Connectivity Providers Database

From: Steven G Huter <sghuter@darkwing.uoregon.edu> Date: Sun, 15 Jan 1995 18:33:43 -0800 ACADEMIC NETWORKING IN CROATIA The history In the year 1990. the networking in Croatia was more an idea then a reality. Although a public X.25 network (CROAPAK) run by the national PTT (HPT) was in place with nationwide coverage, the utilization was rudimentary. CROAPAK was mostly used by few large banks and even then for terminal to host connection. Interconnection of local networks could not be seen. Academic community had only several (mostly VMS based) computers connected to CROAPAK. The year 1990. was important because for the first time, after more than 30 years, a significant investment in scientific equipment was made by the government. Several huge faculties and institutes have purchased a significant amount of UNIX and MS-DOS based computers and have immediately connected them in local networks. The problem of LAN interconnection and international connectivity arouse. The ministry of Science, Technology and Informatics realised this need and the importance of computer networking for the development of the country in general. The CARNet (Croatian Academic and Research Network) project was initiated in the last quarter of 1991. and funds for its first phase prepared (about 1 million ECU). At that point of the time substantial support of international community was expected in the area of consulting, international connectivity support and financial support for basic infrastructure (PHARE). The birht of CARNet Unfortunately, no international support was offered. The only noble example is the Austrian government who offered and paid their half of the line connecting the two countries. Simultaneously, the war has begun and the funds prepared for the first phase of CARNet went away. However, the CARNet Coordinating Committee had a strong belief in the project and its importance. They behaved as if nothing happened and as if there were no war. Everything was prepared as if the money were here and the international support offered in its full extent. The needs and possibilities were explored and experience of other projects and networks analyzed. Due to the exceptional understanding of the Ministry and their ability to squeeze every bill, almost the whole planned amount was collected in the first quarter of the 1992. The first quarter of 1993. will be remembered as the time when first international communication line was established. It was to Austria (Zagreb - Graz). It was immediately followed with the second one to Slovenia (Zagreb - Ljubljana). At this point of time the first phase came into its final stage. Institutions were added to the core of CARNet now with full international connectivity. Wires and protocols One of the first questions to answer in the design phase was: PSDN or leased lines. Although the PSDN concept is theoretically more advanced, the experiences from the past and experiences of other countries have shown that leased lines would be a better choice. The national backbone is a star connecting universities in Rijeka, Split and Osijek with the central node in Zagreb which is also the only international node. This four major network nodes age again centres of local stars connecting them with individual institutions. The second question was: which protocol. Again OSI is the promised land but Croatia has needed something cheap and simple that would hide the difference between LAN and WAN to the common user or application. Therefore the TCP/IP was chosen. Major network nodes (and large institutions) are equipped with CISCO multiprotocol routers while small, individual institutions would connect using SLIP on inexpensive, always present, RS-232-C interfaces. IP has been declared as a mandatory protocol that every computer (PC's and multiuser platforms) must support. It was also recommended that major network nodes and large institutions should have PSDN access and support OSI services. The organization The current economical situation in Croatia is very serious and difficult. Academic and research institutions have virtually no income from the industry and their financing is almost completely by the government. Thus, all money they should pay for the networking must come from the government (ie. the Ministry). On the other hand the needs and the expenses can be precisely calculated. Therefore, the decision was made to finance the whole project centrally, from the Ministry. Thus, the establishment and the use of the network will be at no cost for the institutions and their users. The project is now being transformed into an organisation. Through this organisation (CARNet) user should be able to express and articulate their needs and wishes (the assembly) while the Ministry should be able to coordinate and harmonize the development of the network (the board). This is also the place where technical, standardization and development work should be done (working groups). Simultaneously, CARNet organisation will be the only contact and communication point for other networking organisations in the world (national representative and focal point). To run a national network requires a plenty technical and administrative job to be done. An institution was at hand: the computing centre of Zagreb University - SRCE. It has three prime tasks: to operate the network, to support users and to facilitate development of information services. The present situation The first phase is being finalized and it will cover 100 (40%) institutions with 6000 (70%) scientists and researchers. The intensive courses in computer and network usage are being held at SRCE. E-mail, FTP and TELNET have been established on every network node and on almost every networked computer. Gateways for X.400 and DECNET are being put in function. The basic information services are being spread like seeds for a field that should cover the whole community. Although in very difficult times, the machinery and wires are being established very vast. Much faster than people get used to other type of doing things, other type of freedom and other type of reality. Therefore, much has to be done in the field of education of users and promotion of new way of thinking. The plans Besides broadening the network in the aim to cover the whole community the first problem is the communication speed. Currently it is 9600 bps on the backbone and international lines and 19200 on the lines running SLIP. It is hardly sufficient for E-mail and TELNET. It has only demo value for FTP, sound and pictures. It is completely impossible to explore and develop new technologies or to fully utilize modern workstations and multiuser computers. Therefore, a tremendous increase of communication speed is the prime goal. In parallel, it is necessary to establish and interconnect various information services. The policy CARNet domain is academic community. However, the intention is to use CARNet as a test network for new technologies and to use gained experience to establish other networks in Croatia. Simultaneously, CARNet itself will accept non-academic, but non- profit organizations and institutions. Actually, the current policy is to provide access to network and services to virtually anyone, institutions, small companies and individuals as long as the use is solely for non-profit purposes. It is believed that such policy could promote new technologies in all fields of human activities. In the time when the economy will be able to support it, a commercial network should be established.