lee@sq.sq.com (Liam R. E. Quin) (12/16/89)
After several people expressed interest in te state of Unix netwoorknib in
Europe, here is a message I received from the adminstrivia department at ukc,
the UK mail/news gateway. I shall present it without comment, except to point
out that the notation #18000 means "Eighteen thousad pounds sterling", an
amount of money.
Lee
|From ukc.ac.uk!uknet Wed Nov 22 02:38:53 1989
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18 Oct 89 15:28 BST
To: uiucdcs!ukc.ac.uk!uknet-admins
Subject: This in sent ONLY to Commercial UKnet Sites
From: Peter Houlder <uiucdcs!ukc.ac.uk!uknet>
Address: Computing Laboratory, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, UK.
Phone: +44 227 764000 x7568
Fax: +44 227 762811 (G3)
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 11:26:33 EDT
Message-Id: <5768.624723993@kestrel>
TCP/IP Services via ukc
1. Disclaimer
This is an initial survey to gain an idea of which existing UKnet sites
might be interested in TCP/IP based services, should these be provided
by ukc. It does NOT imply that we are committed to offering such ser-
vices, but these services are unlikely to be actively considered without
the positive response of UKnet sites.
No response WILL be considered as no interest.
Finally If you don't have time to read the whole text please don't read
it at all, as parts taken out of context will give a wrong impression.
2. The US InterNet
The US Government funds the US InterNet to support networking activities
for academic and R&D activities. It does not support commercial activi-
ties.
Fully Connected Status to the US InterNet gives full access for SMTP,
FTP, NNTP, Telnet etc ...
It is only available to sites that satisfy the above criteria.
3. The European InterEUnet
EUnet supported by the EUUG is developing a TCP/IP based network for its
backbone sites. It is hoped that EUUG co-operation with, and support
for, EUnet will speed up the development of leased line backbone connec-
tivity. Many of the backbones, this will shortly include ukc, already
have fully connected status to the US InterNet. It is expected that all
backbone sites in Western Europe will have this status in the near
future.
This backbone network will be the hub of InterEUnet. The existing
TCP/IP connections to this network are summarised in my EUnet article in
the latest EUUG Newsletter, Vol 9 No 3 Autumn 1989. The range of Euro-
pean Interconnectivity will initially be heavily biased towards the
larger sites within the larger EUnet national networks. This is a deli-
berate policy to generate the finance required to support both smaller
national networks and smaller sites. The exact details of this phasing
will be decided at a technical meeting for all EUnet backbones scheduled
for Nov 20-21st this year. More details will therefore be given after
this meeting, at the Dec 11-13th Cardiff Meeting.
4. Connection to InterEUnet
There are 3 factors to consider with regard to connection:
4.1. Status of Connection
a) US InterNet and InterEUnet for sites that satisfy US criteria and are
EUUG/EUnet members.
b) InterEUnet for sites that are EUUG/EUnet members. This also includes
connectivity to a growing number of sites outside Europe. Even for
those that do not satisfy US InterNet criteria, InterEUnet will provide
direct access to uunet, whose archive services for public domain
software are already quite comprehensive and are expected to be even
more so in the future. Organisations without connected status may also
get connectivity with US partners without using NSFnet at all by making
special arrangements.
4.2. Method of Connection
a) Leased Line
b) Over X25
c) Using SLIP over dialup lines
4.3. Category of Connexion
a) Large Commercial
b) Small Commercial
4.4. Proposed Initial Tariffs in Holland and France
a) Commercial 15-18000 ECU per year
An ECU is roughly equivalent to a US dollar (actually 1.41 ECU to pound)
and the charge will cover News, Mail and all available high-level TCP/IP
protocols. In addition to the above network charges sites would also
have to pay the common carrier charges involved in reaching national
backbones.
The above are the suggestions for Europe, UK charges are yet to be
decided. Ukc costs after the first year may well be less than in the
second year. If more sites join, then overall costs may well be less
even in the early year(s). Unfortunately this is a chicken-and-egg
situation. We cannnot give you real estimates of cost until we have
some idea of your interest. You cannot confirm your interest until you
know real costs, hence this questionaire
Sites running leased lines direct to ukc may of course be able to share
the cost of both the ukc line and router/switching equipment with other
sites, which they service. In this way a hub of top level UK sites could
be established. As an example of cost sharing, six people each having
9.6k of a 64k line may find that their costs are about half the cost
involved in a personal 9.6k line.
5. Basis of Charges
The charges will be high at first, which means that initial participants
are likely to be large organisations. The high charging scale is deli-
berate, as the cost of funding leased line backbone support along with
the funding of TCP/IP routers and switches will be N00000 ECUs, where
the scale of N will be clearer after negotiation with suppliers.
InterEUnet intends to do things correctly thereby providing a proper
European service. It cannot do this without charging the cost to its
users.
6. Phases
The first phase will be based on large users with leased-line/X25 con-
nectivity. Later phases will hopefully extend this service to smaller
sites with X25/dialup connectivity. The latter will also involve
investment in terminal concentrators and modems.
7. Migration to OSI
Running side by side with TCP/IP developments in Europe is the whole
field of OSI development. Ukc sees no contradiction in the development
of OSI and TCP/IP services and is actively seeking help in developing
The ISODE package has in fact proved very valuable in implementing OSI
applications, making TCP/IP services (almost) a natural way for a gra-
dual and smooth transition to OSI services. X400/X500 services ( all
offers will be favourably considered). This is however another
chicken-and-egg situation. UKnet is self supporting so investment in
these services must be funded. TCP/IP can offer immediate advantages,
because it is here and it works. OSI will offer more when it arrives,
but at present it offers neither a large range of facilities nor a wide
geographical connectivity.
Investment in TCP/IP will provide a leased line framework, which has the
ability to take on OSI protocols as and when available. There are no
religious feelings towards OSI or TCP/IP within the UKnet support group
at ukc. We simply want to provide the best services available at any
moment in time.
8. Cardiff Meeting Dec 11-13th
This meeting will be longer than usual with 2 full days of talks and 1
or 2 half day tutorials. It is intended to use this time to update all
attendees with the latest OSI and TCP/IP developments. Please note
these dates in your diary. More details will follow later.
9. Action needed by recipient of this email
Please detach the below and return to uknet@ukc, using a Subject:
InterEUnet
Please denote level of interest on a scale 0-5, with 0 as no interest
and 5 showing a definite high-level of interest.
- ------- DETACH AND RETURN to uknet@ukc -------
Uucp-site-name:
Contact-name:
Electronic-Address:
Status of Connexion sought (1 or 2):
1 - InterNet and InterEUnet, 2 - InterEUnet only
Method-of-Connexion (please state interest level 0 - 5 )
Leased-Line( 0-5 ):
X25( 0-5 ):
Dialup( 0-5 ):
Category of Site ( 1 or 2 )
1 - Large Commercial, 2 - Small Commercial
Comments (Take as much space as you need):
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End of forwarded message.
Lee
--
Liam R. Quin, lee@sq.com Until Dec. 20th (visiting sq, not an employee)
After Dec 20, Unixsys (UK) Ltd, Knutsford, UK -- +44 565 50021
At home: +44 925 831084 (0830 GMT to midnight GMT only please...)
rn: .signature: cannot open: no such fire or dirigible