VNIIPAS

The All Union Scientific Research Institute for Applied Automated Systems (VNIIPAS/ВНИИПАС) was a Soviet research institute that provided a computer network service, including international digital connections.

[1] It was the central node of inner USSR scientific data network called Akademset.

[2] VNIIPAS derived from 1976-established VNIISI/ВНИИСИ which was a partner project of Austrian International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA).

The IIASA at Laxenburg, Austria was created in 1972 as a joint USSR-USA effort to establish global scientific communications through the Club of Rome.

In 1983 VNIIPAS, Joel Schatz, Don Carlson, Michael Kleeman, Chet Watson, and George Soros[3][4] created the joint telecommunication venture San Francisco — Moscow Teleport (SFMT), later known as Sovam Teleport ("Soviet-American teleport")[5] that operated digital connections between USSR and USA and later became the SWIFT provider for the Soviet banking system.