
                                                                  ripe-86
                                                                  version 6
                                                                  May 1993



     An overview of East and Central European networking activities


                             Milan Sterba

                     Prague School of Economics,

                          Czech Republic

                       <Milan.Sterba@vse.cz>


1. Introduction

This paper is mainly based on work of the RIPE Connectivity Working
Group.  It summarises the main issues of international connectivity of
Eastern and Central European countries.  It is based on reports and
information gathered by network representatives of these countries, who
have been present at the meetings or contacted on other occasions. 

Thanks are due to all those who helped us to gather the information. 
Some countries however, are not represented in this report, due to
lack of information.  Please contact the author if you have amendments
or suggestions.  This report is released regularly on a 4-5 month basis.

This report contains lists of people who are responsible for
international networking in each of their countries and a map of the
current situation in IP networking in the those countries.  The map
doesn't show all existing international lines of those countries but it
seeks to be complete for IP lines and other leased lines without usage
restrictions for the academic and research communities. 

This report has been written by Milan Sterba <Milan.Sterba@vse.cz> and
it does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the authors of the
national reports nor those of the RIPE community. 

2. Present situation

This chapter gives as detailed as possible descriptions of the various
network activities in the East and Central European countries.  The
sections for particular countries is subject to regular amendments or
changes. 

Considerable progress has been made during the last year in IP
connectivity of ECE countries.  Czechia and Poland have today, some
two thousand connected hosts each and are the most advanced countries in
Central and Eastern Europe with respect to IP connectivity. 

Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia do also have IP
connectivity today and have several hundreds of connected hosts each. 
IP connectivity has also reached Latvia through Estonia and NORDUnet and
also Bulgaria, Romania and Russia and is spreading very rapidly in most
of these new Internet countries. 

In all the connected countries the initial capacity of international
lines has rapidly become insufficient and it has been sought to upgrade
existing lines and set up reasonable backup solutions.  Internetworking
is rapidly spreading and good IP connectivity is considered as the first
priority by the national academic network organisations. 

All the countries considered, except for Albania and some of the new
countries that came out of former Yugoslavia, have at the present time
some (often more than one) connection to international networks.  Some
countries have only a dial-up e-mail connectivity, others have low or
medium speed leased lines.  The present state of international leased
lines to ECE countries is represented on the map which goes with this
report. 

Having solved basic connectivity problems some ECE countries face now
other types of problems concerning deployment of the network through the
countries, user services, user information and training, network
security, organization of networking and production network financing,
involvement of non-academic bodies in networking and more generally
transition from a starting and supported country to a fully integrated
member of the global network community. 

RIPE broadly contributes to this rapid evolution by technical advice and
by coordination efforts. 

2.1 Albania

An electronic mail connection used to exist between the University of
Tirana and the Internet.  The gateway and relay function resided at
CNUCE, Pisa, Italy.  This connection seems not to be operational any
more. 

Contact Persons:

o Maxim Raco <maksi@dinf.uniti.al> - University of Tirana
o Francesco Gennai <francesco.gennai@cnuce.cnr.it> - CNUCE, Pisa, Italy


2.2 Baltic countries

All three Baltic countries are developing Research and Education
Networks, called respectively ESTNET, LATNET and LITERA-NET.  A Baltic
backbone, called BALTBONE, will link them together (Kaunas, Vilnius,
Riga, Tartu, Tallinn) and to the global Internet via NORDUnet. 
BALTBONE is partly operational today.  A LISTSERV mailing list exists
for this purpose <NORDBALT@searn.sunet.se>. 


2.2.1 Estonia

Estonia works in close co-operation with NORDUnet in setting up external
IP links.  Currently 64 kbits/s IP satellite links are operational
between Tallinn and Stockholm, and between Tartu and Stockholm.  These
lines connect the Baltic backbone network (BaltNet) to the rest of the
Internet.  Another 64 kbit/s IP line is operational between Tallinn and
Helsinki. 

Inside Estonia IP links exist between the Institute of Cybernetics and
the University of Technology in Tallinn and the Tartu University.  UUCP
and FIDOnet infrastructure is also developed. 

Contact persons:

o Ants Work <ants@ioc.ee> - Institute of Cybernetics, Tallinn


2.2.2 Latvia

An international 14.4 kbit/s IP line connects the Institute of
Informatics and Computer Science of the Latvian University in Riga to
the Institute of Cybernetics in Tallinn, Estonia.  This line is part of
the Baltic backbone network (BaltNet).  Other networks active in Latvia
have only dial-up connections (FidoNet to Tallinn and Helsinki,
EUnet/RELCOM to Moscow and other EUnet/RELCOM nodes).  FidoNet in
Latvia is partly supported by Technical University of Riga and used as
an interim academic network. 

Inside Latvia X.25 services are available from the public X.25 network
Latpak and Sprint, UUCP services are available from JET, Versia and
Robosoft, the latvian partners of EUnet/ RELCOM.  FidoNet also is very
active. 

