CitiNet

A CitiNet is a local, citywide virtual private network (VPN), developed by Ziggurat, and established in some of the Reclaimed Cities during the Time of the Red. CitiNets are usually "air gapped", which means that there is only limited (and strongly controlled) access between them.

Overview
During the early 2030s, Ziggurat proposed to address the consequences of the DataKrash with a plan to transform the Data Term network in Night City with a new system, which could restore communications cheaply and reliably. Night Corp provide the corporation with a grant, and the City Council, although divided, offered their support. Ziggurat had the first, brand-new CitiNet up and running within months. The corporation quickly improved the usability of the CitiNet by overlaying it with the first Data Pool, an open protocol for displaying and sharing data that anyone could use.

Almost immediately after the Night City Data Pool went online, Ziggurat published its first set of apps to make use of it. This allowed the corporation to collect fees from the government for the set-up and maintenance of the CitiNet and Data Pool, and to monetize the use of the infrastructure y collecting and selling data as well as advertising space, and supplying users with upgrades for their apps.

By 2040, Ziggurat had brought CitiNets and Data Pools to most Reclaimed Cities in the New United States, the Pacifica Confederation, the Free States, and Canada. NetWatch oversaw the development of this new series of networks, with backing of Corporations. Communications between metropolitan regioins were restored with simple, inexpensive city-to-city hourly data-packet burst transfers, made possible by cobbling together a patchwork of reclaimed telephone lines, free-space optics, and even Nomad couriers. The long-distance communications only extended to text, voice, and video messages. Direct audio and visual communications still relied on the the more expensive services of WorldSat Communications Network.

By the mid-2040s, popular entertainment such as the Elflines Online online game was found on CitiNet servers.