![[TEN-34 logo]](/ten-34/ten-34-small.GIF)
Editor: Cathrin.Stover@dante.org.uk
July and August were again quiet and reliable months for the TEN-34 network. At the end of July the capacity of the access port for RENATER in France was increased from 16 to 22 Mbps. This was made possible by the upgrade of the ATM PVC (Permanent Virtual Circuit) between France and the UK from 6 to 12 Mbps on 21 July 1998. As a result of this upgrade the traffic statistics showed an immediate increase in RENATER traffic of more than 20% to 18 Mbps.
Average TEN-34 access port availability was 99.65% in July 1998, with nine national research networks enjoying 100% availability. Various problems with a faulty cable and a power supply failure led to a lower access port availability for the Spanish research network RedIRIS in July.
Work on the successor of the TEN-34 network, the new TEN-155 network, has progressed immensely in the past months and is currently DANTE's major activity. The supply contract for the bulk of the capacity was signed at the end of August and will officially be announced during an international press conference in Brussels on 17 September. The press releases and further information on TEN-155 concerning the technology and topology will be made available on the TEN-155 pages after the press announcement.
Much of the effort to carry out the QTP is expected to come from the national research networks as the Partners in the Quantum project and from Telebit Communications A/S. Telebit is Associated Partner in the Quantum project and will provide technical support including laboratory testing facilities when appropriate.
In addition to the involvement of the national research networks, participation in the QTP is open to any individual or organisation which is able to make a contribution in the form of manpower, equipment or services. The work of the QTP will be conducted in an open fashion and the results, including the EC Deliverables, will be public.
An initial list of topics which will be studied in the QTP is available from the web here. There are also links to further descriptions of those topics for which more detailed planning has already been carried out.
The last TF-TEN Deliverable 14.3 "Summary Results of the Test Programme" is available now.
DANTE's transatlantic service has performed effectively in the past months with availability increasing marginally compared to June 1998. Packet loss on the upgraded 45 Mbps link to the US remains low, being zero on most days with occasional spikes. DANTE observed that on such occasions the normal traffic level is disturbed for approximately 20 minutes, which is probably related to routing anomalies. Under normal circumstances there is no significant packet loss.
DANTE submitted the final report of the CAPE (Connecting Asia Pacific to Europe) Study to the European Commission in the end of August. Following an analysis of the current situation of research networking in Asia Pacific and the potential for co-operation between Asia Pacific and Europe, the main recommendation of the report is to connect the European research network TEN-155 directly with the Asia Pacific Advanced Network (APAN) via a landing in South Korea. The Asian Pacific Advanced Network is a non-profit international consortium that was established in June 1997 to promote the exchange of research and development within the member networks. Primary funding members were networks based in Australia, Japan, South Korea and Singapore. The USA, Canada and DANTE on behalf of the European research networks are liaison members of the APAN consortium.
DANTE furthermore suggests to connect to Asia Pacific for a minimum commitment period of 3 years, to base the funding of the network on a fair sharing of costs based on line utilisation and to use ATM technology to enable future upgrades of the link.
The EuroCERT Annual Report covering the period from May 1997 to April 1998 is available in print now. To receive a free copy, please send an email to Cathrin.Stover@dante.org.uk .
The LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) indexing work done within the DESIRE II project in co-operation with the Dutch national research network SURFnet and the University of Brunel is progressing. The DESIRE II project aims to build large scale information networks for the European research community. During the last meeting of the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) working group "LDAP Service and Deployment" in Chicago in August the current concept of the index system was presented by DANTE followed by a fruitful discussion on directory indexing.
DANTE will exhibit during the TERENA networking Conference in Dresden from 5 to 8 October 1998. The exhibit will focus on the new TEN-155 network. Howard Davies and Roberto Sabatino will use the TERENA Conference as a forum to present the TEN-155 network to a wider audience.
Victoria Morgan (UK) joined DANTE as Secretary/Administrator on 7 September 1998. Victoria formerly worked as a work management co-ordinator at Norwest Holst.
On 8 September 1998, Xenia Lecha Mora (ES) joined DANTE as Network Engineer in Network Engineering and Planning. Xenia will contribute to the ongoing projects such as network planning for TEN-155 and QoS issues. Xenia used to work for the Open University of Catalunia in Spain.
After two and a half years Floria De Martino (UK) left DANTE on 28 August 1998.