Latvia participates in the BALTBONE project.  Cooperation also exists
between University of Latvia, which hosts the Coordination committee for
networking in Latvia, the Institute of Electronics and Computer
Techniques and the Technical University of Riga on one hand and DFN and
the University of Muenster (Germany).  A 64 kbit/s leased line is
planned to interconnect Riga and the WIN office in Berlin by May 1993. 
This line will support X.25 and IP over X.25. 

Contact persons:

o Guntis Barzdins <guntis@mii.lu.lv> - BaltNet
o Harijs Bondars <hbondars@lapsene.mii.lu.lv> - Univ.  of Latvia, BaltNet
o Ugis Berzins <ugis@fidogate.riga.lv> - BaltNet
o Harry Bush <harry@castle.riga.lv>
o Alexander Kirpa <ank@robosoft.riga.lv> - Robosoft Ltd. 
o Sergei Rotanov <rotanov@lumii.lat.su> - Institute of Electronics
o Dmitry Sazonov <dima@jet.riga.lv> - JET (RELCOM Riga)
o Janis Sudnieks <john@versia.riga.lv> - Versia Ltd. 


2.2.3 Lithuania

A dial-up EUnet connection exists between Vilnius and Helsinki
(Finland).  Electronic mail UUCP services are offered by several
providers in cooperation with EUnet/RELCOM nodes in Moscow, Minsk

A 64 kbit/s X.25 link, used for X.400 electronic mail, X.500 directory
services and remote terminal (PAD) access, sponsored by Norwegian
Telecom, exists between Vilnius and Oslo (Norway).  The usage of this
infrastructure however seems to be much lower than the usage of dial-up
connections for EUnet and FIDOnet. 

In 1991 the project of a LIThuanian Electronic Research Academic NETwork
(LITERANET) has been created at the Institute of Mathematics and
Informatics.  LITERA-NET is now acting as top level domain administrator
for.  lt and has started activities towards spreading IP connectivity
over Lithuania.  An agreement has been reached between the Polish
academic network NASK and LITERA-NET about establishing lithuanian IP
connectivity over NASK, which will provide funding for the Polish part
of the link.  Funding probably remains the main bottleneck for
progressing IP connectivity in Lithuania. 

Negotiations are going on founding a new Institute of Information
Technologies, which would be in charge of the future development of
LITERA-NET. 

Contact persons:

o Algirdas Pakstas <Algirdas.Pakstas@idt.unit.no> - LITERA-NET,.lt top
level domain admin.,Institute for Mathematics and Informatics, Vilnius
o Laimutis Telksnys <telksnys@sedcs.mii2.lt> - Institute for Mathemat-
ics and Informatics, Vilnius


2.3 Bulgaria

A switched international X.25 connection connects the Bulgarian EARN
node in Sofia to Vienna (Austria).  An IP connection over public X.25
connects the Bulgarian EUnet backbone node in Varna to the Internet
via the EUnet center in Amsterdam.  Coordination between both projects
is still under study. 

Several tens of EUnet sites are now connected over dial-up links and
public X25 network to the national EUnet backbone.  Some sites are using
EUnet IP services.  EARN services have been opened at Sofia University
and are today spread over about 10 academic institutions.  No gateway
exists between the two services yet. 

The national academic network is organized in a non-profit association
UNICOM-B which in fact represents EARN in Bulgaria.  EUnet services are
provided by a commercial company, which by serving also some academic
institutions which have chosen EUnet, is in competition with UNICOM-B. 

Contact persons:

o Kiril Boyanov <boyanov@atgbox.edvz.univie.ac.at> - Center for Infor-
matics and Computer Technology of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
o Miroslav Iliev <???????????????> - Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
o Daniel Kalchev <daniel@danbo.bg> - EUnet backbone manager BG, con-
tact for BG top level domain
o Alexander Simeonov <sasho@bgearn.bitnet> - Center for Informatics,
Sofia
o Anton Velichkov <vam@bgearn.bitnet> - UNICOM-B and EARN president for
Bulgaria
o Rositza Rangelova <rora@bgearn.bitnet> - UNICOM-B secretary


2.4 Commonwealth of Independent States. 

2.4.1 Russia

2.4.1.1 Overview of international links

Two 19.2 kbit/s IP links between Moscow and Tallinn and Moscow and
St.Petersbourg connect the EUnet/RELCOM network in Russia and a few
other xSU republics to the Finnish EUnet backbone in Helsinki and
further to EUnet and the Internet.  Currently the services consist of
electronic mail and network news.  These links carry most of the
international e-mail traffic from and to xSU. 

Another network service provider Demos/+ operates a dial-up IP link
between Moscow and AlterNet (USA).  An upgrade of this link to 64 kbit/s
has been ordered.  Demos/+ also operates a more or less unused 64 kbit/s
X25 link to DATEX-P (German PSDN).  A 9.6 kbit/ s leased line between
Moscow and DESY, Hamburg (Germany), supporting IP, delivers HEPnet/IP
services to two research institutes in Moscow.  An upgrade of this link
to 64 or 256 kbit/s, rehomed to Moscow State University and funded by
DFN is planned for the near future.  The link should then be open to a
broader academic and research community.  The European Space Agency is
funding a 64 kbit/s link between Space Research Institute in Moscow
(IKI) and ESOC in Darmstadt (Germany).  Another ESA link exists between
CNES (France) and IKI. 

