VNIIPAS

The All Union Scientific Research Institute for Applied Automated Systems (VNIIPAS/ВНИИПАС) was a Soviet research institute that provided a computer network service, including international digital connections.^[1] It was the central node of inner USSR scientific data network called Akademset.^[2]

The entrance signboard at VNIIPAS (Gosteleradio screenshot, 1988)

VNIIPAS derived from 1976-established VNIISI/ВНИИСИ which was a partner project of Austrian International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA).

History

The IIASA at Laxenburg, Austria was created in 1972 as a joint USSR-USA effort to establish global scientific communications through the Club of Rome.

VNIIPAS operated from 1982 until 1995.

In 1983 VNIIPAS, Joel Schatz, Don Carlson, Michael Kleeman, Chet Watson, and George Soros^[3][4] created the joint telecommunication venture San Francisco — Moscow Teleport (SFMT), later known as Sovam Teleport ("Soviet-American teleport")^[5] that operated digital connections between USSR and USA and later became the SWIFT provider for the Soviet banking system.^[6]