Connectivity Providers Database

From: Carlos Armas <carmas@cigb.edu.cu> To: Steven Huter <sghuter@nsrc.org> Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 08:32:39 -0400 (EDT) Overview of current cuban networking Carlos Armas / 1995 Introduction Computer and Network equipment User services and support Conclusion Introduction At the beginning of 1990 computer networking in Cuba was not widely spread. A small group of institutions like CENIAI (Center for Automated Exchange of Information), ICIMAF (Physics and Cybernetic Research Institute) and Tinored (Youth Computer Clubs) were by that time the core of the current cuban national networking community. CENIAI was involved in X.25 networking activities as early as 1985, offering international X.25 packet-switched connections to its users. Tinored entered the arena after it became the center for an ambitious project for educating youth in the use of computers, with clubs located all over the country. ICIMAF have been providing X.25 services to the academical and educational community since then. They started to offer electronic mail services to its users, and the use of the UNIX operating system and phone technology for computer networking via UUCP grown rapidly mainly at academic and educational institutions throughout the country. By the end of 1991 and early 1992, a group of institutions started their own networking projects to suit the needs of communication and information for their users. Can be mentioned CIGBnet, the network of the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Havana; Infomed, the network of the National Center for Medical Sciences Information; Binanet, the network for the "Jose Marti" National Library; CNC, the network of the National Neurosciences Center; ISPJAM, Oriente University's network; BIOTEC, devoted to biological and biotechnology information among others. 1993 was a very important period for computer communication in Cuba. The number of networks offering services to its users increased dramatically, as well as the connectivity among them. The technical skills and cooperation among different networks took place, and an interesting phenomenon occured: the specialization. While electronic mail has been usually the principal service offered to users, the expertise, maturity and network growth allowed each network to cover specific needs of information of their users. That's the case of Tinored, which have been serving as a point of connection for non-governmental organizations and with information services in the field of social sciences and education. Infomed became a very important source of clinical information, and by now the cuban medical community uses extensively Infomed's services for its everyday working environment. The same occured with CIGBnet, serving the biological and biotechnology research community with DNA and protein databases services; and Binanet, (National Library) which hosted recently the IFLA annual meeting. Computer and Network equipment Networking in Cuba can be described in two words: low-cost networking. There are no IP network services providers in the cuban market. The old analog phone system is obsolete and noisy. Almost all the available computer platform have been IBM PCs and compatibles. X.25 connectivity was only available in Havana for a long time, and by now it does not cover all provinces. The cuban PTT did not offer X.25 services and until recently it was not interested in providing network services at all. Expensive hardware such as SUN or HP boxes were not available, and the use of high-end routers did not make sense. The use of low-speed modem connections and UUCP networking techniques with UNIX on PCs as network hosts became the typical configuration. Telebit modems, mainly the ones supporting PEP (Packetized Ensemble Protocol) like the TB+ model became the best cost/benefit approach when speeds over CCITT V.32 (9600 bps) were needed. In fact three of the four sites with international UUCP connections are using TB+ modems for that purpose. (CENIAI, CIGBnet, Tinored). On the LAN side, a mix of UNIX System V boxes and Novell's Netware file servers is becoming a common configuration at academic and educational sites. A more old-fashioned mainframe-like UNIX environments with character-based terminals are the usual configuration at commercial sites around the country, most of them related to the tourism industry. User services and support Electronic mail and mailing lists are the most used network services at every site on cuban networks. For some time during 1993 nearly 65% of the total international UUCP load coming down to Cuba was mailing lists traffic. Due to financial constraints this traffic had to be cut down to merely a 15% of the total load by the middle of 1994. There are some interesting mailing lists around the country. One of them, redes-l@infomed.cu , devoted to networking techniques discussions has a heavy daily traffic, as well as salud-l@infomed.cu, a very useful medical and clinical list. Cubanews@tinored.cu is linked with newsgroups on the States and Canada and is a very active bi-directional list devoted to news about Cuba, and a lot of people here and there use it to discuss about hot topics on politics, economics and social trends. CENIAI maintains a list named enredes where a lot of topics about Latin American and Caribbean networking from some lists on the net are cross-posted. It is worth mentioning the interesting project being developed by CNICM (Infomed) to gather and spread medical information to the national medical community, which has got to be a valuable source to keep them up to date on the state-of-the-art of the profession. At CIGBnet a service named Netserver has been serving access through electronic mail to DNA and protein databases to professionals on life sciences since late 1992. The end user support has been very poor regarding training, as there have been few efforts on educating users in an organized way. Anyway, the use of list discussions as a tool for educating users on netiquette and fair use of the network has filled that gap reasonably well. Conclusion There have been some changes in the cuban PTT policy lately. It seems that in short time there will be some network services available from the PTT, in terms of leased lines availability, X.25 connectivity and support. A new generation of university students closely related to networking is emerging.The inclusion of UNIX , LAN and WAN networking on under-graduate university educational programs is a very important step on consolidating this professional field. Some initial steps have been made to get a direct connection to the Internet, and it would be logical to say that Cuba will enjoy a better connectivity to the Internet in the coming years.