A dial-up IP link also links FreeNet a smaller IP network between
several research institutes in the Moscow area, Jaroslavl and Baku to
UNI-C in Denmark. 

All existing IP links to CIS have full connectivity to the European part
of Internet and to commercial US networks.  NSFnet and other
governmental US agencies however still do not accept Russian IP networks
on their backbones.  NASA has asked the US Department of Commerce for an
export licence for NASA Science Internet connectivity to Russia.  If
this licence is granted, this will represent a precedent which may make
help other agencies to connect Russian networks as well. 

The first EARN node started its operation in Moscow late in 1991.  The
international connectivity of SUEARN is now provided via a low speed
European Space Agency link to ESOC Germany. 

Sprint International has installed a point of presence in Moscow.  The
link goes from the Sprint POP in Moscow to the Washington area. 


2.4.1.2 Organizational aspects

A considerable effort undertaken by the EUnet/RELCOM networking
organization has brought e-mail connectivity to several thousands of
sites all over the former Soviet Union on a fully user funded basis and
unrestricted network use from the very beginning.  The growth of the
network was several 100% a year.  Current number of connected nodes is
over 6000.  The whole network has some 100 regional centres operating as
independent companies in all parts of the former Soviet Union.  These
companies have formed the jointstock venture EUnet/RELCOM to take care
of the common infrastructure, network development and international
connections.  All companies are using a common network named
EUnet/RELCOM.  EUnet/RELCOM is now introducing a full set of IP services
over xSU.  Problems arise with the poor telecommunication infrastructure
and with COCOM restrictions on IP routers and other equipment. 

One of the former main nodes of RELCOM, Demos/+ has separated from
RELCOM and acts now as an independent service provider which also
operates a link to AlterNet.  IP connectivity exists between Demos/+
network, FreeNet, EUnet/RELCOM and the EARN node in Moscow. 

In July 1992 an official decision has been taken by the Ministry of
Science and Higher Education, the Academy of Sciences and the Russian
Scientific Center (Kurchatov Institute) to form the Russian Electronic
Academic and Research Network (RELARN) which will use network services
from several network providers (e.g.  EUnet/RELCOM, Demos/+, FreeNet). 

The San Francisco Institute for Global Communications has installed in
Moscow the central node of an extended BBS system called GlasNet. 
This non-profit network organization allows isolated scientists,
businessmen, journalists etc.  to use electronic mail, bulletin boards
and offers them fax and surface mail or even telephone or telegram
gateway functions.  Electronic mail to/from GlasNet can be gatewayed
to most e-mail networks in the world. 


2.4.1.3 Plans for the near future

Several very realistic plans exist for the near future to upgrade
Russian and global CIS connectivity considerably.  Several 64 kbit/s
lines should be put to the Moscow area.  EUnet/RELCOM is planning to put
a line to the central EUnet node in Amsterdam. 

NASA has recently announced the plan to put a 256 kbit/s link to extend
the NASA Science Internet to the Institute of Space Research (IKI) in
Moscow to support a joint mission between NASA and the Russian Space
Program.  This link should be upgraded to a full T1 later this year. 
NASA will also sponsor for the next two years local connections ranging
from 14.4 kbit/s to 2 Mbit/s according to local implementation
possibilities from IKI to other cooperating institutes.  Connections to
RELCOM/RELARN are also foreseen. 

Another link is planned between Moscow, the Russian Academy of Sciences
and KTH Stockholm, to connect at 128 kbit/s Russian IP networks to EBONE
and further NSFnet under joint funding of ISF and NORDUnet. 

GARR plans to put a 64 kbit/s link between Gran Sasso (Italy) and Dubna
near Moscow.  Similar although much more vague plans yet exist also with
the US Department of Energy which intends an expansion of ESnet to the
physics institutes in the Moscow area.  The NASA line might be used for
this purpose. 

International Science Foundation seems ready to sponsor SprintLink
connections to Russian research and academic institutions through the
Sprint POP in Moscow area, open for all academic traffic. 


2.4.1.4 Internal Moscow plans

A plan exists to interconnect major networking actors in the Moscow area
by a fibre optical backbone in the framework of the RELARN project. 
This backbone should cover EUnet/ RELCOM, Demos/+, the Russian Academy
of Sciences and others.  IKI will probably also be connected to this
backbone as well as Sprint POP and Moscow State University (from RAS). 

Moscow State University also plans to build a microwave 2 Mbit/s network
connecting MSU, Lebedev Physical Institute and the Institute of
Theoretical and Experimental Physics (ITEP).


2.4.1.5 Implications

We can foresee that in the near future the aggregate capacity of all
international IP links ending in the Moscow area will be about 2-4
Mbit/s with the total number of links being about 15-20.  Most of these
links clearly concern the same scientific and network providers
community.  This situation calls for careful coordination between the
bodies which fund these lines as well as between their Russian partners
to prevent serious problems in IP address allocation and routing, which
would affect the whole Internet. 

