Santronics Software, Inc. Fidonet began in San Francisco in the 1980's as a mail system, used by founder Tom Jennings, to pass his new software package, FidoBBS, to beta testers. In the wee hours of the morning, the software would dial these beta testers via Modem and send Jenning's latest correspondence and code updates. Since those early days, Fidonet has flourished and is now the second largest Electronic Mail Network in the world with over 20,000 systems connected and close to 1000 conferences available. It is the oldest BBS echo network, with lofty ideals, few rules and a loose structure.
Nodes are the individual systems within the Net.
You must have a Fidonet-compatible Frontend Mailer. The only way to apply for a nodelisting and be compliant with Zone Mail Hour is to have a Mailer installed and operational. A Frontend Mail System, such as Santronics Software's Platinum Xpress, is a requirement for Fidonet, or any similar FTS Network, and commonly referred to as a Mailer, which literally sits on top of a BBS program and detects incoming modem calls. If a human calls using a terminal program, the Mailer will pass the call to the BBS, transparent to the User, and a login to your system will occur. There is no breach of security with Mailer to Mailer transmission as it's one system directly connecting to another.