cmf851@anu.oz.au (Albert Langer) (05/30/91)
It seems to me that the most important problem for expanding network access in developing countries is essentially the same problem as for developing countries, namely the requirements for skilled unix system administrators or BBS sysops to keep network connections functioning. In developed countries that tends to restrict network access to a relatively small section of the population who are attached to a university or a company involved in research, which provides full-time sysadmin staff who can handle network administration as part of their job, or to "computer hobbyists" interested enough in computer communications to be willing to queue up for access through BBSes that depend on many hours of work performed by volunteer "sysops". That is a sufficiently large section of the population for computer networking to be viable and growing rapidly, but there is still a big barrier to participation even by the majority of people who use computers for wordprocessing and could afford modems. In developing countries there are other major problems such as: 1) Underdevelopment implies a much smaller section of the population with access to telephones, let alone computers. 2) The phone system is unreliable and low quality. 3) Various language problems and cultural factors. 4) International communications costs, since international connectivity is a major requirement for achieving a "critical mass" or "take off" point given the other problems. Lack of system administrators or BBS sysops in developing countries seems to me a more important problem than the others because the other problems are either easily dealt with or else cannot be dealt with at all within the context of this discussion. For example improved international network access may contribute towards eliminating underdevelopment and enabling a much larger section of the population to have access to telephones and computers, but there is no point in attempting to eliminate these characteristic features of underdevelopment as part of a program for providing network access rather than as part of a much wider program in which network access itself plays a small role. On the other hand, the unreliable and low quality phone system simply requires the adoption of appropriate protocols for getting as much data through as possible. The FidoNet protocols are superior from this point of view compared with the UUCP protocols because they include a capacity to resume a file transfer where it was left off from a lost connection (among others things). No doubt they could be improved further, e.g.: 1. To monitor line conditions adaptively and abort and resume connections dynamically in a more optimum way. 2. To configure a range of modems automatically and perhaps even adaptively according to local line conditions and the destination of calls WITHOUT INTERVENTION (by a skilled "modem communications expert"). Or at least to simplify this as much as possible. 3. To squeeze more thruput by using more efficient data-compression schemes specifically adapted for email and news text using dictionary lookup methods instead of the present "general purpose" LZW style compression. These are narrow technical problems which need to be addressed (elsewhere) but which once dealt with result in the problems of developing countries internal and international communications problems reducing to simply a "(manageably) higher cost of network access" rather than a qualitatively different situation from that in developed countries. The problem of not having skilled system administrators and sysops readily available is inherent in underdevelopment. But unlike the problems of low telephone and computer penetration it can be quickly dealt with by eliminating or drastically reducing the amount of skilled labor required. (Telephone and computer costs are also dropping rapidly as a result of technical progress, but I am arguing that network management requirements could drop much faster with a small effort devoted to achieving that result). Since networking was initially developed in academic and research circles on the one hand, and computer hobbyist circles on the other hand, it is hardly surprising that the technology is optimized for the conditions that prevail in those circles - which includes ready availability of sysadmins and sysops. User interfaces also tend to be unfriendly for similar reasons but that problem is less of a barrier to developing countries access (given that only an elite with telephone and computer access can benefit directly anyway). In any case more friendly user interfaces are already being developed as a result of pressures for this within developed countries and special efforts are less essential to ensure this happens for the benefit of developing country access. Networking has spread into the corporate world with thousands of PCs within large organizations being linked into enterprise LANs and WANs. As a result of this and the development of email connectivity generally there has been pressure for international standards such as X.400 for email and news, X.500 for related Directory services and both SNMP and CMIP for network management. I believe these standards can provide a basis for building reliable and efficient networks that require very little skilled labor for network management or administration. That is a commercial necessity in developed countries today, since corporations cannot afford to employ sysadmins in the ratios required by previous generations of software any more than developing countries can do so (and of course BBS sysops won't perform voluntary labor for corporate networks). Unfortunately the main orientation in the corporate world is towards WANs connected by leased lines rather than dial-up PSTN connections like UUCP and FidoNet. This tends to bias the management protocols towards assuming continuously available network connections rather than an intermittant "store and forward" situation. Nevertheless I believe they can be taken as a basis for automating network management. More important, X.400 and to a lesser extent X.500 are quite well oriented towards "store and forward" situations and can certainly provide a framework of RELIABLE email and news that greatly cuts down on sysadmin and sysop workloads. I am working on a project for implementing much wider access to networking in developing countries through adaptation of the "freely available" software implementing the most advanced standards. I believe this project will also be relevant to developing country needs and hope to keep in touch with others here. Unfortunately I expect to be inaccessible for a few weeks soon, but I just wanted to say "hello" (verbosely :-) and that I look forward to future involvement with this group. -- Opinions disclaimed (Authoritative answer from opinion server) Header reply address wrong. Use cmf851@csc2.anu.edu.au