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From: Steve Goldstein--Ph +1-202-357-9717 <sgoldste@cise.cise.nsf.gov> To: Internet Society <isoc@nri.reston.va.us> CC: info-nets@think.com, "IWGDMGC Networking Activity" <iwg.net@nalusda.gov>, /DD.UN=IWG.CONTACTS/O=OMNET/ADMD=TELEMAIL/C=US/@sprint.com, po-ncri@nsf.gov, "Xavier H. Baquero" <xbaquero@ecnet.ec> Date: Sun, 25 Oct 92 14:11:34 EST Folks, I plan to write more for the next ISOC Newsletter, but here a brief vignette: Banco del Pacifico (Bank of the Pacific), one of Ecuador's leading and biggest commercial banks is progresively community-minded. Not the least of its contributions to development in Ecuador was the founding of ECUAnet, a not- for-profit Internet networking association for Ecuador, with free access for universities and like non-profit institutions. ECUAnet is given bandwidth on the Bank's domestic networking infrastructure (for automatic teller machines, inter-branch/inter-city voice and data, etc.) *and* on its satellite link to Miami. ECUAnet is already connected to the Internet (ecnet.ec), and over the last 10 days, as their guest, I saw and partiticipated in demonstrations of Internet-roving and resource-browsing internationally (conceived by ECUAnet V.P., Xavier Baquero--also V.P. for R&D of Banco del Pacifico--and his staff). ECUAnet's booth at this past week's COMPU computer exposition in Quito was continuously populated with enthusiastic and curious visitors. Just in case you may have forgotten, the Galapagos Islands, that font of Darwin's theories on evolution and since, that sacred ground to environmental preservationists, belong to Ecuador. And, the High Priests of Preservation, the staff of the Charles Darwin Research Station, find themselves about two miles (with line-of-sight) from Banco del Pacifico's branch in Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos. The director and her husband are Internet enthusiasts, recently of the University of Georgia's Institute of Ecology. (He, James Pinson, by the way, was in charge of Novell networking at UGA.) So, dear colleagues, if any of you should be interested in assisting the Charles Darwin Research Station achieve Internet connectivity through ECUAnet, please write either to: Chantal Blanton, Ph.D. Directora Estacion Cientifica Charles Darwin (Charles Darwin Research Station) Casilla 17-01-3891 Quito, Ecuador FAX: +593-2-443935 or e-mail to: Xavier Baquero <xbaquero@ecnet.ec> with "pass to Charles Darwin" in the subject line (Xavier will find a way to print and pass it on to them). For those of you who might wonder, there will soon be a terminal-server at the branch in Puerto Ayora (and given the means, the High Priests of Preservation will be able to connect free-of charge to ECUAnet, though there would be PTT and other costs involved). But, you will soon be able to ping Galapagos. We tested the link by logging on to a terminal server on the Ecuadoran mainland, and it works fine--right now, 2400 bps, but may be increased in non-banking hours to >=9600 bps over satellite to Guyaquil and satellite from Guyaquil to Miami (19,200 bps during banking hours/ 56 kbps during non-banking hours). Stay tuned. BTW, this could serve as an example of how private interests can assist the research and ecucational communities in technologically emerging countries. Steve G.
