Telecom Gold

Telecom Gold (sometimes also known as BT Gold) was an early commercial electronic mail service launched by British Telecom in 1982. It was based on Prime minicomputers running Dialcom software (ITT Dialcom was later acquired by BT in 1986). The system offered various services, including e-mail to and from other Telecom Gold users and those of Dialcom services in other countries, and integration with telex and fax. Later, an X.400 e-mail gateway was added. Users would dial in to the system using a conventional modem and terminal emulator. The service eventually became obsolete with the growth of the Internet, and with rivals such as CompuServe.

References

* [http://www.connected-earth.com/Galleries/Frombuttonstobytes/ComputerNetworks/Thegrowthofe-mail/index.htm BT Connected Earth history of e-mail]
* [http://www.cbronline.com/article_cg_print.asp?guid=DAEC1472-3BFC-4DB6-B405-ADA75C9FEFB3 "British Telecom Seeks to Drive Dialcom Investment Harder in Deal with Prime", "Computer Business Review", 25th October 1988.]