Operating Systems for Computer Networks

The last decade has seen the rapid evolution of computer communication networks from research curiosities to operational utilities. The Arpanet,1for example, currently supports communication among more than 100 computer systems and is used daily by hundreds of users. Commercial networks, such as Telenet2in the United States and Datapac3in Canada, have very bright futures. One attraction of these networks is their ability to provide access to a wide variety of resources distributed among the connected computers.