oxford, Ohio 45056-1618
          (513) 529-5330 voice  (513) 529-5058 fax
          [log in to unmask]
          http://miavx1.muohio.edu/~harlanjb/