Canada Remote Systems
Encyclopedia
Canada Remote Systems, or simply CRS, was a major commercial bulletin board system
located in the Toronto
area. It was one of the earliest commercial systems outside the "big iron
" companies such as CompuServe
or The Source
, and survived into the 1990s before being overwhelmed by the Internet
and closing down.
CRS was founded by Jud Newell in 1979 as Mississauga RCP/M, a small one-line system running on RCP/M that later became Toronto RCP/M after a move. It became CRS when Newell decided to make the growing system a full time job in 1985, moving to the then top-of-the-line PCBoard
system and moving to DOS
from CP/M
. It grew over the next few years to become one of the first really large BBS systems, which allowed its users to carry on conversations with thousands of local residents. At the time the average BBS system was run on a single 300 or 1200 baud modem and had extremely limited storage space for messages or files (hard drives were not yet common). At the other end of the scale, larger online services offered thousands of files and messages, but at a fairly high per-hour cost. CRS offered a practical "middle ground" between the expensive mainframe
systems and the local BBS, both in terms of pricing and features.
During the late 1980s the growth of the FidoNet
upset this balance somewhat. Now a user could call into their local free BBS system and have conversations with users from all over the world – although practically this was limited to North America
. PCBoard did support a Fido-like system known as RelayNet
(or RIME), but this was supported by PCBoard only and thus had a much smaller amount of traffic than the platform independent Fido. For some time CRS offered RelayNet hub service known as NAnet to other PCBoard operators throughout North America
in order to increase the user base, going so far as to offer a 1-800 number for these BBSes to call in on.
CRS's file area remained its major draw, with a library hosted on a number of networked servers that no small BBS could hope to match. Through the late 1980s and into the 1990s they added considerable amounts of storage and greatly improved modem speeds. In 1992 they could claim to be the largest PCBoard system in the world with over 250 lines and about 10,000 paid members. Throughout this period their main competitor was another Toronto PCBoard based system, Rose Media
, but Rose remained smaller at about 50 lines.
However their aggressive growth was also expensive, and forced the company into receivership in August 1990, with a sizable debt primarily owed to Bell Canada
. A group of private investors then purchased the system and restarted the company. By 1991 Jud had left the company and was involved briefly with the formation of the Toronto Area Free-net before eventually leaving the industry. In 1992, CRS changed its name to CRS Online and added another BBS system aimed at online chat
, which PCBoard did not support very well, at least in large multi-machine installations. In late 1994, CRS introduced a Windows-based Internet access service called Frontier that incorporated standard Internet functions including email, news and gopher, as well as access to its large file library.
In March 1995, CRS was acquired by Delrina
to serve as the foundation of Delrina's push into the services market. However, within months of this acquisition, Delrina was itself acquired by Symantec
, a US-based software company with little interest beyond Delrina's core software products, notably WinFax
.
In January 1996 CRS Online was purchased by a growing internet service provider
, iStar Internet. It appears their interest was primarily in CRS's customers, which it quickly absorbed into its standard Internet access offerings. CRS itself quickly disappeared.
Bulletin board system
A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...
located in the Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
area. It was one of the earliest commercial systems outside the "big iron
Big iron
Big iron, as the hacker's dictionary the Jargon File defines it, "refers to large, expensive, ultra-fast computers. It is used generally for number crunching supercomputers such as Crays, but can include more conventional big commercial IBM mainframes"....
" companies such as CompuServe
CompuServe
CompuServe was the first major commercial online service in the United States. It dominated the field during the 1980s and remained a major player through the mid-1990s, when it was sidelined by the rise of services such as AOL with monthly subscriptions rather than hourly rates...
or The Source
The Source (service)
The Source was an early online service, one of the first such services to be oriented toward and available to the general public. The Source described itself as follows:...
, and survived into the 1990s before being overwhelmed by the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and closing down.
CRS was founded by Jud Newell in 1979 as Mississauga RCP/M, a small one-line system running on RCP/M that later became Toronto RCP/M after a move. It became CRS when Newell decided to make the growing system a full time job in 1985, moving to the then top-of-the-line PCBoard
PCBoard
PCBoard was a bulletin board system application first introduced for DOS in 1983 by Clark Development Corporation. Clark Development was founded by Fred Clark. PCBoard was one of the first commercial BBS packages for DOS systems, and was considered one of the "high end" packages during the rapid...
system and moving to DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
from CP/M
CP/M
CP/M was a mass-market operating system created for Intel 8080/85 based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc...
