The mid-1980s Usenet users were not aware of the official X.25 computer connections between USSR and other countries, while they existed since 1980, primarily via VNIIPAS and Academset to Soviet bloc countries and Austrian hosts at IIASA and IAEA.[4][5] In 1983, the San Francisco Moscow Teleport (SFMT) venture was created to maintain USSR-American digital connections via VNIIPAS with its own Usenet analogues later known as Sovamnet ("Soviet-American net").