Dan Karron@UCBVAX.BERKELEY.EDU (12/08/90)
We here in academia are used to unlimited internet access. I was wondering how people in small startup computer graphics or advertizing firms can get internet access. I know that the internet is sponsored by the goverment, but I find e-mail, ftp, and rlogin so usefull on a universal basis that I am shocked to hear of installations where there is no hope of net access. I would like to propose to sgi that they link all of their sales offices with expensive T1 links (I understand that there is a push on to link the sgi external offices with moderate speed SLIP connections) and offer local loops or one hop uucp service to customers that don't have academic or defense connections. This would defry the large cost of a T1 line (we did pay > 1,200 month prior to our fiber optics link) to many distant locations. My hope is that the cost would be allocated on a sliding scale, based on the number of machines at the customer sight, users, expected volume etc. Just think of the savings in fe time if they can do most maintenance via the net. This would also open up info-iris or comp.sci.sgi to a large segment of users/markets that is not represented in this forum. Forget cu/kermit. Think tcp/ip-fddi for everyone. dan. (damm the expense. full speed ahead into the future) +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | karron@nyu.edu (E-mail alias that will always find me) | | Fax: 212 340 7190 * Dan Karron, Research Associate | | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * New York University Medical Center | | 560 First Avenue \*\ Pager <1> (212) 397 9330 | | New York, New York 10016 \**\ <2> 10896 <3> <your-number-here> | | (212) 340 5210 \***\_________________________________________ | | Main machine: karron.med.nyu.edu (128.122.135.3) IRIS 85GT | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
jim@baroque.Stanford.EDU (James Helman) (12/09/90)
Right vision (universal access), wrong method (vendor sponsored link to a government funded WAN). Regulations prohibit the commercial use of the Internet. Regulations change, but currently, SGI is not in a position to offer Internet access to its customers. They're not in the network business anyway. But companies such as PSI (profit) and UUNET (non-profit) are. Both offer Internet access (subject to the usage guidelines). If you've got the money, they've got the connection. And the Internet (or rather it's successor, the National Research and Education Network) will eventually be commercialized (although how to best do it is non-obvious, see RFC1192). Being phased out when commerical services can meet the country's networking needs is actually part of NREN's mandate. We're just using the prototype (Internet) of the prototype (NREN) of a commericial network. "The NREN should be the prototype of a new national information infrastructure which could be available to every home, office and factory. .... The corresponding ease of inter-computer communication will then provide the benefits associated with the NREN to the entire nation, improving the productivity of all information- handling activities. To achieve this end, the deployment of the Stage 3 NREN will include a specific, structured process resulting in transition of the network from a government operation a commercial service." -- Office of Science and Technology Policy, The Federal High Performance Computing Program, September 8, 1989, pp. 32, 35. Jim Helman Department of Applied Physics Durand 012 Stanford University FAX: (415) 725-3377 (jim@KAOS.stanford.edu) Work: (415) 723-9127