SIMNET stands for SIMulator NETworking. Initiated in 1983, it was the first “shared virtual
reality� distributed simulation system, which continues to have significant influences. It was
sponsored by DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Department of
Defense’s principal high-risk, high-payoff research and development organization, established in
1958. In 1991, a study of various DARPA initiatives by the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies
listed SIMNET as one of six programs that have had the most profound effects on the DoD.
To put this in perspective, the other five were the ARPANET (the predecessor of the Internet); the
individual computer workstation; phased array radar; the stealth technology used to make aircraft
such as the F-117 fighter and the B-2 bomber “invisible� on radar; and ATACMS, the low cost,
long-range tactical artillery rocket system used successfully in Desert Storm to destroy enemy
surface-to-air missile sites and other targets (Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, 1991). That’s
quite a distinguished list in which to be included!