. It grew over the next few years to become one of the first really large BBS systems, which allowed its users to carry on conversations with thousands of local residents. At the time the average BBS system was run on a single 300 or 1200 baud modem and had extremely limited storage space for messages or files (hard drives were not yet common). At the other end of the scale, larger online services offered thousands of files and messages, but at a fairly high per-hour cost. CRS offered a practical "middle ground" between the expensive mainframe
Mainframe computer
Mainframes are powerful computers used primarily by corporate and governmental organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing.The term originally referred to the...
systems and the local BBS, both in terms of pricing and features.
During the late 1980s the growth of the FidoNet
FidoNet
FidoNet is a worldwide computer network that is used for communication between bulletin board systems. It was most popular in the early to mid 1990s, prior to the introduction of easy and affordable access to the Internet...
upset this balance somewhat. Now a user could call into their local free BBS system and have conversations with users from all over the world – although practically this was limited to North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. PCBoard did support a Fido-like system known as RelayNet
RelayNet
RelayNet, also known as RIME for RelayNet International Mail Exchange, was an e-mail exchange networking protocol supported by the PCBoard bulletin board system. It was in most respects similar to FidoNet in purpose and technology, although it used names for its nodes instead of Fido's numeric...
(or RIME), but this was supported by PCBoard only and thus had a much smaller amount of traffic than the platform independent Fido. For some time CRS offered RelayNet hub service known as NAnet to other PCBoard operators throughout North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
in order to increase the user base, going so far as to offer a 1-800 number for these BBSes to call in on.
CRS's file area remained its major draw, with a library hosted on a number of networked servers that no small BBS could hope to match. Through the late 1980s and into the 1990s they added considerable amounts of storage and greatly improved modem speeds. In 1992 they could claim to be the largest PCBoard system in the world with over 250 lines and about 10,000 paid members. Throughout this period their main competitor was another Toronto PCBoard based system, Rose Media
Rose Media
Rose Media, also known as Rose Internet, was a Canadian dial-up Internet access provider in Toronto during the 1990s, and was a competitor of Canada Remote Systems ....
, but Rose remained smaller at about 50 lines.
However their aggressive growth was also expensive, and forced the company into receivership in August 1990, with a sizable debt primarily owed to Bell Canada
Bell Canada
Bell Canada is a major Canadian telecommunications company. Including its subsidiaries such as Bell Aliant, Northwestel, Télébec, and NorthernTel, it is the incumbent local exchange carrier for telephone and DSL Internet services in most of Canada east of Manitoba and in the northern territories,...
. A group of private investors then purchased the system and restarted the company. By 1991 Jud had left the company and was involved briefly with the formation of the Toronto Area Free-net before eventually leaving the industry. In 1992, CRS changed its name to CRS Online and added another BBS system aimed at online chat
Online chat
Online chat may refer to any kind of communication over the Internet, that offers an instantaneous transmission of text-based messages from sender to receiver, hence the delay for visual access to the sent message shall not hamper the flow of communications in any of the directions...
, which PCBoard did not support very well, at least in large multi-machine installations. In late 1994, CRS introduced a Windows-based Internet access service called Frontier that incorporated standard Internet functions including email, news and gopher, as well as access to its large file library.
In March 1995, CRS was acquired by Delrina
Delrina
Delrina was a Canadian software company founded by four individuals, Dennis Bennie as CEO and chairman, Mark Skapinker as president, Bert Amato as executive vice president and chief technical officer and Lou Ryan as executive vice president of world wide sales...
to serve as the foundation of Delrina's push into the services market. However, within months of this acquisition, Delrina was itself acquired by Symantec
Symantec
Symantec Corporation is the largest maker of security software for computers. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and is a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500 stock market index.-History:...
, a US-based software company with little interest beyond Delrina's core software products, notably WinFax
WinFax
WinFax is a Microsoft Windows-based software product designed to let computers equipped with fax-modems to communicate directly to stand-alone fax machines, or other similarly equipped computers.-History:...
.
In January 1996 CRS Online was purchased by a growing internet service provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
, iStar Internet. It appears their interest was primarily in CRS's customers, which it quickly absorbed into its standard Internet access offerings. CRS itself quickly disappeared.