Econet was Acorn's low-cost local area network system, intended for use by schools and small businesses. Econet is rumoured to be an abbreviation of Economy Network, but Acorn were always careful to stress the Greek root, oikos, meaning "house".

Econet was first introduced for use with the Acorn Atom and Acorn System 2/3/4 computers in 1981. It became popular as a networking system for the BBC Micro and Archimedes computers. The Econet system was eventually supported on all post-Atom Acorn machines except the Electron, the A3010 and the eventually-cancelled Phoebe 2100. The system was supported by Acorn MOS, RISC OS and RISC iX. Acorn received an offer from Commodore International to license the technology, which it refused.

The Acorn Econet Bridge is unique amongst Cheese Wedges as it is the only one which does not connect to a BBC Micro. The Bridge connects into an Econet network as if it were a clock or a station. Its function is to link together two Econet networks.

Further details can be found at http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/8bit_Upgrades/Acorn_AEH20_EconetBridge.html

Our unit has a model/serial number of 25-AEH20-1000677