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From: barmar@think.com (Barry Margolin)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc
Subject: Re: What is a Sponsor in Internet?
Message-ID: <1991Jun22.070053.4807@Think.COM>
Date: 22 Jun 91 07:00:53 GMT
References: <16130001@hpcmm7.HP.COM>
Sender: news@Think.COM
Reply-To: barmar@think.com
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
Lines: 19

In article <16130001@hpcmm7.HP.COM> chin@hpcmm7.HP.COM (fred chin) writes:
>I had some one ask me about Internet.  The question they asked
>had something to do with a sponsor.  I had no idea what a sponsor
>is in relations to internet.

Perhaps they were confusing the Internet with the old Arpanet.  Arpanet was
funded by DARPA, and was intended for use by DARPA contractors.  In order
to conect to the Arpanet, an organization had to be sponsored by their
DARPA contractee.

There may still be something similar on the Milnet, for connecting
contractors to the net.  However, these days, most commercial organizations
connect to the Internet through a regional research/educational networking
provider or a commercial service such as PSInet or Alternet.
-- 
Barry Margolin, Thinking Machines Corp.

barmar@think.com
{uunet,harvard}!think!barmar