From 1981 onwards a network of computers grew up in the USA using the IBM RSCS protocols as a means of staging files from machine to machine towards a final destination. Known as BITNET, it quickly became popular among universities and research establishments for file transfer and e-mail and had more than 200 machines connected by 1984.
In 1983 IBM offered to fund, until the end of 1987, the lines modems and some other equipment that would enable a similar network, to be known as EARN, to be set up in Europe.
The idea was to link various key European sites in a backbone network, and for each country to develop a network around their national site. For the UK the EARN site was the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory but, rather than build up a separate EARN network within the UK, a gateway was developed between EARN and JANET to allow file transfer and mail communication between computers on the two networks. EARN itself was connected to BITNET to provide transatlantic communication. RAL's connections to EARN were via dedicated lines to Dublin and CERN, both initially at 9.6 kbs, the latter being upgraded to 64 kbs in 1989.
For legal reasons special permission was needed from national and European telecommunications authorities to enable the network to be set up. This was granted with a proviso that the network would change to OSI networking protocols and use public switched networks within four years.
In due course the network infrastructure became established and there were 400 nodes within Europe by 1987. Planning for the transition to ISO protocols started in 1986 and, after the withdrawal of IBM funding, responsibility for the UK EARN gateway was taken up by the Computer Board for Universities and Research Councils, with operational control passing to the Joint Network Team.
In 1988 a new organisation, RARE (Réseaux Associés pour la Recherche Européenne), was formed to promote cooperation between the various national academic and research networks in Europe especially in the context of a general move towards the use of OSI protocols.
Eventually, in October 1994, EARN merged with RARE to form TERENA (Trans-European Research and Education Networking Association) whose aim was to 'promote and participate in the development of a high quality international information and telecommunications infrastructure for the benefit of research and education'.
