What is "catenet"

Catenet is an obsolete term for a system of packet-switched communication networks interconnected via gateways.

The term was coined by Louis Pouzin, a pioneer in packet-switching technology and founder of the CYCLADES network, at a time when network meant what is now called a local area network. Catenet was the concept of linking these networks into a network of networks with specifications for compatibility of addressing and routing. The term catenet was gradually displaced by the short-form of the term internetwork, internet (lower-case i), when the Internet Protocol replaced earlier protocols on the ARPANET.