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Akademset

Akademset was a Soviet computer network established in 1978 to connect scientific and civil institutions across the USSR, serving as a precursor to the Internet. It utilized the X.25 digital standard and was linked to ARPANET and other networks, with its central node located in Moscow. After the Soviet Union's dissolution, Akademset was rebranded as ROKSON and its components are now part of the local area network within the Internet.

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43 views3 pages

Akademset

Akademset was a Soviet computer network established in 1978 to connect scientific and civil institutions across the USSR, serving as a precursor to the Internet. It utilized the X.25 digital standard and was linked to ARPANET and other networks, with its central node located in Moscow. After the Soviet Union's dissolution, Akademset was rebranded as ROKSON and its components are now part of the local area network within the Internet.

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Akademset

Akademset (Russian: Академсеть, Academic Network), or All-


Union Academic network — was a computer network for
providing digital connection of scientific and civil institutions
across the USSR, that was established in 1978. In fact, it was a
Soviet forerunner to the Internet and had a connection with
ARPANET and other western analogues using the common digital
standard called X.25. After dissolution of the Soviet Union it was
re-created under the name ROKSON (РОКСОН),[1] and
nowadays its surviving components may be considered as a local Academset planned structure
area network within the Runet and the Internet.

Creation and development

LVC
In 1974 in Leningrad, at the Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute, a computing subdivision was established
that was entitled Leningrad Computing Center (ЛВЦ/LVC) of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet
Union (АН СССР/AN SSSR). The main goal of LVC was the creation of the Computing Center for
Collective Use (ВЦКП/VCKP) for staff of all of the institutions (over 40) of the Leningrad Scientific
Center (ЛНЦ/LNC). It was proven effective, that was specially remarked by AN SSSR and the authorities
of the city and the country, and by the end of 1977 the VCKP was used by over 15 city's scientific
institutions, that exploited computer performance of the Center. Following that, the Presidium of the AN
SSSR asked the Government of the Soviet Union to convert LVC into the Leningrad Research Computer
Center (ЛНИВЦ/LNIVC) that was founded on January 19, 1978. Non-academic institutions, including
factories, began to join its computing network. The network became known as ИВСКП/IVSKP —
"Information and computing system for collective use".

LNIVC was in fact functioning as a central node of the forming city-wide computer network which began
to be called LIVSAN/ЛИВСАН — "Leningrad information-computer network of the AN" (SSSR). In
1979 scientists at the AN considered it to be a success and began planning such network country-wide
under the name Akademset.[2] In 1978 LNIVC was reformed into an institution nowadays known as St.
Petersburg Institute for Informatics and Automation of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

In 1982 in Moscow, a dedicated research institution, VNIIPAS, was established to serve as the central
node of the Akademset with the abroad X.25 connection to Austria to International Institute for Applied
Systems Analysis. Links to most of "socialist countries" were also established, including satellite ones to
Cuba, Mongolia and Vietnam.
NATO study
In 1986 in Brussels, a NATO analysis was published, entitled "The Status of Soviet Civil Science".[2] It
contained a dedicated section about Akademset, including its planned all-Union scheme. It was stated that
"the first phase of the network was accepted for operation in 1986 by a governmental commission,
including about 55 interactive computers". The book also reads:

"The initial problems encountered in building Akademset’ have stemmed from the
communications and hardware limitations ... For instance, in order to achieve high speeds
using a protocol such as OSI, it is necessary to have sufficient main memory in order to pass
packets and headers from level to level ... Shortages of communications peripherals remain,
and the cost of leased lines remains high ... These problems can be solved largely by better
hardware. More serious is the absence of trained personnel at the centers that are supposed to
be connected to Akademset’." <...>
"Will the Communist Party of the USSR (CPSU) permit electronic mail? On the surface, it
would appear to amount to electronic publishing without censorship, because messages could
be sent practically instantaneously to a large number of users. However, the CPSU may also
view electronic mail as nothing more than a faster version of regular mail. It would be
possible to delay the delivery of some messages while they were checked, to use random
searches, and to monitor all transactions by individuals under surveillance. The interference
could be crude enough that most users would be aware of it and would practice self-
censorship, particularly in communications with foreigners. The party could reap the benefit
of more efficient communications without a substantial threat of increased activity by
dissidents."

Hudson study
USA's Hudson Institute published a research of Akademset in 1989.[3] It emphasizes resemblance of
Akademset to early ARPANET and also reads:

"The general architecture of Akademset' is that of a meta-network of regional networks . The


various regional networks, in turn, are presently divided into two "zones": the working zone
and the experimental zone. The latter is developmental in nature and the place where new
network solutions are tried and tested after which, in theory, the accepted designs are passed
to industry for production and implementation in the working zone. Among the basic
architectural solutions already accepted for Akademset' is the decision to make it an open,
packet switching network with a modified ISO X .25 layer protocol implemented throughout
. Users are to have access, from their individual terminals, " ...to all information resources
(data banks, information systems, mathematical models, computer capabilities, etc .)"

See also
OGAS
St. Petersburg Institute for Informatics and Automation of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Cybernetics in the Soviet Union
Internet in Russia

References
1. (in Russian) Академическая компьютерная сеть С.-Петербурга (http://www.computer-mu
seum.ru/connect/acadnet.htm) — журнал «Электросвязь» № 5, 2003 г., стр. 17.
2. The Status of Soviet Civil Science: Proceedings of the Symposium on Soviet Scientific
Research, NATO Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, 1986 (https://link.springer.com/book/10.
1007/978-94-009-3647-8)
3. "Research report" (https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/nceeer/1989-801-5-2-Judy.pdf) (PDF).
ucis.pitt.edu. 1989.

Further reading
Judy, Richard; Clough, Robert (1989). "Soviet Computer Software and Applications in the
1980s" (https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/nceeer/1989-801-5-2-Judy.pdf) (PDF). Retrieved 10 April
2021.
Goodman, Seymour; McHenry, William; Wolcott, Peter (1989). "Scientific Computing in the
Soviet Union" (https://aip.scitation.org/doi/pdf/10.1063/1.4822814). Computers in Physics. 3:
39. doi:10.1063/1.4822814 (https://doi.org/10.1063%2F1.4822814). Retrieved 10 April 2021.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Akademset&oldid=1255912560"

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