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                  * *      A bi-monthly electronic news bulletin
                 *   *     reporting on the activities of DANTE,
                *          the company that provides international
               *           telecommunications services for the 
THE WORKS OF D A N T E     European research community.

No.4, June 1994            Editor: Josefien Bersee
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DANTE TO DEFINE 'SUPER HIGHWAY' FOR EUROPEAN RESEARCH

DANTE has been awarded a contract in the framework of the Eureka 
EuroCAIRN (European Cooperation for Academic and Industrial Research 
Networking) Project to specify requirements and outline a plan for 
the delivery of a 34-155 Mbps network infrastructure for the European 
research community. 

Dai Davies, General Manager of DANTE, commented: "The timing for 
this could not have been better: now we have a major opportunity 
to streamline pan-European networking to complement the national 
high-speed initiatives in for instance the UK, Netherlands, Germany 
and the Nordic countries. This is the only way to create a truly 
complementary pan-European infrastructure."

In January 1994 DANTE submitted a detailed proposal to produce such 
a specification this year. The EuroCAIRN Committee had already 
accepted the proposal in principle in April and details have now 
been finalised. DANTE will start the work immediately.

Three main issues will be addressed in the specification: technology, 
organisation, and commercial management of the High Speed Service. 
Technical issues relate to the availability of circuits and advanced 
services from PNOs, topology planning, and connectivity requirements 
to other continents, as well as an assessment of relevant 
applications. No less challenging are organisational and commercial 
issues such as management, operational and financial aspects of 
delivering the service. Basically the technology is available and 
major issues relate to regulatory constraints and obtaining sensible 
prices and timely availability of service.

The work will be carried out by DANTE in close cooperation with 
leading specialists in Europe. A small group of key persons have 
already committed themselves to joining the project team.

MAJOR INCREASE IN EUROPANET CONNECTIVITY TO THE US
 
DANTE will expand its existing connectivity to the US from 3,5 to 10 
Mbps. The capacity increase will be used to support traffic growth as 
a result of the deployment of high speed networks in some European 
countries, in particular The Netherlands. The increase involves 
implementing a 8 Mbps line between Amsterdam and Washington.
 
This line will constitute the largest link between the US and the 
European part of the Internet research backbone. SURFnet, the Dutch 
national research network, will be the first customer to benefit from 
the 8 Mbps intercontinental connectivity. 
 
Boudewijn Nederkoorn, Managing Director of SURFnet, said: "We need 
this capacity increase to meet our short term bandwidth requirements. 
We are in the process of setting up an ATM backbone in the 
Netherlands of nine 34 Mbps connections, and the traffic growth to 
the US simply demands more capacity than 2 Mbps." SURFnet will be by 
far the biggest single customer for intercontinental connectivity, 
but the benefits from the capacity increase will serve researchers on 
both sides of the Atlantic. 
 
DANTE has already started negotiations with possible line suppliers 
and expects to have the line in place by October 1994.

UPGRADE AMSTERDAM-PRAGUE LINE FOR INET94/JENC5 

On the occasion of the Workshop for Technically Emerging Countries 
and the INET94/JENC5 conference DANTE has organised an upgrade from 
64 kbps to 512 kbps  of the existing EuropaNET connection in Prague. 
Funding for the upgrade is provided through the CEC PHARE program; 
the Czech Republic was connected to the EuropaNET backbone in 1993 
under the same program.

DANTE has organised the upgrade to meet the networking requirements 
of the hundreds of Workshop and Conference attendees. The DANTE line 
will be used to support the increase in general IP traffic, such as 
e-mail, between Prague and continental Europe; DANTE is seeking funds 
to keep the 512 kbps connection in place after the event. 

For the occasion a new trunk line is provided by DANTE. The final 
link in the connection is established via two local loops, from the 
EuropaNET node in the PTT building in Prague: one to the Technical 
University, where the Workshop takes place, and the second to the 
Palace of Culture, the venue of the Conference. 

DANTE has put a lot of effort in setting up the line and has liaised 
with all involved parties, including Unisource, the Czech PTT, and 
CEC-PHARE. 

MORE EUROPANET ENHANCEMENTS

DANTE has arranged with SURFnet to continue to make use of the T1 
(1.5 Mbps) line between Amsterdam and CERN during the second half of 
1994. The line, that used to be part of Ebone, will connect DANTE's 
Points of Presence (PoPs) in Amsterdam and CERN. The arrangement 
enables DANTE to implement several enhancements to the EuropaNET 
Service.

The line will provide a direct back-up route between the European 
ends of DANTE's two transatlantic lines; in case of a failure of one 
of the transatlantic lines, traffic can be diverted automatically to 
the other one without imposing any extra load on EMPB. It will also 
be used as part of the Ebone/EuropaNET interconnection which DANTE 
has proposed to Ebone for the second half of 1994. CERN, as one of 
the locations where EuropaNET and Ebone are both present, will be 
used as the actual point of interconnection but traffic will 
flow in and out of EMPB through DANTE's PoP in Amsterdam.
    
Similar arrangements are being made for a EUnet interconnection. The 
principle of establishing a 64 kbps interconnection with EuropaNET in 
Amsterdam has already been agreed; the ways in which any additional 
capacity that is required will be funded is still being discussed.
 
Since no new lines are required to set up these services, DANTE is 
confident that they will be operational by 1 July 1994.

THE KOREAN CONNECTION

A contract for the provision of a 64 kbps line between EuropaNET 
and KREONET, the Korean research network, was signed between 
DANTE and the CEC in February 1994. The circuit has now been 
ordered and should be operational within a few months. It will be 
the first direct link between the European research community and an 
R&D network in the Pacific Rim. So far cooperation between European 
and Korean researchers has been relatively weak.

NAMEFLOW: ANOTHER DANTE FLOWSERVICE

NameFLOW is the successor to the PARADISE Project, which was part 
of the EUREKA COSINE Project, and had the remit to pilot a 
coordinated international directory service for the European 
Research Community. DANTE will take on the challenge of 
transforming the pilot into an operational service. 

In parallel with the provision of the service DANTE will - in 
cooperation with its customers - define a strategy for the future 
development of international directory services. Opinions on this 
issue vary considerably within the European research community.

CALL FOR TENDER MailFLOW - REMINDER 

An open Call for Tender for the provision MHS-Coordination, 
MailFLOW, has been issued by DANTE. 

Tender requirements are available from the DANTE gopher server, 
in the MailFLOW directory (dir /FLOWservices or URL: 
gopher://gopher.dante.net:70/00/pub/flowservices/mail/call-for-
tender-95). The deadline for submitting proposals is 30 June 1994.

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