Internet Host: nic.cerf.net Directory: farnet Subdirectory: farnet_docs Filename: gaz-nov91.txt Last Updated: Nov 11, 1991 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * WELCOME TO THE FARNET [BI]MONTHLY GAZETTE FOR OCT-NOV 1991! (From the French "gazette", a small newspaper, from the Italian "gazeta", the coin used to pay for such a paper.) Published by FARNET, Inc. To submit information or to request to be added to the electronic distribution list, mail to gazette-request@farnet.org. Back issues are available for ftp from a public directory on nic.cerf.net, in directory farnet, subdirectory farnet_docs. FARNET, 100 Fifth Avenue, Waltham, MA 02154. Telephone (617) 890-5120. Fax (617) 890-5117. Email breeden@farnet.org. Copyright 1991 FARNET, Inc. Permission to quote from this newsletter with attribution is hereby granted. This month's news at a glance: FARNET Delivers Recommendations to NSF "Enlarger of the Common Life" FARNET Meets with IETF November 18-19 in Santa Fe FARNET RFI on NSF NIC Services Released Consortium for School Networking Takes Off State and Provincial Nets in the Pacific Northwest to Use IP FARNET Member Survey: Taking Stock Executive Director's Message Recommended Reading: "Building the Open Road" Mitch Kapor's View of the Emerging NREN (RFC 1259) --> The FARNET Board of Directors has delivered its recommendations to the National Science Foundation regarding connectivity among midlevel networks after the current agreement for NSFNET backbone operations expires in November 1992. A copy of the document is being forwarded to all participants in the workshop and discussion that laid the groundwork for the recommendations, and to others interested in the policy issues the paper addresses. To retrieve a copy electronically, ftp to nic.cerf.net, log in as "anonymous", change to directory farnet, sub-directory farnet_docs, filename "nsf-backbone-rec". In summary, FARNET has recommended that a strong NREN program be established under NSF management, with a new solicitation for midlevel interconnection services to be issued this year. This solicitation would have multiple awardees, who would be required to cooperate in delivering services to the target communities. We encouraged NSF to consider alternatives to a traditional backbone, such as the CIX/FIX model, in its awards. In addition, we urged NSF to support the development of new applications and network management software, and to insure provider accountability through the grants process. We also argued for experimentation with the delivery of commercial services in the IINREN (interim interagency NREN). --> Messenger of sympathy and love, Servant of parted friends, Counselor of the lonely, Bond of the scattered family, Enlarger of the common life. Carrier of news and knowledge, Instrument of trade and industry, Promoter of mutual acquaintance, Of peace, and of good will Among men and nations. A vision of what computer networks can become in the era of the global village? These lines are inscribed on the old City Post Office in Washington, DC, which is being remodeled to house the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Archive. --> FARNET will meet in Santa Fe, NM on Nov. 18-19 to look at how to improve end-to-end reliability in the Internet. The meeting is co-located with the 22nd meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force, and members of each group will attend sessions sponsored by the other. FARNET sessions are open to a limited number of non-members on a first-come, first-served basis for a registration fee of $75. You can retrieve a copy of the agenda from the public ftp directory on nic.cerf.net, directory farnet, subdirectory farnet_docs, filename agenda-nov91. --> FARNET RFI on NSF NIC services... On November 1 FARNET released a Request for Information for potential partners in a response to NSF's upcoming solicitation for Network Information Services for the Interim Interagency NREN. FARNET expects to bid on a non-exclusive basis with qualified organizations, with FARNET as principal provider of coordination services. Since its founding in 1987, FARNET has worked in cooperation with other national and international networking groups, and it is well positioned to extend this aspect of its mission. For a copy of the RFI, send mail to breeden@farnet.org. --> IP on state and provincial networks in the Pacific Northwest... At the annual meeting of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNWER) in October, legislative leaders from six northwestern states and provinces agreed to work in partnership with NorthWestNet to promote the TCP/IP protocol as a standard means of digital communication. This resolution will affect agencies in the PNWER states and provinces of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Alberta, and British Columbia. Said Eric Hood, Executive Director of NWNet, "The adoption of this standard will allow key government agencies in northwestern states to participate fully in the national networking community." For the full text of the NWNet press release, check the public ftp directory on nic.cerf.net, directory farnet, subdirectory farnet_docs, filename nwnet-press-rel. --> Consortium for School Networking