science

History of the Internet in Russia

History of the Internet in Russia is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand History of the Internet in Russia rather than just read about it. In short: The Russian internet (also known as the runet) is a part of the Internet with its main content in Russian. According to data from August 2019 and studies conducted by W3Techs, 6.5% of the 10 million most popular Internet sites in the world use Russian.

Key takeaways

History of the Internet in Russia belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect History of the Internet in Russia to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of History of the Internet in Russia from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Russian internet (also known as the runet) is a part of the Internet with its main content in Russian. According to data from August 2019 and studies conducted by W3Techs, 6.5% of the 10 million most popular Internet sites in the world use Russian. In 2013, according to these studies, the Russian language became the second most used on the Internet after English. Since the advent of the internet, once experienced a period of relatively greater internet freedom, however, the country has progressively tightened its control over international connectivity, emphasizing its autonomy, security and gradually developing an independent website ecosystem.

Background

In the USSR, the first computer networks appeared in the 1950s in missile defense system at Sary Shagan (first they were tested in Moscow at Lebedev Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering). 1957 Sputnik crisis contributed to development of computer networks both in USSR and USA. The Sputnik-1 online trajectory digital data was collected at 70 tracking stations, transmitted binarily via telegraph and then calculated at the Computing Centre of the Academy of Sciences. In the 1960s, the massive computer network project called OGAS was proposed but failed to be implemented, though stimulating development of pack of structures such as Gosplan Computing Centre established in 1959. In 1965 Kotok-McCarthy/ITEP USSR-USA computer chess game digital data was transmitted internationally via telegraph. Apollo–Soyuz USA–USSR joint space program (1972–1975) used digital data for spaceships monitoring and control and they were transmitted between participating countries via satellite links that were connected to ground networks consisting of nodes such as Star City, Russia and Houston space center. The Apollo–Soyuz 1975 flight paths were monitored and digitally processed by Soviet missile defense military programmers. Since 1972, Sirena and Express computer networks began nationwide operations connecting thousands of airline and railroad cash offices all over the country provided with keyboards, displays and printers for tickets. Later on, since the late 1970s, x.25 Soviet networks began to appear and Akademset emerged in Leningrad in 1978. By 1982 VNIIPAS institute was created in Moscow to serve as Akademset's central node. The connection was established in 1978 over X.25 permanent digital ground copper cable connection to IIASA in Laxenburg, Austria providing 9600 baud link which was divided by 4800 baud between USSR and middle-lying ČSSR (that allowed access to other worldwide networks). In 1983, VNIIPAS, together with the US government, Joel Schatz, Don Carlson, Michael Kleeman, and Chet Watson, created a Soviet X.25 service provider called SFMT ("San Francisco — Moscow Teleport") that later became Sovam Teleport ("Soviet-American Teleport"). VNIIPAS also provided X.25 services, including over satellite, to Eastern bloc countries together with Mongolia, Cuba and Vietnam. At the time, Western users of Usenet were generally unaware of that, and considered such networking in USSR nonexistent, so one of them on April 1, 1984, made an April fools' hoax about "Kremvax" ("Kremlin VAX") that gained some popularity for subsequent years. In 1988, John Draper after a visit in the USSR wrote an Usenet summarizing message saying that he discovered developed digital culture within Soviet users of computers. The first recorded Usenet message from USSR dates 26.12.1989. Later the USSR nominally joined the private Fidonet network in October 1990 when the first node of Region 50 appeared in Novosibirsk. Some of the early Soviet/Russian networks were also initiated as parts of BITNET.

Foundation of the Russian Internet

Sovam Teleport

Sovam Teleport is a Russian telecommunications company that was founded in 1990. The company was established as a joint venture of the San Francisco Moscow Teleport (SFMT) network and the All-Russian Research Institute of Automated Application Systems (ВНИИПАС). The name stands for "SOViet-AMerican Teleport". San Francisco Moscow Teleport (SFMT) was launched in 1983 by and Joel Schatz with the support of the US government. Californian modem node of SFMT was permanently connected to VNIIPAS/IIASA trans-country copper digital line existing since 1978 and established by future VNIIPAS director Oleg Smirnov. It was a non-profit project with a goal to expand the Internet to the USSR. In 1986, the project changed its status and became a commercial enterprise, with financing from George Soros added in 1988. The All-Russian Research Institute of Automated Application Systems provided a data transmission network with some countries in Eastern Europe, as well as Cuba, Mongolia, and Vietnam, almost all of the data traffic was scientific and technical information, and in 1983 organized a non-state email network. By the beginning of the 1990s, almost half of the VNII traffic amounted to operational data from electronic mail systems. The New York Times newspaper on February 19, 1989 on its first page published article "New Satellite Channel Opens Computer Link to the Soviets" by John Markoff that highlighted VNIIPAS/IIASA/Sovam network development with adding of Tymnet and Sprint satellite nodes at Central Telegraph. The company's first network was built on the X.25 protocol in 1990. In 1992, Sovam Teleport began to build a UUCP mail and terminal access system through American servers. Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola, DuPont, Estee Lauder, Time magazine, and France Presse were among the first corporate clients of the company. Since 1992, the British company Cable & Wireless, which has its own fiber-optic channels in Europe, has become the third co-founder of the company. On June 4, 1992, the company was re-registered as a limited liability partnership, and all three co-founders - Cable & Wireless, All-Russian Research Institute of Automated Application Systems and SFMT - received almost equal shares. On July 28, 1993, a communications center in Tashkent began servicing customers. The provider domain sovam.com, which opened on February 24, 1994, became the first public Internet site in Russia. Sovam Teleport in early 1990s became a first SWIFT network provider for emerging Russian banks (over x.25). In 1995 Sovam Teleport launched Russia Online (ROL) public dial-up ISP.

DEMOS-based network

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Runet logo at the 2009 Runet Prize ceremony

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with History of the Internet in Russia

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what History of the Internet in Russia claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to History of the Internet in Russia before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about History of the Internet in Russia ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of History of the Internet in Russia

In research: History of the Internet in Russia appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses History of the Internet in Russia in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: History of the Internet in Russia is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics History of the Internet, Internet in Russia, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for History of the Internet in Russia outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study History of the Internet in Russia in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what History of the Internet in Russia means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain History of the Internet in Russia out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is History of the Internet in Russia in simple terms?

Why does History of the Internet in Russia matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study History of the Internet in Russia?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on History of the Internet in Russia.