CompuServe Information Service
CI$
CompuServe
CompuServe Interactive Services
(CIS, CompuServe Interactive Services). An ISP and on-line service portal based in Columbus, Ohio, USA; part of AOL since February 1998.
CIS was founded in 1969 as a computer time-sharing service. Along with AOL and Prodigy, CIS was one of the first pre-Internet, on-line services for consumers, providing bulletin boards, on-line conferencing, business news, sports and weather, financial transactions, electronic mail, Usenet news, travel and entertainment data and on-line editions of computer publications. CIS was originally run by CompuServe Corporation.
In 1979, CompuServe was the first service to offer electronic mail and technical support to personal computer users. In 1980 they were the first to offer real-time chat with its CB Simulator. By 1982, the company had formed its Network Services Division to provide wide-area networking to corporate clients.
Initially mostly serving the USA, in 1986 they developed a Japanese version called NIFTYSERVE. In 1989, they expanded into Europe and became a leading Internet service provider.
In 2001 they released version 7.0 of their client program.