Internet Host: nic.cerf.net
Directory: farnet
Subdirectory: farnet_docs
Filename: gaz-nov91.txt
Last Updated: Nov 11, 1991
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WELCOME TO THE FARNET [BI]MONTHLY GAZETTE FOR OCT-NOV 1991!
(From the French "gazette", a small newspaper, from the Italian
"gazeta", the coin used to pay for such a paper.)
Published by FARNET, Inc. To submit information or to request
to be added to the electronic distribution list, mail to
[email protected]. Back issues are available for ftp
from a public directory on nic.cerf.net, in directory farnet,
subdirectory farnet_docs.
FARNET, 100 Fifth Avenue, Waltham, MA 02154. Telephone (617)
890-5120. Fax (617) 890-5117. Email
[email protected].
Copyright 1991 FARNET, Inc. Permission to quote from this
newsletter with attribution is hereby granted.
This month's news at a glance:
FARNET Delivers Recommendations to NSF
"Enlarger of the Common Life"
FARNET Meets with IETF November 18-19 in Santa Fe
FARNET RFI on NSF NIC Services Released
Consortium for School Networking Takes Off
State and Provincial Nets in the Pacific Northwest to Use IP
FARNET Member Survey: Taking Stock
Executive Director's Message
Recommended Reading: "Building the Open Road" Mitch
Kapor's View of the Emerging NREN (RFC 1259)
--> The FARNET Board of Directors has delivered its
recommendations to the National Science Foundation regarding
connectivity among midlevel networks after the current agreement
for NSFNET backbone operations expires in November 1992. A copy
of the document is being forwarded to all participants in the
workshop and discussion that laid the groundwork for the
recommendations, and to others interested in the policy issues the
paper addresses. To retrieve a copy electronically, ftp to
nic.cerf.net, log in as "anonymous", change to directory farnet,
sub-directory farnet_docs, filename "nsf-backbone-rec".
In summary, FARNET has recommended that a strong NREN program be
established under NSF management, with a new solicitation for
midlevel interconnection services to be issued this year. This
solicitation would have multiple awardees, who would be required
to cooperate in delivering services to the target communities.
We encouraged NSF to consider alternatives to a traditional
backbone, such as the CIX/FIX model, in its awards. In
addition, we urged NSF to support the development of new
applications and network management software, and to insure
provider accountability through the grants process. We also
argued for experimentation with the delivery of commercial
services in the IINREN (interim interagency NREN).
--> Messenger of sympathy and love,
Servant of parted friends,
Counselor of the lonely,
Bond of the scattered family,
Enlarger of the common life.
Carrier of news and knowledge,
Instrument of trade and industry,
Promoter of mutual acquaintance,
Of peace, and of good will
Among men and nations.
A vision of what computer networks can become in the era of the
global village? These lines are inscribed on the old City Post
Office in Washington, DC, which is being remodeled to house the
Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Archive.
--> FARNET will meet in Santa Fe, NM on Nov. 18-19 to look at
how to improve end-to-end reliability in the Internet. The
meeting is co-located with the 22nd meeting of the Internet
Engineering Task Force, and members of each group will attend
sessions sponsored by the other. FARNET sessions are open to a
limited number of non-members on a first-come, first-served
basis for a registration fee of $75. You can retrieve a copy of
the agenda from the public ftp directory on nic.cerf.net,
directory farnet, subdirectory farnet_docs, filename
agenda-nov91.
--> FARNET RFI on NSF NIC services... On November 1
FARNET released a Request for Information for potential
partners in a response to NSF's upcoming solicitation for
Network Information Services for the Interim Interagency
NREN. FARNET expects to bid on a non-exclusive basis with
qualified organizations, with FARNET as principal provider of
coordination services. Since its founding in 1987, FARNET has
worked in cooperation with other national and international
networking groups, and it is well positioned to extend this
aspect of its mission. For a copy of the RFI, send mail to
[email protected].
--> IP on state and provincial networks in the Pacific
Northwest... At the annual meeting of the Pacific Northwest
Economic Region (PNWER) in October, legislative leaders from six
northwestern states and provinces agreed to work in partnership
with NorthWestNet to promote the TCP/IP protocol as a standard
means of digital communication. This resolution will affect
agencies in the PNWER states and provinces of Alaska, Idaho,
Montana, Oregon, Washington, Alberta, and British Columbia.
