Panix is the third-oldest
ISP
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...
in the world after
The World
In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
and
NetCom. Originally running on
A/UX
A/UX is Apple Computer's Unix-based operating system for Macintosh computers, integrated with System 7's graphical interface and application compatibility. Launched in 1988 and discontinued in 1995 with version 3.1.1, it is Apple's first offic ...
on an Apple
Macintosh IIfx
The Macintosh IIfx is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from March 1990 to April 1992. At introduction it cost from to , depending on configuration, and it was the fastest Macintosh available at the time.
...
, Panix has gone through a number of transitions as the Internet has grown. It maintains a vibrant community of
shell users and posters to its private panix.*
USENET
Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it wa ...
newsgroups.
Panix was started as a commercial venture to fill the void created after
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
's primary USENET connected public access system (which was donation supported),
The Big Electric Cat, ceased operations.
Today, Panix is a full-service provider, offering V-Colo virtual personal servers (VPS), mailboxes and other email services, assorted domain services, web hosting, real and virtual colocation, Internet access (T3s, T1s, SDSL, ADSL, and national dialup), and web programming and network consulting services. Panix also specializes in Unix shell access, from anywhere on the Internet, anywhere in the world.
Panix is a vocal supporter of free speech and uncensored internet access.
Network security incidents
Panix was one of the first sites to identify the 1996
SYN flood
A SYN flood is a form of denial-of-service attack in which an attacker rapidly initiates a connection to a server without finalizing the connection. The server has to spend resources waiting for half-opened connections, which can consume enough ...
Denial of service
In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host conne ...
.
In 2005, the "panix.com" domain name was hijacked over a (US) long holiday weekend.
[Steven Cherry, Panix Attack: How New York City's oldest Internet service provider was hijacked and rescued IEEE Spectrum, Feb 200]
References
{{Reflist
External links
Panix
Panix (ISP),
Internet service providers of the United States
History of the Internet