The Simtel archive had significant ties to the history of several operating systems: it was in turn a major repository for CP/M, MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows and FreeBSD.
[citation needed] It began as an early mailing list, then was hosted on the ARPANET, and finally the fully open Internet.
[citation needed] From 1993 on, the Walnut Creek CDROM FTP server and (later on) Web site became the focal point for online Simtel access.
In July 1998, the Simtel FTP server set a record for overall traffic with a total transfer amount of 417 GB of data in one day.
[citation needed] In October 1999, Digital River purchased Simtel from Walnut Creek CDROM for US$1.0 million and 143,885 shares of common stock.