staale@jotun.nta.no (Staale Odegaard) (06/05/90)
Some time ago I posted the following request on the list: >> Date: Wed, 28 Mar 90 13:19:01 +0200 >> From: staale@jotun.nta.no (Staale Odegaard) >> Message-Id: <9003281119.AA00867@jotun.nta.no> >> To: iso@NIC.DDN.MIL >> Subject: Looking for CONS products >> Can anyone help me with the following: >> 1. Are there any available products supporting CONS in LAN >> (X.25 PLP (ISO 8208 + ISO 8881) over LLC 2 (1)) ? >> 2. Are there any available products implementing "X.25 Interworking Unit" >> (ISO TR 10029) ? >> I'll post a summary of the response on the list. >> Thanks >> Staale Odegaard >> Norwegian Telecomm, Research Department Here are the replies (at last): I received response from 3 suppliers; 1 UK vendor, 1 US vendor and a UK university computing service center. None offer support of question 2. Concerning question 1: 1) The UK vendor offer X.25 products which runs in STREAMS on a Unix V.3 system. They also have a Streams emulator which allows their code to be run on non Unix systems. Their X.25 supports both LAPB over HDLC and LLC-2 over Ethernet and Token ring. It supports the ISO CONS interface and the new AT&T NPI interface (Network Provider Interface). There is also a standard interface to support the X.25 facilities not accessable from a CONS interface like QOS. They have been supplying such products to the UK Academic community for a number of years, and the software available on an OEM basis. They have >20 customers ranging from large Unix box suppliers to board manufacturers. 2) The US vendor offer X.25PLP that run over both LLC2 and LAPB. They also provides both LLC2 and LAPB. So far, they are not offering X.25PLP over LLC2 as an end user product. 3) The UK university computing service center offer X.25 PLP over LLC2 to support the UK Academic Coloured Book protocols (which provide FTP, Mail, JTMP and triple-X [terminal access]). The product is available on any favor of UNIX for every manufacturer. I also received a survey of the Pink Book Equipment on campus LAN's in the UK academic community. The Pink Book specification uses X.25/LLC2 over CSMA/CD. The survey is included below. Begin include ----------------------- Survey of Pink Book Equipment on Campus LANs. The first step taken by the UK academic community on the road to the use of full OSI standards for data communications was the adoption of X.25(84) and LLC2 protocols for use over CSMA/CD LANs. The implementation details of these protocols and other transition issues were documented in the Pink Book. These same protocols for use over CSMA/CD and other LAN technologies such as token ring have been adopted by ISO (ISO 8881), Europe (ENV 41103) and UK Government (GOSIP CO LAN profile). These combined initiatives have led to the availability of Pink Book products for most machine ranges of interest in the UK academic community. A survey of the number of systems using Pink Book ISO OSI protocols was carried out last November. Some of the highlights of the 35 replies that were received are o Pink Book implementations were running on 18 machine ranges including MSDOS, VAX/VMS, SUN, Hewlett Packard, Prime, Encore, Convex, IBM and Amdahl VM/CMS, Pyramid, ICL 3980, IBM 6150 and Alliant. o There were over 400 multiport PADs and 60 X.25 gateways from two different suppliers in use. Many PCs on proprietary LANs were gatewayed to the Pink Book campus LAN via a PC acting as a file transfer and terminal access transparent gateway. o Over 1000 PCs had direct Pink Book connections, and over 500 major hosts, including 139 VAXes, 250+ SUNs and large mainframes such as IBM 3090s, Amdahl 5800s and ICL 3900s. The numbers for PCs and workstations such as SUN are increasing rapidly at present with the general availability of packages such as Rainbow for the PC. o The site with the most equipment running Pink Book was the University of Manchester with 500+ systems. Sites such as Manchester, Exeter and Edinburgh have 10 or more types of equipment from various vendors interworking. For example at Exeter the following equipment is on the LAN - Pyramid, Convex, Prime, SUN, IBM 6150, Hewlett Packard, Spider PAD, Camtec PAD, Camtec X.25 gateway, Spider X.25 gateway, PCs running MSDOS. New products are being announced which support Pink Book protocols. Netcomm are developing 2 Mbps X.25 to CSMA/CD CONS/CONS gateways which will be of interest for connections between Pink Book LANs and the X.25 packet switching LANs and JANET. An e-mail list for discussion of issues related to Pink Book LANs exists (ether@UK.AC.RUTHERFORD) and sites are encouraged to join it if they have not already done so. Les Clyne. End include ----------------------- Staale Odegaard Norwegian Telecomm, Research Department
tozz@hpindda.HP.COM (Bob Tausworthe) (06/12/90)
Hi, Is there some reason that you did not name the companies which provide CONS/X.25/LAN functionality? If not, could you do so? thanks Bob Tausworthe Hewlett Packard ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ These opinions are my own, unfortunately, not my employers
staale@JOTUN.NTA.NO (Staale Odegaard) (06/13/90)
Since you put this request on the list: ----- Begin Included Message ----- Date: 11 Jun 90 21:10:51 GMT From: hpda!hpcuhb!hpindda!tozz@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Bob Tausworthe) Organization: HP Information Networks, Cupertino, CA Subject: Re: Summary: Looking for CONS products To: iso@nic.ddn.mil Status: R Hi, Is there some reason that you did not name the companies which provide CONS/X.25/LAN functionality? If not, could you do so? thanks Bob Tausworthe Hewlett Packard ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ These opinions are my own, unfortunately, not my employers ----- End Included Message ----- I'll respond the same way. The reason for not naming the companies, is that I'm under the impression that "commercial stuff" should be keept off the list(s). Naming them would be just that. I'll be happy to provide you with more info about CONS/X.25/LAN on a direct request. Regards Staale Odegaard Norwegian Telecomm Research Dep P.O. Box 83 N-2007 Kjeller NORWAY. Phone: +47 6 80 93 92 Fax: +47 6 81 00 76