A short overview of all these initiatives also clearly shows, that the
Moscow area and through it the whole Russian part of Internet could be
connected to the Internet in a more coordinated and more efficient way. 

Contact persons:

o Valery Bardin <fox@ussr.eu.net> - RelTeam Ltd. 
o Alexej Platonov <plat@kiae.su> - RELARN
o Misha Popov <popov@hq.demos.su> - Demos/+
o Andrej Mendkovich <mend@suearn2.bitnet> - CIS EARN director
o Nickolay M.Saukh <nms@ussr.eu.net> - RelTeam Ltd. 
o Alex Soldatov <saa@ussr.eu.net> - RELCOM Corp.  President
o Oleg Tabarovsky <olg@ussr.eu.net> - EUnet/RELCOM
o Dima Volodin <dvv@hq.demos.su> - Demos/+
o Anatoly Voronov <voronov@glas.apc.org> - GlasNet Executive Director
o Alexander Zaytsev <alexz@glas.apc.org> - GlasNet Technical Director


2.4.2 Belarus

The Belarussian academic network BASNET is an X.25 based network which
interconnects academic institutes in Minsk and Gomel and several
governmental organizations.  It is operated by the Computer Center of
the Academy of Sciences of Belarus.  International connections are based
on IASNET in Moscow. 

Contact person:

o Eugene Petson <petson@adonis.ias.msk.su> - Computer Center of BAS


2.4.3 Ukraine

Most of the Ukrainian sites have e-mail connectivity through the
EUnet/RELCOM infrastructure.  However strong tendencies now exist to
obtain their own international IP connectivity.  Negotiations are
underway with the Polish academic network NASK, which has offered to
connect the Ukrainian Academic Network UANET, as well as with other
national networks and funding agencies. 

Many of the organizations involved in networking in Kiev as well as in
other parts of Ukraine have recently agreed to join their efforts to
build a common IP infrastructure and seek together for international
connectivity. 

Also the recent activities of NASA and the ISF in Russia will probably
be extended to reach other xSU countries. 


Contact persons:

o Viacheslav Shkarupin <slava@vidr.kiev.ua> - ?????????????????? 
o Yuri N. Muraviov <myn@iitc.kiev.ua> - ???????????????? 
o Igor Sviridonov <sia@lot.cs.kiev.ua> - EUnet/RELCOM contact for
Ukraine
o Eugen Serebrjany <eugenes@dnipron.glas.apc.org> - Dnepropetrovsk
University


2.5 Croatia

The Croatian academic network CARNet has a 14.4 kbit/s link from Zagreb
to Ljubljana
(Slovenia) which is fully used for IP connectivity. There exists also a leased connection at 
14.4 kbit/s from Zagreb to Graz (Austria - ACONET). 

The capillarity in the country is provided by leased lines at 64 kbit/s
connecting Zagreb, Rijeka, Osijek and Split.  The whole infrastructure
is based on IP technology, which is considered as priority, although
other protocols may be added in the future.  In several months this
network has grown from zero to some 500 connected hosts today. 

In Croatia the coordinating organization is CARNet.  CARNet has shown
itself extremely efficient in setting up a national IP network and
connecting it to Internet in a very short period and almost without any
international support.  The University Computing Center in Zagreb has
been appointed as the operator of the infrastructure including
international lines and has been assigned the task to further design and
develop the network.  A close cooperation exists between ARNES in
Slovenia and CARNet. 

Contact persons:

o Ivan Maric <ivan@dns.srce.hr> - CARNet
o Predrag Pale <Predrag.Pale@carnet.hr> - CARNet Coordinating Commit-
tee Chair


2.6 Czech Republic

A 64 kbit/s IP link between Prague and Linz (Austria) is operational
today.  The line is full IP carrying general IP, EARN and Czech EUnet
traffic.  A EuropaNet 9.6 kbit/s link has started operation in March
1993 (Prague-Amsterdam) as part of the one year East Europe IXI pilot. 
Due to low capacity of the link (64 kbit/s was foreseen by the project)
the line is used only experimentally and is not available to CESNET
users yet.  The Czech Educational and Scientific Network (CESNET) has
also a 19.2 kbit/s link to the Slovak Academic Network
(SANET) connecting Prague to Banska Bystrica. Another low speed link
connects Liberec to DFN as part of a regional network between Czech
republic, Germany and Poland. 

In February 1993 CESNET has deployed its national infrastructure based
on medium and low speed lines to 10 major academic cities (among them
Prague, Brno, Plzen, Ostrava) where metropolitan and regional networks
are being further deployed.  In Prague some 10 major academic institutes
are connected to the Prague metropolitan network by 64 kbit/s lines and
others should follow.  A rapid increase in number of connected nodes as
well as international line congestion is the immediate consequence
forcing CESNET to seek for increased international bandwidth.  By now
the network is fully based on TCP/IP. 

E-mail services for non-academic users are provided by the Czech part of
EUnet (some 20 nodes).  Connection of first non-academic users to
Internet is under negotiation. 

