TIA was created by Cyberspace Development, Inc. (CSD) to solve a growing problem: while the vast majority of Internet users currently have access via shell accounts, the vast majority of exciting new Internet tools -- such as NCSA's Mosaic -- require a full TCP/IP (i.e. SLIP or PPP) connection to work.
The software engineers at CSD, who specialize in Internet and TCP/IP applications, realized they could solve this problem by creating a program than ran directly on a user's shell account -- with no special privileges required -- and used the IP address of the host computer to provide the same services as standard SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol).
After overcoming several key technical challenges, we completed the core code in early 1994 and proceeded to optimize it until it equalled or exceeded the speed of standard SLIP. TIA was successfully beta tested at Colorado Supernet, one of the largest regional access providers, in June of 1994 and is now in daily use throughout the net.
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