Almost sixteen years ago after they had established the first open internet connection between Europe and the United States, CWI network administrator Piet Beertema and UUnet founder Rick Adams were reunited on September 16. Adams was one of the guests of the symposium Networking in the Netherlands. 140 family members, friends, press and (former) collaegues attended the event organized as a tribute to Beertema who is leaving CWI after 38 years of service.
Adams and the other speakers, Erik-Jan Bos (SURFnet) and Kees Prins (Stichting Internet Domeinnaamregistratie Nederland) mentioned the important part Beertema played in the early development of internet in the Netherlands. Not only did Beertema set up the first European connection to the internet, he was also responsible for the registration of the .nl domain in 1986. For ten years he personally handed all applications for .nl addresses. Rejo Zenger from Stichting Spamvrij.nl spoke about the efforts to fight spam, which Beertema considers one of the greatest threats to internet.
More information can be found on the symposium's website or Beertema's homepage