CESNET doesn't have any formal existence yet and is based on a
cooperative effort of several universities, the Academy of Sciences,
EARN and EUnet and is financed principally by the Ministry of
Education.  The international lines and the national backbone are
operated by Czech Technical University.  A good cooperation exists
between CESNET and SANET as well as with ACOnet, EARN, EUnet, DFN, INRIA
France and others. 

Contact persons:

o Jan Gruntorad <tkjg@earn.cvut.cz> - EARN director for Czechoslovakia
CESNET project coordinator, Czech Technical University (CTU)
o Petr Kral <pkl@earn.cvut.cz> - CTU, CESNET network operations
o Jiri Orsag <ors@vscht.cz> - Prague Institute of Chemical Technology
EUnet and Czech Internet Registry
o Pavel Rosendorf <prf@vscht.cz> - Prague Institute of Chemical Tech-
nology EUnet and .CS/.CZ top level domain contact
o Ivo Smejkal <ivo@vse.cz> - Prague School of Economics, CESNET user
services coordination
o Milan Sterba <Milan.Sterba@vse.cz> - Prague School of Economics author
of this report, RIPE
o Pavel Vachek <tkpv@earn.cvut.cz> - CTU, CESNET

Comment: during a transition period either .CS or .CZ may be valid for
electronic addresses in Czech republic. 


2.6 Hungary

Hungary is connected to the Internet, EARN and EUnet by two 64 kbit/s
lines from Budapest to Vienna (Austria).  The High Energy Physics
community has access to HEPnet services via a 9.6 kbit/s leased line
between Budapest and CERN, Geneva (Switzerland).  All the lines are now
running IP. 

There are two 64 kbit/s EuropaNet lines planned to come to Hungary, one
of them to Bern is already operational, which is another possibility for
international connectivity. 

Hungary has a good operational public X.25 network which is the base of
Wide Area Networking between small and medium sized sites.  A high
speed (64 kbit/s) national IP backbone (called HBONE) is coming into
production in 1993 to provide a country wide IP connectivity and access
to EBONE services.  In Budapest the core of HBONE will consist of some
FDDI networks with 2 Mbit/s lines interconnecting them.  Part of this
core network is already operational, and most of the HBONE lines are
planned to get operational by the end of the year. 

In Hungary a national program under the title "R&D Information
Infrastructure Program (IIF)" is responsible for the research networking.
The "HUNGARNET" coordinates the networking activities of different user
groups, meanwhile part of the funding goes through IIF. 

Contact persons:

o Peter Bakonyi <h25bak@ella.hu> - President of IIF Exec Com. 
o Laszlo Csaba <ib006csa@huearn.bitnet>EARN director for Hungary
o Laszlo Zombory <h340zom@ella.hu> - Chairman of HUNGARNET
o Nandor Horvath <horvath@sztaki.hu> - Local Internet administrator,
domain contact for HU, EUnet backbone manager
o Balazs Martos <martos@sztaki.hu> - HBONE project manager
o Istvan Tetenyi <ib006tet@huearn.bitnet> - EARN deputy director, EMPB
coordinator
o Piroska Giese <giese@rmk530.rmki.kfki.hu> - HEPnet
o Geza Turchanyi <h2064tur@ella.hu> - Central Research Institute for
Physics


2.7 Poland

The main external connections consist of a 64 kbit/s satellite link
between Warsaw and Stockholm (Sweden) and a 64 kbit/s terrestrial link
from Warsaw to Vienna (Austria).  The link to Stockholm is multiplexed
with the major part of the bandwidth allocated to IP.  The Warsaw to
Vienna line is not multiplexed, the full bandwidth is used for IP
traffic.  Discussions have already been initiated to provide for the
upgrade of both links to 128 kbit/s, with the objective of eventually
setting up an Ebone Boundary System in Warsaw.  A 9.6 kbit/s IP
connection is in place between Kracow and CERN, Geneva (Switzerland) for
HEPnet services.  Another low speed X.25 line is operational between the
Technical University of Wroclaw and DFN WIN Berlin as part of a regional
network between Czechia, Germany and Poland. 

An agreement has been closed recently between NASK and Ukrainian
academic community to put a low speed IP line between Lviv and Warsaw.

Public X.25 services have only started in 1992.  Thus connections at
national level can only be implemented on switched or leased lines.  The
country already has an infrastructure of leased lines, multiplexed
between EARN/NJE/BSC, IP and other types of traffic operating at speeds
between 9.6-64 kbit/s. 

The Polish network is coordinated by an organization called NASK
(National Academic and Research Network) which also includes the Polish
part of EARN.  Realistic plans exist to substantially extend IP
connectivity over the territory in 1993 using 64 kbit/s lines on their
national backbones wherever possible and economically viable.  A
National Network Operation and Monitoring Center has been set up in
early 1992 which operates the whole national and international
infrastructure.  A system of network user training and support has also
been put in place. 

