[ih] What does Telnet stand for?

[Vint Cerf]

I think "telecommunication network" is probably the term I recall
associating with the term "TELNET" -

that was because it was used to make it seem as if a "terminal"
(a fairly dumb device) connected directly to a mainframe computer
on the ARPANET was actually just connected to a telecom network
that linked the destination mainframe (host) to the terminal.
The host to which the terminal directly connected was rendered
invisible with the aid of the TELNET protocols running in both
the client host and the server host.

vint


On Jan 11, 2010, at 8:14 AM, Matthias Bärwolff wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I found conflicting explanation: In
> <http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=800103.803338> of 1977 they use
> "telecommunications network"; however, Oxford proposes "computing
> teletype network", TCP/IP Protocol Suite by Forouzan uses "terminal
> network"; and <http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/TELNET> suggests
> "Network Virtual Terminal Protocol".
>
> I briefly checked RFC 15, and 97, neither of which explains the  
> meaning
> of the term telnet.
>
> Thanks for your brief clarifications and suggestions.
>
> Matthias/
>
> /
>
> -- 
> Matthias Bärwolff
> www.bärwolff.de
>