[comp.protocols.tcp-ip] Willingness to pay for PPP

oleary@noc.sura.net (dave o'leary) (01/16/91)

In article <81325@sgi.sgi.com> vjs@rhyolite.wpd.sgi.com (Vernon Schryver) writes:
>In article <9101131946.AA28696@ccci>, tcs@ccci.UUCP (Terry Slattery) writes:
>> ...
>> 
>> I don't recall ever hearing about a PPP interoperability test.  Perhaps
>> Interop should consider setting up a demonstration of PPP at its next
>> conference? ...
>
>There was talk of an INTEROP PPP test.  I heard at first it would be
>restricted to "commercial implementations that would be available to end
>users by Oct. 1990", or words to that effect.  That sort of requirement has
>a chilling effect on what is necessarily a low profit product.  (How much
>would you pay for a PPP implementation?  How many copies at that price
>would be required for my employer to recover my time to port or implement
>it and to pay for stocking, distributing, and advertising it?  How many
>copies would be required to recover the INTEROP fees to participate in the
>demo?)  By the end of the 2nd FDDI Hot Staging, I was told the rules were
>much looser.  Perhaps I just misunderstood at first.

	[other stuff about interoperability tests deleted]
>
>Vernon Schryver,   vjs@sgi.com
>

SURAnet is eagerly looking forward to the day when router vendors
have implemented PPP.  Since we run as a sort of "cooperative" with
each site making its own purchasing decisions, providing a wider 
variety of choices to our customers is very important.  We will 
maintain a list of vendors whose products interoperate with those
currently on our network, and recommend them to new customers.  
Those that don't interoperate, well, we won't recommend them.

					dave

p.s. I am confident that the rest of the SURAnet technical staff
	agrees with me on this point.

p.p.s. to router vendors: we will probably connect 30 or more new
	sites this year.  Maybe a lot more.