Contact persons:

o Daniel J.Bem <bem@plwrtu11.bitnet> - Polish academic network (NASK)
o Jerzy Gorazinski <Gorazi@plearn.bitnet> - Polish State Committee for
Scientific Research
o Krzystof Heller <heller@ii.uj.edu.pl> - contact for PL domain
o Tomasz Hofmokl <fdl50@plearn.bitnet> - EARN director for Poland
o Rafal Pietrak <rafal@fuw.edu.pl>IP within NASK
o Jerzy Zenkiewicz <jezenk@pltumk.bitnet> - Polish academic network
(NASK)
o Andrzej Zienkiewicz <osk03@plearn.bitnet> - Polish academic network
(NASK)


2.8 Romania

International connectivity is provided by a 14.4 kbit/s direct IP line
from Bucarest to Vienna (Austria) since March 1993. This line is able to
carry both Internet and EARN traffic.

EARN is nowadays the most active network in Romania with several
connected nodes in major academic institutions.  The technology used for
the connections is usually TCP/IP.  A dozen of other institutions are
connected over dial-up lines to EARN nodes and this number is increasing
every day.  Increasing demand goes for IP services.  Recently EUnet has
also started its operations in the country.  However Romania has poor
internal networking infrastructure.  A government project of building
a public X.25 network is under commercial negotiations and should start
to offer some services in 1993.  In Romania the networking activities
are coordinated and financed by the National Commission for Infor-
matics.  DEC acts as a sponsor for some of these activities as there is
a strong DEC clones tradition in the country. 

Contact persons:

o Florin Paunescu <paunescu@roearn.ici.ac.ro> - National Commission for
Informatics
o Paul Dan Cristea <pdcristea@pi-bucuresti.th-darmstadt.de> - Polytechnic
Institute of Bucharest
o Nicolae Cretu <ncretu@roearn.ici.ac.ro> - National Commission for
Informatics
o Eugenie Staicut <estaicut@roearn.ici.ac.ro> - Research Institute for
Informatics, Bucharest
o Alexandru Rotaru <arot@guru.ro> - EUnet Romania
o Marius Hancu <hancu@drebin.crim.ca>


2.9 Serbia and Montenegro

Serbia has had a 9.6 kbit/s leased line between Beograd and Linz to
carry EARN traffic.  Currently this line is cut according to a decision
of the Austrian government about the UN embargo of new Yugoslavia. 

Contact persons:

o Jagos Puric <xpmfd01@yubgss21.bitnet> - EARN director for YU


2.10 Slovakia

A 19.2 kbit/s X.25 link between Bratislava and Vienna connects the
Slovak Academic Network (SANET) to the Internet.  It is shared between
EUnet traffic, general IP traffic and IXI.  The upgrade of this link to
64 kbit/s is planned for the near future.  Another 19.2 kbit/s inter-
national IP link connects SANET in Banska Bystrica to CESNET in Prague
and further to Internet.  An upgrade of SANET-CESNET connection to 64
kbit/s is planned.  Negotiations are underway on Slovakia joining the
East European IXI pilot. 

On national scale the SANET infrastructure reaches some 10 major
academic cities in Slovakia using mostly 19.2 kbit/s lines, with
central nodes in Banska Bystrica and Bratislava.  A 64 kbit/s backbone
is being build between Bratislava, Banska Bystrica and Kosice. 

Academic networking in Slovakia is coordinated by the SANET association.
A good cooperation exists between SANET and EUnet as non-academic
service provider as well as with CESNET in Czechia and ACOnet in
Austria. 

Contact persons:

o Jaroslav Bobovsky <bobovsky@csearn.bitnet> - SANET
o Gejza Buechler <gejza@mff.uniba.cs> - EUnet backbone manager
o Karol Fabian <Karol.Fabian@uakom.cs> - SANET
o Pavol Horvath <horvath@cvt.stuba.cs> - SANET President
o Vladimir Kassa <kassa@iaccs.cs> - SANET
o Peter Pronay <peter@mff.uniba.cs> - president of EUnet Slovakia

Comment: a migration to the .SK top level domain will take place during
1993. 


2.11 Slovenia

Slovenia is connected over a 64 kbit/s IXI access point in Ljubljana to
the IXI backbone.  Over this connection an IP link via JANET (London,
UK) and a backup link via NIKHEF (Amsterdam, NL) provide Internet
connectivity.  IP services are now available over the whole ARNES
networks in Slovenia.  Another IXI access point, also located in
Ljubljana, connects organizations which have access only to PPSDN.  In
this way also Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have international
connections.  A dial up connection connects the main EUnet node in
Ljubljana to EUnet. 

In Slovenia the Academic and Research Network of Slovenia (ARNES) is
coordinating network activities.  Currently Slovenia has achieved a good
degree of capillarity of its national network due to the existence of
the ARNES backbone which links the major sites with 64 Kbit/s and 2
Mbit/s leased lines and due to a wide spread public X.25 network.  The
ARNES backbone supports IP, DECNET and X.25 protocols.  There exists
also a well developed X.400 service.  in Slovenia. 