Said Eric Hood, Executive Director of NWNet, "The adoption of
this standard will allow key government agencies in northwestern
states to participate fully in the national networking
community." For the full text of the NWNet press release, check
the public ftp directory on nic.cerf.net, directory farnet,
subdirectory farnet_docs, filename nwnet-press-rel.
--> Consortium for School Networking takes off... A consortium
of groups and individuals interested in expanding the use of
networking technology in K-12 education has been formed, and a
slate of officers and preliminary list of activities were
proposed at Educom91 in San Diego (October 15-19). Like FARNET,
the consortium will bring together local, state, regional, and
national organizations in a national association to work on
projects of common interest. Target activities: documenting
and communicating current network-related activities in K-12;
stimulating the development of better user interfaces and
improved access to information; promoting collaborations and
curriculum innovations that use networking; and expanding
connectivity and lowering connection costs. FARNET is exploring
several project possibilities with the Consortium, and Jim
Luckett, chair of FARNET's K-12 Committee, is on the COSN board.
For more information check out the document "cosn" in the
farnet_docs directory on nic.near.net (see instructions
earlier).
--> FARNET Member Survey: Taking Stock...FARNET members, watch
your mailboxes! We are surveying FARNET members to find out
more about their services, membership, networking partners, and
priorities for FARNET. This information will be used to develop
a composite picture of the midlevel networks, prepare
promotional material that describes FARNET and its members, and
guide FARNET's activities. It will also provide necessary
background for FARNET proposals, such as the response to the NSF
NIC solicitation.
--> Executive Director's Message... At last year's Educom
conference in Atlanta, Steve Jobs, founder of Apple and NeXT
Computers, described "workgroup" personal computing as the great
challenge -- and opportunity -- of the 90s. At this year's
Educom conference, Bill Joy, one of the authors of Berkeley UNIX
and a founder of Sun Microsystems, told us that, while the 80s
had been the decade of quantitative change in computing
(smaller, faster, cheaper), the 90s would be a decade of
qualitative change, in which we will see "nomadic" computing,
"vehicular" computing, and "designed spaces" to support the
interactions of people with their portable (and often wireless)
electronic information processing devices. At Comdex, one week
later, Andrew Grove, president and CEO of Intel Corporation,
demonstrated that all of this is already beginning to happen. The
focus of his keynote address was "computer-supported
collaboration," and the message was that changing the way people
work will create the first real gains in productivity based on
PC technology. Those PCs, of course, will have to support the
real-time exchange of all types of information (voice, data,
video) interactively, using wireless communications and ordinary
phone lines as well as high speed networks. (Just so you know
that Grove has his feet on the ground, he also remarked, "To
network our universe, we must overcome three problems: networks
are hard to build, networks are hard to maintain, and networks
are unmanageable.")
I was struck once again by the notion that we are on the
frontier -- that my colleagues and friends are creating the
technology and the social infrastructure to support this highly
networked, information-rich world of the future. It's easy to
lose sight, in the midst of broadcast storms, funding battles,
and personnel crises, of the fact that a great transformation is
underway. I hope that we will make FARNET a forum for the
discussion of the technical and social issues that we are
immersed in -- or at least a place where we can pause and
reflect together on what is happening all around us.
--> Recommended Reading: RFC 1259 "Building the Open Road: The
NREN As Test-Bed For The National Public Network." Mitch Kapor,
who founded Lotus Development Corp. in 1982 and went on to
establish ON Technologies and the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, has become a passionate advocate for the "national
public network."
Samples from the RFC:
"In order to function as an effective test-bed, one that
promotes broad access to a range of innovative, developing
services, the NREN must be built so that it is easy for
developers to offer new kinds of applications, and is accessible
to a diversity of users...
"As Senator Gore has said, the new national network that is
emerging is one of the 'smokestack industries of the information
age.' It will increase the amount of individual participation in
common enterprise and politics. It could also galvanize a new
set of relationships -- business and personal -- between
Americans and the rest of the world...
"Perhaps the most significant change the National Public Network
will afford us is a new mode of building communities -- as the
telephone, radio, and television did. People often think of
electronic 'communities' as far-flung communities of interest
between followers of a particular discipline. But we are
learning, through examples like the PEN system in Santa Monica
and the Old Colorado City system in Colorado Springs, that
digital media can serve as a local nexus, an evanescent
meeting-ground..."
Mitch will join us in Santa Fe on Monday evening at the next
FARNET meeting and will be a keynote speaker at the February
11-12 meeting in Orlando, FL.
