MJSAAREL%MTUS5.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Markku Saarelainen) (02/07/90)
Interesting stuff
Markku Saarelainen
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
E-MAIL REACHES THE SOVIET-UNION
It turns out that the Soviets have not only a working
packet-switching network, but also an electronic mail and
computer conferencing system up and running Moscow. The
Institute for Advanced Systems (Moscow), which
specializing the development of networking systems for
the Communist Bloc countries, just recently startes operating
the Adomis conferencing system and the Electronic Mailing
System for the benefit of about 300 university
academics and scientists.
Expansionist Agenda:
-------------------
Over the next year, IAS-Net will expand its client base
even further into public programs and academia, as well as
into the spheres of international trade and banking, according
to spokesman Vladimir Sergeut. He said one of the primary
thrusts for the institute will be to interconnect the
system with other packet nets around the world.
One of the first Western systems to take advantage of the new
openness of IAS-Net is Telenet Communications (Reston,
VA). It is using an international satellite channel suplied
by Western Union Worldcom to link an IAS-Net node in Moscow
with a Telenet node in New York. Through this facility,
attached hosts in either country can now call each other at
speeds up to 9600 bits per second.
The New York-to-Moscow billing rate will be about $10
an hour and $12 a kilosegment, about average for Telenet
servcies abroad. The Moscow-to-New York rate will be .25
rubles per minute and .45 rubles per kilocharacter in Soviet
money, slightly less than the going rate from most foreign
locations (10 rubles is about 6 US dollars). However, IAS-
Net bills for outbound usage by foreigners must be paid in
hard currency, such as U.S. dollars.
The new two-way capability replaces an inefficient one-way
link that soviet scientists have used for years to reach
Telenet hosts. "For several years, we have been aware of
users in the Soviet Union dialing into Telenet via links in
Finland and Austria", he said. "Customers were dialing up
(Datapak in Finland or Radaus in Austria) and appearing to
us as their subscribers." It was only through informal
conversations with users and PTTs that Telenet became aware
of the traffic, because it has no dealings at all in the
country.
Dialing up Finland from Moscow is an expensive and
inefficient proposition, even on a good day. Several years
ago, Soviet data network users were able to convince to the
USSR Telecommunications Administration to install a dedicated
line to a Datapak in Finland, eliminating some of the
dialing problems. However, the link could operate only on an
outbound basis, since the Soviets had no Data Network
Idenfication Code (DNIC) to give people trying to dial in.
Now they have an X.25 packet network that features the X.3,
X.28, and X.29 protocols for connection to external PADs
as well as asynchronous dial up at speeds of 300, 1200, and
2400 bps. Dedicated line connections are available within
Moscow at synchronous rates of 2400, 4800, and 9600
bps. Most surprisingly, IAS-Net has a full X.75 gateway
capability, which means that their packet network can be
fully interconnected with any other country's system.
Cahill added that any link between the new Soviet e-mail
system and Telemail would require X.400 on their end, a
capability they presently lack. For the moment, he said that
Telemail users will have a cleaner access path it they need
to reach their mailboxes from the Soviet Union.
Sergeut was full of surprises. "Telemail is only one of
about 20 e-mail systems that we use", he said. Among the
American public systems, "we use The Source and Dialcom, too."
Did he perhaps mean the Dialcom license in Finland? "No, we
don't use Telebox. We use Dialcom."
Dialcom Users in Russia?
-----------------------
Dialcom spokesman David Burd was able to verify that
Soviet scientists and doctors are indeed customers. Access is
open to anybody who can pay for the service. However, he
was unsure as to the packet network they used, since Dialcom
hosts are reachable on both Telenet and Tymnet. Dialcom
does not contemplate a formal business relationship with the
Soviets, however, because there is not yet any assurance of
any appreciable demand.
There's also an outside chance that Soviet users have
been logging into CompuServe either directly or through
Telenet, also Sergeut did not recognize the name. He also did
not recall the names Minitel, Telecom Gold, MCI Mail, or
Easylink, although he was careful to say that he was not
the authority on which systems IAS did and didn't use. He
knows the names Telemail, Dialcom, and The Source through his
own personal usage.
Such usage is surprising, but by no means illegal. None of the
e-mail networks require loyality oaths before subscriptions
are issued. What's more important is that foreign users,
whether communist or capitalist, pay their bills. As for
security, the expectation of privacy on the IAS-to-
Telenet link is obviously low, as it would be for people
going through Customs. As with any telephone call from
Moscow, chances are the KGB might tune it at any time. And as
has been routine for decades with international telex in the
U.S., someone in Langley, VA is probably perusing the
text, watching for people who use certain words too often.
(Zitat Ende)