CIX
A British conferencing system from 1987 that went from dial-up discussion forums to being one of the country's first commercial internet providers.
Compulink Information eXchange was started by Frank and Sylvia Thornley in London. Subscribers dialled in by modem and talked in text-based conferences — much like a BBS, but bigger, paid-for and with an audience of journalists, programmers and tech writers. Since per-minute call charges were the real expense, most people read through an offline reader: grab everything, hang up, reply at leisure.
In the early 1990s CIX offered email and then full internet access, at a time when most Britons had no idea what that meant. Like The World and Netcom in the US, CIX showed the route from closed online system to open internet provider — and then watched the big players take the market.