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* * A bi-monthly electronic news bulletin
* * reporting on the activities of DANTE,
* the company that organises international
* network services for the European
THE WORKS OF D A N T E research community.
No.10, July 1995 Editor: Josefien Bersee
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EUROPANET TRANSITION
The issue currently highest on DANTE's agenda is the transition
process to the new EuropaNET backbone network. In October 1995 a new
contract with British Telecom for the operation of the European
backbone will come into force. The huge project of migration to the
new service involves many partners and DANTE is working very hard to
coordinate all activities to ensure a smooth transition. According to
current plans, the routers necessary for the service will be
delivered in mid-July and most of the necessary circuits will be
available at the end of July. Acceptance testing and migration of the
national networks to the new service will take place during
September. One of the issues that are currently under discussion is
the possible integration into BT's service of a high speed link to
the US.
EUROPANET UPGRADES
As a result of the ever increasing traffic load on EuropaNET two more
customers (UKERNA and NORDUnet) have upgraded their connection
capacity to 4 Mbps. During 1995 traffic on the EuropaNET
backbone has seen a 30% growth already. Under the current contract
the national networks have the obligation to increase the capacity of
their connection as soon as the traffic load reaches a certain level.
This is one of the ways a high quality of service on the network can
be guaranteed to all customers. From 1 October 1995, this contractual
obligation will no longer be in effect but DANTE will still rely on
individual national networks to upgrade their access capacity as
necessary in order to maintain an acceptable level of service for
their end users.
A complication is now presenting itself in the fact that the original
EMPB infrastructure (and contract) was based on 2 Mbps line and
switching equipment. As a result an upgrade to 4 Mbps may show less
of a quality of service improvement than expected. This will only be
a very temporary problem, as the next contract offers connectivity to
customer networks up to a speed of 8 Mbps.
TEN-34 CONSORTIUM
DANTE is continuing its efforts to finalise the TEN-34 proposal on
behalf of the TEN-34 Consortium. The Consortium consists of national
networks from 18 European countries and telecommunications operators
which have submitted an implementation proposal to the European
Commission for the linking up of high-speed national research
networks at 34-155 Mbps. DANTE has been asked by the Commission to
discuss the proposal with the initiators of JAMES, a PNO-driven
proposal, which builds on the work done in the European PNO ATM
pilot. DANTE is currently looking at ways to collaborate with the PNO
Consortium in relation to the second element of the TEN-34 proposal
which specifies the setting up of an international ATM test network.
The immediate establishment of a 34 Mbps IP backbone remains a high
priority and is being addressed separately.
THE PHARE PROJECT
DANTE recently completed an international connectivity plan for the
PHARE region as part of the PHARE 1994 R&D networking contract. As
expected, a range of solutions is needed to build a solid base for
future networking activity in this region. As a result each country
is being treated to a greater or lesser degree separately from all
other beneficiaries. The connectivity plan focuses on finding a
solution for each country which is cost effective on the one hand but
which provides access to the high capacity and performance networking
capabilities provided by existing R&D networks on the other.
DANTE is concerned that progress during the first six month period of
the contract has been relatively limited due to delays in resolving
administrative issues in relation to the Management Contract and the
resulting interruption in the flow of funds from the EC. The members
of the R&D community in the PHARE countries have expressed their
concern that a manageable transition from the PHARE/COSINE Programme
(1991-1994) to meet the needs for R&D networking in 1995 has not been
taken on urgently enough. As a result, some local initiatives have
changed the networking status from the situation which existed in
early 1994 when the Programme was approved. Due to these changes and
to the increase in networking activity in both Western and Eastern
Europe in 1994/5 some of the aims of the PHARE R&D Networking
Programme have already been overtaken by events. The planned change
of infrastructure supplier for EuropaNET from 1 October 1995 adds an
extra layer of complication. Effort so far has been concentrated on
preparatory work in the PHARE countries, the fruition of which DANTE
expects to become more evident during the next six months.
DANTE ANNUAL REPORT 1994 AVAILABLE
Paper copies of the latest DANTE Annual Report, which presents an
activity and financial review of the last 9 months of 1994, can be
obtained by sending the message to dante@dante.org.uk.
The URL for the on-line version on DANTE's www server is:
http://www.dante.net/Annual-Report94/contents.html
NEW STAFF
Steven Bakker (NL) joined DANTE on 29 May 1995. He will work with
Michael Behringer on network planning and development. Steven has a
degree from Amsterdam's 'Free University' in Informatics, with
Software Engineering as a specialisation. In his previous position he
worked as a Systems Programmer for SARA, the computer centre of the
University of Amsterdam and the Free University, where he was
involved in UNIX, VAX/VMS, E-mail and News management. His e-mail
address is: Steven.Bakker@dante.org.uk.
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