takes off... A consortium of groups and individuals interested in expanding the use of networking technology in K-12 education has been formed, and a slate of officers and preliminary list of activities were proposed at Educom91 in San Diego (October 15-19). Like FARNET, the consortium will bring together local, state, regional, and national organizations in a national association to work on projects of common interest. Target activities: documenting and communicating current network-related activities in K-12; stimulating the development of better user interfaces and improved access to information; promoting collaborations and curriculum innovations that use networking; and expanding connectivity and lowering connection costs. FARNET is exploring several project possibilities with the Consortium, and Jim Luckett, chair of FARNET's K-12 Committee, is on the COSN board. For more information check out the document "cosn" in the farnet_docs directory on nic.near.net (see instructions earlier). --> FARNET Member Survey: Taking Stock...FARNET members, watch your mailboxes! We are surveying FARNET members to find out more about their services, membership, networking partners, and priorities for FARNET. This information will be used to develop a composite picture of the midlevel networks, prepare promotional material that describes FARNET and its members, and guide FARNET's activities. It will also provide necessary background for FARNET proposals, such as the response to the NSF NIC solicitation. --> Executive Director's Message... At last year's Educom conference in Atlanta, Steve Jobs, founder of Apple and NeXT Computers, described "workgroup" personal computing as the great challenge -- and opportunity -- of the 90s. At this year's Educom conference, Bill Joy, one of the authors of Berkeley UNIX and a founder of Sun Microsystems, told us that, while the 80s had been the decade of quantitative change in computing (smaller, faster, cheaper), the 90s would be a decade of qualitative change, in which we will see "nomadic" computing, "vehicular" computing, and "designed spaces" to support the interactions of people with their portable (and often wireless) electronic information processing devices. At Comdex, one week later, Andrew Grove, president and CEO of Intel Corporation, demonstrated that all of this is already beginning to happen. The focus of his keynote address was "computer-supported collaboration," and the message was that changing the way people work will create the first real gains in productivity based on PC technology. Those PCs, of course, will have to support the real-time exchange of all types of information (voice, data, video) interactively, using wireless communications and ordinary phone lines as well as high speed networks. (Just so you know that Grove has his feet on the ground, he also remarked, "To network our universe, we must overcome three problems: networks are hard to build, networks are hard to maintain, and networks are unmanageable.") I was struck once again by the notion that we are on the frontier -- that my colleagues and friends are creating the technology and the social infrastructure to support this highly networked, information-rich world of the future. It's easy to lose sight, in the midst of broadcast storms, funding battles, and personnel crises, of the fact that a great transformation is underway. I hope that we will make FARNET a forum for the discussion of the technical and social issues that we are immersed in -- or at least a place where we can pause and reflect together on what is happening all around us. --> Recommended Reading: RFC 1259 "Building the Open Road: The NREN As Test-Bed For The National Public Network." Mitch Kapor, who founded Lotus Development Corp. in 1982 and went on to establish ON Technologies and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, has become a passionate advocate for the "national public network." Samples from the RFC: "In order to function as an effective test-bed, one that promotes broad access to a range of innovative, developing services, the NREN must be built so that it is easy for developers to offer new kinds of applications, and is accessible to a diversity of users... "As Senator Gore has said, the new national network that is emerging is one of the 'smokestack industries of the information age.' It will increase the amount of individual participation in common enterprise and politics. It could also galvanize a new set of relationships -- business and personal -- between Americans and the rest of the world... "Perhaps the most significant change the National Public Network will afford us is a new mode of building communities -- as the telephone, radio, and television did. People often think of electronic 'communities' as far-flung communities of interest between followers of a particular discipline. But we are learning, through examples like the PEN system in Santa Monica and the Old Colorado City system in Colorado Springs, that digital media can serve as a local nexus, an evanescent meeting-ground..." Mitch will join us in Santa Fe on Monday evening at the next FARNET meeting and will be a keynote speaker at the February 11-12 meeting in Orlando, FL.