1834: Whois and Network Information Lookup Service, Whois++.

As currently defined, NICNAME/WHOIS [HARR85] service is a TCP transaction based query/response server, running on a few specific central machines, that provides netwide directory service to Internet users. The Network Information Center (NIC) maintains the central NICNAME database and server, defined in RFC 954, providing online look-up of individuals, network organizations, key host machines, and other information of interest to users of the Internet. The usefulness of this service has lead to the development of other distributed directory information servers and information retrieval tools and it is anticipated more will be created. Many sites now maintain local directory servers with information about individuals, departments and services at that specific site.