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)