At the beginning of the 1990s, the University IT and Data Centre at the University of Bonn also began installing a connection to the WIN science network (WIN - based on X.25 technology, which underlies the public DATEX-P network of Deutsche Bundespost TELEKOM and represents a physical carrier network for communication services). The new WIN connection enables the University of Bonn to communicate with a large number of universities, research institutions and information providers in Germany and abroad.

Communication via WIN is free of charge for institutes of the University of Bonn and is financed from RHRZ budget funds. The new science network is based on a contract between FDN and Telekom, which provides for the use of the necessary services in return for payment of fixed amounts. A similar contract is signed between the University of Bonn and Telekom on 15 December 1990. This lays the foundation for BONNET, the university's first own secure and encrypted university network.

In addition, a variety of changes in the demand structure of the institutes also lead to changes in the tasks at the RHRZ: many of the institutes' IT applications, which had previously been handled centrally, can soon be better handled locally at the workplace due to the further development of IT technology. For example, program development, data processing, word processing and also graphic visualisations of numerical results can be implemented with high productivity using decentralised microcomputers and workstations. However, this only works if the capacity of the devices is not required continuously, as there is no arbitrary computing power available. The rational solution is therefore (still) a shared computer operated around the clock.

The utilisation of the central processor capacity continues to grow from year to year. In 1990, when the IVM 3084-Q system is available all year round for the first time, it increases by more than 70%. It is foreseeable that this demand will continue to rise, even if the balance shifts in favour of decentralised and regional capacities in the future: this is already clear from the growing utilisation of the IT facilities in Bonn and the lively use of the supercomputers in Aachen and Jülich.

However, supercomputer time is not available indefinitely at the University of Bonn either. This means that universal computers must be supplemented by other computer types, for example by medium-sized vector computers with high scalar performance, in order to enable interactive work with large amounts of data from the workplace.

Against this background, permanently available storage space in the order of several hundred gigabytes is given particular importance at the beginning of the 1990s. In 1990, 100 GB can be offered in Bonn, but this is not sufficient in the long term. This is already demonstrated by the needs of Bonn's natural scientists with their experiments at DESY and CERN, as well as the theoreticians and the agricultural, legal and political scientists.

In the 1990s, the networking of workstations and PCs as well as data management in the network became particularly important. This led to the start of procurement measures, the WAP programme.

Procurement of multiple licences for PC software: In 1990, negotiations are held with numerous providers of microcomputer software on the allocation of inexpensive group, campus or national licences. State licences are acquired for the statistics program SPSS/PC+: the RHRZ distributes the licence software to the individual universities in NRW (and of course to the institutes of the University of Bonn). There is a similar arrangement for the statistics programme SAS, for which the Gesamthochschule Siegen has taken over the state-wide distribution.

‘RHRZ Aktuell": The first issue of the in-house magazine “RHRZ Aktuell” is published in September 1990. From now on, the RHRZ uses this format to regularly inform university members about projects and current topics at the RHRZ and from the IT world.

Mail service on the Internet: There has been a mail service on the HRZ mainframe in the European Academic Research Network (EARN) since the 1980s. In 1990, this was expanded with an SMTP interface, providing the university with a centralised mail service on the Internet for the first time.

On 1 April 1996, DFN-Verein's high-speed data network, the so-called Broadband Science Network (B-WIN), goes into operation with connection capacities of 34 Mbit/s and 155 Mbit/s respectively. Previously, regional broadband infrastructures had been trialled, in which the University of Bonn had already actively participated, and in 1996, after years of efforts to set up a high-speed network for science, it finally came to a successful conclusion.

On the initiative of the Ministry, all universities and universities of applied sciences in NRW are to be connected to the B-WIN by the end of 1996. The new technology is stable and the general performance between the B-WIN participants is very good. The only shortcoming: international connectivity is miserable.

The creation of the first website(s) of the University of Bonn: The Senate Commission for the Provision of Information in Data Networks is founded in June 1996 to formally clarify the (first) presentation of the University of Bonn and its institutes in the world wide web. This gives rise to the areas of press law and data protection, the aim of which is to draw up guidelines for the design of University of Bonn websites.

‘RHRZ Aktuell": The magazine “RHRZ Aktuell”, first published in September 1990, appears every six months from October 1996 and is now sent in duplicate to every institute at the University of Bonn as standard.

E-mail lists are also introduced at the RHRZ. The programme package Majordomo (list server software) is used for the processing and administration of e-mail lists.

The ULB database system set up in 1991 is also to be made usable at workstations in institutes with workstations in 1996. As long as there was no connection to the BONNET, it was not a problem that this was a system under MS-DOS. In 1996, various access options to the ULB database servers were realised.

In 1996, there was a general improvement in Internet access for students at the RHRZ. Students can now use workstations in several terminal rooms at the RHRZ to access the Internet. The devices available for this purpose are terminals with a text-only display. These can be used for e-mail, news and file transfer (FTP), but only to a very limited extent for the World Wide Web. From October 1996, the range of services is expanded and eight new workstations are available, on which access to the WWW with its graphic pages is possible.