Contact persons:

o Borka Jerman-Blazic <jerman-blazic@ijs.si> - Jozef Stefan Institute
o Marko Bonac <marko.bonac@arnes.si> - ARNES Executive Director, YUNAC
o Avgust Jauk <jauk@arnes.si> - ARNES technical contact
o Borut B. Lavrencic <lavrencic@ijs.si> - ARNES user support
o Ivan Pepelnjak <ivan.pepelnjak@nil.si> SI EUnet backbone manager
o Denis Trcek <denis.trcek@ijs.si> - Jozef Stefan Institute


2.12 The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

The University of Skopje has been appointed by the Ministry for Science
and Technology to start the networking activities in the country.  They
joined the CEEC mailing list and they are planning soon an IP
connection. 

Currently Macedonia has achieved a good degree of capillarity of their
national network (DECNET) due to the existence of the public X.25 network
which is a part of JUPAK PPSDN. 

Contact persons:

o Marjan Gusev <pmfmarj%nubsk@uni-lj.ac.mail.yu> or <gusev@lut.ac.uk>
Faculty for Natural Sciences, Gazibaba, Skopje
o Aspazija Hadzisce <rkntriasp%nubsk@uni-lj.ac.mail.yu> - Ministry for
Science and Technology, Skopje


3. Evolution

All the ECE countries are very interested in European as well as world
wide IP connectivity.  In Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Poland,
Slovakia and Slovenia there has been rapid growth of connected IP
networks and hosts mostly in the academic community.  Vienna University,
Linz University, Graz Univ.  of Technology and ACONET in general (Aus-
tria) has become an important point of access to the Internet for
Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and
Slovenia.  In most of the countries existing international leased lines
infrastructure is now shared by EARN, EUnet and raw IP services. 

The financial resources dedicated to networking in these countries are
limited.  The sharing of the existing national and international leased
lines between EARN, EUnet and other IP traffic as well as between
academic and starting commercial traffic is thus a very important issue.
Lightweight but robust IP gateway solutions (over dial-up lines, leased
serial lines or X.25 networks) are of great concern in this respect and
are continuously studied and further developed (e.g.  COPERNICUS). 

In the same time the national infrastructure of the countries will also
evolve.  We can expect an increase in national coverage in countries
with working public X.25 networks (Hungary) and in Croatia, Czechia,
Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Poland as well as strong increase in IP
connectivity in some parts of the CIS (Moscow area, St.Petersbourg,
Ukraine...)

4. International Initiatives

Several international support initiatives have been launched in the past
by different bodies to improve international network connectivity of the
Central and Eastern European countries.  The following list presents
some of them:

The Ebone 92 consortium has shown itself very supportive during 1992 by
allowing traffic of ECE countries to pass freely over the Ebone and
letting so the ECE countries traffic cross Europe.  EBONE continues to
be very supportive to ECE countries in 1993, although its financial
model has changed considerably.  An establishment of an EBS in Vienna is
now under careful consideration at the joint demand of Austria and ECE
countries issued from the ECE networking initiative. 

RIPE and the RIPE NCC have widely contributed to the rapid integration
of new ECE networks into the global Internet.  RIPE has acted as an
initiator of a common coordination effort of academic networking
organizations in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland.  A first
coordination meeting has been held in Prague in february 1992 and a suc-
cessful cooperation has started since, continued on 3rd Joint European
Networking Conference in Innsbruck, where RARE has proposed to be the
coordinating place on ECE integration to european academic networking
and another meeting in Prague in August.  CEEC@RARE.NL is now the
focusing mailing list on common ECE networking issues. 

Another coordination meeting has been held in Vienna in December 1993,
where ECE countries agreed on an even closer and more formal cooperation
and agreed to proceed together to seek for better IP connectivity and to
support the creation of an Ebone Boundary System in Austria. 
Also both EARN and EUnet have widely contributed to the successful start
of international networking in ECE countries, by placing the first
network nodes to these countries, supporting the activity of these
nodes both financially and by extensive know-how transfer. 
Despite this expressed cooperation willingness (RARE, RIPE, EARN, EUnet
etc.) we still can see little coordination between support efforts and
local networking initiatives.  An EC PHARE project dedicated to extend
the former COSINE IXI project to Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary,
Poland and Romania has started in 1992.  Slovakia's joining this project
is under consideration.  Medium speed 64 kbit/s lines have been ordered
between Amsterdam-Prague-Budapest-Bern.  The Budapest-Bern line became
operational as first in April 1993.  An experimental 9.6 link is
currently operational between Prague and Amsterdam.  These lines
initially financed by the EC till the end of 1993 should provide
connectivity from ECE countries to X.25 services of EuropaNet. 
The EC has also contracted with DFN-Verein e.V.  the German Academic
Network Association, to conduct a survey of telematic infrastructure
with the academic communities in each of the 6 countries.  The report
has been submitted to the EC and other supporting projects may follow. 

Austria is the major relay point between ECE countries and Western
Europe (and further).  The Austrian government is very supportive and
either covers fully or participates in a significant manner to costs
of international connections to these countries and provides them with
connectivity to Ebone 93.  The Vienna-CERN line has been upgraded in
october 1992 to 256 kbit/s and the Linz-CERN line (64 kbit/s) has been
replaced by a Linz-Amsterdam line (128 kbit/s) in order to accommodate
traffic increase from these countries and offer a real backed-up
connectivity to Ebone.  The ACONET proposal for Ebone 93 to place an EBS
to Austria seems well justified from the point of view of ECE countries
connectivity. 

