blue glue

Blue Glue
 n.

   [IBM; obs.] IBM's SNA (Systems Network Architecture), an incredibly
   {losing} and {bletcherous} communications protocol once widely favored
   at commercial shops that didn't know any better (like other
   proprietary networking protocols, it became obsolete and effectively
   disappeared after the Internet explosion c.1994). The official IBM
   definition is "that which binds blue boxes together." See {fear and
   loathing}. It may not be irrelevant that Blue Glue is the trade name
   of a 3M product that is commonly used to hold down the carpet squares
   to the removable panel floors common in {dinosaur pen}s. A
   correspondent at U. Minn. reports that the CS department there has
   about 80 bottles of the stuff hanging about, so they often refer to
   any messy work to be done as using the blue glue.
    

Systems Network Architecture
Blue Glue
SNA

   <networking> (SNA) {IBM}'s proprietary high level networking
   {protocol} {standard}, used by IBM and IBM compatible
   {mainframes}.

   Also referred to as "Blue Glue", SNA is a bletcherous protocol
   once widely favoured at commercial shops.  The official IBM
   definition is "that which binds blue boxes together."  It may
   be relevant that {Blue Glue} is also a 3M product commonly
   used to hold down carpets in {dinosaur pens}.

   [{Jargon File}]

   (1994-11-23)