Transpac (data network)
{{Short description|French public data network (1978-2012)}}
Transpac, also written TRANSPAC, was a French public data network that operated from the December 1978 to June 2012.
History
The network was opened in December 1978 by the semi-public Transpac society. It offered the X.25 interface to its users, the CCITT standard of 1976 in which computer scientists of the Centre national d'études des télécommunications (CNET) had played a major role. This network was part of the worldwide X.25 network which, before the Internet, permitted data exchanges around the planet.
Initially created for professional customers, it was later used by millions of French terminals Minitels to access consumer applications, forerunners of those of the Internet.{{cite web| url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5621965| title=X.25 Virtual Circuits - Transpac in France - Pre-Internet Data Networking| date=November 2010| publisher=IEEE| doi=10.1109/MCOM.2010.5621965}}
In 1987, Transpac was the world's largest public packet-switched network with revenues of nearly $400m.{{Cite book |last=IDG Network World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nRIEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA67 |title=Network World |date=1988-09-26 |publisher=IDG Network World Inc |language=en}} Minitel videotex services accounted for 45% of its data and 20% of its $678m revenue in 1990.{{Cite book |last=IDG Network World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ww0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA25 |title=Network World |date=1991-09-16 |publisher=IDG Network World Inc |language=en}} By 1991, it was operating in fifteen European countries.{{Cite book |last=Chung |first=Seon Jong |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N0WQ52T7WX4C&pg=PA119 |title=Information Highways for a Smaller World and Better Living: Proceedings of ICCC'95 (12th International Conference on Computer Communication) August 21-24, Seoul |date=1996 |publisher=IOS Press |isbn=978-90-5199-240-3 |language=en}}
France Télécom closed the Minitel service, and the Transpac network via which it was available, in June 2012.{{cite web| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/how-france-fell-out-of-love-with-minitel-7831816.html| title=How France fell out of love with Minitel| date=June 2012| publisher=INDEPENDENT}}