Connectivity Providers Database

From: Albania Networking Forum <albnet@info.irex.org> To: sghuter@psg.com Date: Tue, 3 Oct 1995 08:16:38 -0400 Excerpted from: >__________________________________________________________________ > > * * 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.11, September 1995 Editor: Josefien Bersee >__________________________________________________________________ .. > >PHARE NETWORKING PROJECT > >The PHARE project is finally moving. A number of contracts with the >Commission for connectivity have been signed now, in particular with >Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, and >Hungary. With respect to Albania progress has been made as well, as a >result of the visit to Albania of Istvan Tetenyi, who works for DANTE >as consultant on the PHARE project. His personal account of the visit >to Albania can be found below. > >For five of the PHARE countries, the Baltic states, Albania and >Slovenia the European Commission, has made 80 KECU available for the >upgrading of the national computer network infrastructure - in >addition to funding for the international connectivity. Under this >arrangement a Call for Tender for the provision of hardware such as >pc's and workstations, modems and routers has been issued. The next >PHARE meeting with the representatives of the PHARE countries, EC, >and DANTE, will take place on 5-6 October in Bratislava, Slovakia. > >A VISIT TO ALBANIA - by Istvan Tetenyi > >The aim of my visit to Albania to prepare for an implementation plan >to connect Albania to the Internet. Albania followed its own path of >development for the last 45 years and the results are still very >visible in 1995. The democratic Albania inherited a very basic >infrastructure from its predecessor and people face severe problems >such as unreliable electricity and water supply. Albania has the >worst phone system in Europe and some phones are hacked. Fax machines >in offices are still rare. The number of LANs is less than twenty. >Albania is the only country in Europe that is not yet connected to >the Internet. People have heard about it and some professionals have >used it. Everybody I met was hoping for the quick arrival of Internet >services, in particular electronic mail. > >Authorities in Albania have helped to set up an initial >organisational framework to address the administrative issues. DANTE >catalyses this work with its advice and classification of the working >model of the various European networking organisations. Consequently, >an organisational structure has been established which comprises a >Council of participating organisation's representatives, a Technical >and a User Committee. It is expected that in the next year a research >network organisation will be formed. > >A non-official but very important forum is the 'Internet Group of >Albania'. The group was set-up by Diane Hambley in 1994. Interested >parties in Tirana are having weekly meetings to teach, explain, train >and help the future users. A vital forum of exchanging views and >disseminate information is already in place. Other international >agencies like UNDP (United Nations Development Program) and the Soros >Foundation are also focusing efforts in the establishment of an >Internet connection. Bill Eldridge with the financial support of the >above agencies initiated the ALBNET project to realise international >networking facilities. > >The technical solution planned for Albania is based on one 64 kbps >satellite circuit, a dial-up router that is accessed via wireless >modems within the radius of 5-10 km. The infrastructure background >does not facilitate leased link circuits yet. The router accommodates >16 access lines from 16 different locations in Tirana. > >There is a strong wish to harmonise the existing projects and join >the efforts of PHARE and UNDP together. Negotiations with UNDP >representatives are on their way. Hopefully some of the long lasting >effects of isolation will soon be alleviated by the introduction of >the Internet to Albania. > ... >DANTE IN PRINT > >DANTE has existed for over two years now and during that period >things have been moving fast in European research networking. By >setting up its own publications series DANTE offers a broad overview >of technical, political and commercial developments in European >research networking (and DANTE's role in it). All papers presented >and published by and on behalf of DANTE as well as articles in >journals and magazines will be included in DANTE IN PRINT. Hard >copies, Postscript, and HTML versions are available, see URL: >http://www.dante.net/pubs/dip.html. >__________________________________________________________________ > >DANTE - Lockton House - Clarendon Road - Cambridge - CB2 2BH - UK > >telephone +44 1223 302992 >fax +44 1223 303005 > >E-mail dante@dante.org.uk > S=dante; O=dante; P=dante; A=mailnet; C=fi >WWW server http://www.dante.net/ >___________________________________________________________________