Procurements in 1996 can be divided into four categories: 1) Large devices 2) CIP pool 3) WAP cluster (WLAN) 4) Networked IT systems

The state supercomputer in Aachen has 2 GB main memory, 108 GB disc capacity, 5 TB backup and archiving server.

IT courses are also held at the RHRZ in 1996: PC and Internet courses for beginners as well as UNIX C under UNIX courses are offered.

WIN utilisation: After years of delays in setting up a high-speed network for science and research in Germany compared to similar countries such as the USA and Great Britain, there were significant improvements in performance in 1997. The increased performance of the network infrastructure has a direct impact on the use of Internet services. The traffic volume doubles every six months and the total volume in August 1997 is more than 30,000 GB. This finally leads to an improved international connection.

The central mail server service is still hardly used in 1997, as the application procedure is too complicated. For this reason, a simplified application procedure is introduced.

Another milestone is the release of the first funds for the University of Bonn from the Special University Programme III, through which applications for the implementation of various measures in the area of basic multimedia equipment for the use of multimedia in universities are funded by the federal and state governments.

On 1 August 1997, the Multimedia Act comes into force and presents the RHRZ with new challenges.

At the beginning of the 1997 summer semester, an Internet workstation pool is set up and put into operation at the RHRZ. The utilisation options include access to the Internet WWW, news, FTP and e-mail. A separate workstation system under Linux is developed for this purpose.

The following IT courses are held at the RHRZ in 1997:

• PC for beginners,
• Internet for beginners,
• UNIX,
• C under UNIX,
• LINUX,
• FORTRAN 90,
• SPSS for Windows,
• Word processing for beginners,
• Excel
• + Lecture series on the use of PCs and data networks

In 1998, the BONNET backbone was to be converted to ATM, which had previously been operated as a logical ring with FDDI transmission technology and a speed of 100 Mbps. The backbone was now formed by ATM switches connected to each other in a star shape. A bandwidth of 155 Mbit/s is now available between every two switches and there is still a router in each service area to connect the networks within the service area to the backbone. However, the switch to ATM is not necessarily due to the higher data transmission rate, but primarily due to bandwidth reservations between the end devices. This means that real-time applications are now also possible, mainly for IT and medical projects.

The ATM backbone also offers better protection options. For example, data transfer between two facilities in spatially separated service areas (e.g. medical facilities) no longer takes place via a ring with several network stations, but directly via a central ATM switch.

Another co-operation project between the University of Bonn and Deutsche Telekom is launched in 1998. Deutsche Telekom offers the University of Bonn a co-operation agreement with the aim of enabling staff and students to access the University of Bonn's data communication network (BONNET) from their home PCs. This project promises to put an end to the frustration caused by constantly busy lines or connections being cancelled due to timeouts. The cooperation project will start with 240 network connections and will be usable for both digital (ISDN) and analogue (modem) connections. In April 1998, around 10,000 students and 3,250 employees are counted as authorised users.

In 1998, approval is granted for construction phase 2B of BONNET. With the DM 560,000 released, sufficient funds are available to equip a further 31 of a total of 92 university buildings with fibre optic connections.

In addition, the declaration of no objection for construction phase 2A of BONNET has finally been issued. The entire measure, which has a volume of DM 2.65 million, can now be realised within the framework of the available budget funds (also from previous years from 95 onwards). Funds from the Special University Programme III will also be used for the expansion. The total construction budget amounts to DM 9.8 million.

BONNET construction phase 2A (measures and realisation): In a first step, the route construction (civil engineering work) and the laying of approx. 5,000 m of fibre optic cables as well as the installation of passive components for the BONNET house connection of 31 university buildings (already completed in 1997) are pending. In a second step, further components will be procured (also completed in 1997). However, the installation can only be initiated in 1998, as the backbone changeover had to be brought forward. A third step now provides for the creation of the passive infrastructure for the in-house data network in the main building with 900 rooms (the largest building at the university), for which the main fibre optic network was laid in 1997. The fourth step is the procurement of active components for the commissioning of the in-house network in the main building.

BONNET construction phase 2B (and priority partial measures in 1998): In order to be able to start the next construction phase, it will first be necessary to create or supplement the passive infrastructure for the in-house data network of all university buildings (excluding medical facilities) in line with requirements, based on the 1996 requirements survey. Only then can the active components for commissioning the newly created in-house networks be procured. The budget of DM 9.8 million can only cover approx. 50% of the costs for the active components, meaning that institutes will have to contribute to the financing. After this, further route construction and the laying of fibre optic cables and installation of passive components can begin for all university buildings that were still unserved after the end of construction phase 2A or only received a provisional BONNET connection in previous years. In a fourth step, the procurement of further active components will be initiated in order to be able to put the fibre optic lines for the new buildings into operation.

