The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

CompuServe Information Service
CI$
CompuServe
CompuServe Interactive Services

    (CIS, CompuServe Interactive Services).  An ISP and
   on-line service portal based in Columbus, Ohio, USA; part of
   AOL since February 1998.

   CIS was founded in 1969 as a computer time-sharing service.
   Along with AOL and Prodigy, CIS was one of the first
   pre-Internet, on-line services for consumers, providing
   bulletin boards, on-line conferencing, business news, sports
   and weather, financial transactions, electronic mail,
   Usenet news, travel and entertainment data and on-line
   editions of computer publications.  CIS was originally run by
   CompuServe Corporation.

   In 1979, CompuServe was the first service to offer electronic
   mail and technical support to personal computer users.  In
   1980 they were the first to offer real-time chat with its
   CB Simulator.  By 1982, the company had formed its Network
   Services Division to provide wide-area networking to corporate
   clients.

   Initially mostly serving the USA, in 1986 they developed a
   Japanese version called NIFTYSERVE.  In 1989, they expanded
   into Europe and became a leading Internet service provider.

   In 2001 they released version 7.0 of their client program.

   CompuServe home (http://compuserve.com/).

   (2009-04-02)