Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

BITNET
     
         /bit'net/ (Because It's Time NETwork) An academic
        and research computer network connecting approximately 2500
        computers.  BITNET provides interactive, {electronic mail} and
        file transfer services, using a {store and forward}
        {protocol}, based on {IBM} {Network Job Entry} protocols.
     
        Bitnet-II encapsulates the Bitnet protocol within {IP}
        {packet}s and depends on the {Internet} to route them.  BITNET
        traffic and Internet traffic are exchanged via several
        {gateway} hosts.
     
        BITNET is now operated by {CREN}.
     
        BITNET is everybody's least favourite piece of the network.
        The BITNET hosts are a collection of {IBM} {dinosaurs},
        {VAXen} (with lobotomised communications hardware), and {Prime
        Computer} supermini computers.  They communicate using
        80-character {EBCDIC} card images (see {eighty-column mind});
        thus, they tend to mangle the {headers} and text of
        third-party traffic from the rest of the {ASCII}/{RFC 822}
        world with annoying regularity.  BITNET is also notorious as
        the apparent home of {BIFF}.
     
        [{Jargon File}]
     
        (2002-09-02)