In 1998, the opportunity arose in several areas of the city to carry out civil engineering work and also the laying of fibre optic cables in cooperation with Stadtwerke Bonn. The cooperation agreement with SWB provides for the laying of a fibre optic cable for the university on a route in the underground tunnel. This construction work can be completed in June 1998. Further SWB measures will follow in the summer in the Nassestraße and Lennéstraße areas.

The Bonn Tannenbusch II student hall of residence is connected to the network in 1998.

The BONNET dial-up accesses of the ‘uni@home’ project can be put into operation following the signing of the cooperation agreement with Telekom in mid-August. There will be new features: the dial-up accesses will have a standardised telephone number and there will be no more time restrictions and channel bundling for ISDN. This doubles the transition rate to 128 Kbit/s, analogue to the transmission rate of up to 56 Kbit/s for network access, including supra-regional access at local rates. In addition, students and employees of the University of Bonn receive particularly favourable conditions when applying for an ISDN connection: the costs of DM 100.87 are reimbursed in full in the form of a credit note.

In 1998, the year 2000 problem, also known as the y2k problem, gradually becomes known. The crash test 2000, carried out at the Hanover municipal utilities, had shown that computers stopped working approx. 120s after midnight during a trial changeover to 31 December 1999. The causes of this problem lay in the inadequate date display and the date arithmetic. This potentially jeopardised all areas in which dates and date differences were of substantial importance, as time and date processing takes place at all IT levels (be it hardware, firmware, operating system or network software). A further problem: it was common practice for some programmers to set 09/09/99 as a self-defined end-of-file marker, as this date was considered ‘practically never occurring’. This meant that malfunctions were literally pre-programmed when this date was reached. Whether errors in user administration, licence management or back-up processes, a ‘y2k capability’ had to be established.

To this end, it was necessary to clearly display and calculate the annual figures. This required a consistent changeover to four-digit annual figures or reference years. This proved difficult as the source code of the programmes was required.

To counteract the problem, the RHRZ has set up a new page on its website on the y2k problem, on which information on individual systems and their y2k capability can be viewed. The information ranges from all existing workstation systems and PCs to operating software and networks and describes the recommended procedure at the University of Bonn.

In the 1990s, the University Computer Centre also dealt with the topic of network security - in 1998, firewalls and their use were still viewed critically. The use of firewalls at the RHRZ and the University of Bonn, as well as at universities and research institutions in general, was seen as more of a hindrance than a benefit.

Another innovation is the introduction and growing acceptance of PDF formats and Acrobat 3.0 in the work of universities.

The following IT courses were held at the RHRZ in 1998:

• 
  PC for beginners,
• Internet for beginners,
• UNIX,
• LINUX,
• C under UNIX,
• C++ under UNIX
• FORTRAN 90,
• SPSS for Windows,
• Word processing for beginners,
• Excel,
• ACCESS database system,
• + Various lecture series e.g. ‘Publications on the WWW: How do I create my own homepage?’

The first in-house cabling for BONNET begins in January 1999.

One of the most significant changes at the university computer centre is scheduled for 1999: the shutdown of the jointly used IBM 9121-320 data processing system is planned for 30 June 1999. With the shutdown of the mainframe, the VM/CMS and MVS operating systems will also no longer be available. Preparations for the shutdown of the data processing system will begin in 1998, when the RHRZ will provide information on the options for migrating data stocks from magnetic discs and tapes and for converting applications.

From 30 June 1999, the IBM RS/6000 Unix workstation replaces the mainframe at the RHRZ. When migrating from MVS and VM/CMS to Unix/Windows, projects must either be completed in good time or transferred to another workstation or computer.

In November 1999, the RHRZ has something to celebrate: 25 years of the RHRZ (in its current legal form)! Data processing at the University of Bonn existed much earlier: in 1958-60, an LPG 30 calculating machine was purchased from Royal McBee. The addition of an ER 56 from SEL was the first computer that was generally available. The procurement and installation was initiated by Prof. Dr Heinz Unger, who is therefore rightly regarded as the founder of machine computing in Bonn. The establishment of an IT and data centre is based on the ideas and also the mechanical equipment of Unger's Institute for Instrumental Mathematics (IIM). The tasks of an IT and data centre on the basis of state laws and data processing and thus also the tasks of a university IT and data centre developed so quickly that the lawyers could not keep up with the drafting of laws and regulations. This created more and more scope for decision-making IT and data centres to develop properly. Of course, the task of a computer centre always remained the same: the professional supervision of all the IT capacities available at the university as well as the training and further education of users in the field of data processing. Conclusion of the first 25 years: The IT and data centre of the University of Bonn developed from a monolithic computer with few users to a strong increase in the number of users with the same, but more powerful hardware, to the transfer of services to the workplace and the necessary development of network topologies. The central tasks of the RHRZ include: networking and network services, the operation of central servers, support for decentralised systems, general consulting and support services as well as courses (applications, systems, Internet use) and IT coordination.