CERN plays also an important role in the IP connectivity of the new
countries.  It houses actually a 9.6 kbit/s line from Krakow and another
HEPnet 9.6 kbit/s line from Budapest.  Due to lack of resources CERN
prefers not to house a lot of low rate lines from every country but
rather to house a higher rate line concentrating traffic from several
countries.  This is in fact in perfect conformance with the ACONET
proposal. 

The German DFN network has launched several regional initiatives to
connect sites in geographical proximity of Germany (e.g.  Dreilaendereck
project connecting Liberec in Czechoslovakia, Wroclaw in Poland and
Zittau in Germany using leased links based on X.25 with further
connectivity to DFN).  DFN also provides X.400/SMTP gateway for Slove-
nia.  DFN is also planning to sponsor a 64 kbit/s line from Hamburg to
Moscow as well as a 64 kbit/s line to Riga. 

The Italian government has financed in 1990 and 1992 successful network
workshops (NetSchool) to which about 50 network specialists from ECE
countries have attended.   A second extended edition of NetSchool has
taken place in April 1992 with participation of network specialists from
RIPE and attendees from ECE countries, some South American, Asian and
African countries.  Similar events are organized regularly by NORDUnet for
network users and operators from the Baltic states. 

Since 1991 ACOnet in Austria is offering a "Network Seminar and
Intensive Course" for scientists and network managers from Central
Europe.  This activity is supported by the Austrian Ministry of Science
and Research, Digital Equipment Corporation and other contributions. 
Technical presentations are given by specialists from various Austrian
university sites as well as by key people from European and national
networking organisations.  Enrolment per event is about 50 to 60 people.
The fourth network seminar, scheduled for the last week in February'93,
is accepting another 65 participants, adding up to a total of about 220
people invited from all over central and eastern Europe. 

The French government has expressed its willingness to help the
integration of new countries to the world of academic networking by
launching in cooperation with INRIA a project called Copernicus, which
aimed at improving network connectivity of several Eastern European
Countries.  One of the first results of this project has been the
cooperation on design and implementation of the academic IP backbone
CESNET-SANET (Prague - Brno - Bratislava, Banska Bystrica - Kosice) in
Czechoslovakia. The project consists of network management and administration
know-how transfer, common development of tools and some software and
hardware donations.  A similar activity has now started with Romania. 

IBM is also present in these countries with its academic initiative in
which IBM mainframes have been offered to Czechoslovakia, Hungary and
Poland.  IBM and EASInet act also as sponsors for the T1 US link usage
for academic networks in Croatia, Czech republic, Hungary, Poland,
Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. 

DEC is also strongly supporting the start and spreading of academic
networking in Czech republic and Slovakia by offering considerable
discounts and adopting a very cooperative attitude towards academic
initiatives.  DEC with ACOnet also sponsored two successful networking
seminars in Vienna as well as seminars in several ECE countries
(Commenius Workshop in Czech and Slovak republics).  A similar approach
leads now DEC to help to the rapid development of academic network in
Romania. 

Strong support to ECE countries integration into the global network also
comes from the United states.  NSF has always been very supportive to
academic networks in ECE countries promptly helping them to solve the
global connectivity problems.  Support also comes from NASA and other
federal agencies, various foundations and commercial networks.  Many
projects aiming at improving local, national and international
infrastructure, knowhow transfer and mission oriented network
applications are now in progress. 

The assistance of countries with developed networking shouldn't be
uniquely oriented to basic network connectivity.  A lot of work is to be
done in the ECE countries to offer and improve higher level network
services like e-mail, teleconferencing, archive services, online
databases and library catalogues etc., as well as in basic network
concepts, user information services and advanced networking know-how
transfer.  That's why new EC projects proposals are now oriented not
only on infrastructure but also on higher level services (e-mail,
electronic directory, user information and training).  Lack of funds is
extremely disadvantageous and the exchange rates still make it difficult
for ECE network experts to attend international network events. 

5. Some technical issues

As already mentioned, distributing international network access over the
local territory is a major problem for the countries considered.  While
it is relatively easy and cheap to set up a local TCP/IP network it is
more difficult to connect it to the national access point.  Generic
router solutions are rather expensive on one side and not completely
free of administrative exportation problems for all countries involved. 

The solution to these problems are software routers based on PC's or
workstations and public domain or easily available software. 

A low cost capillarity of networks being of great importance to ECE
countries, good dial-up IP solutions both industrial and public domain,
which are under study and evaluation in EUnet, RIPE, Copernique,
NetSchool and others, are of great interest as well as low cost IP
solutions on synchronous lines (X.25 or PPP) and low cost solutions for
network monitoring and management. 

The technical speed limitations for international leased lines seem now
to become less restrictive than in the past.  For Czechia, Hungary,
Poland and Slovenia terrestrial international links up to 2 Mbit/s are
now feasible.  In other countries satellite technologies must be used
for the time being.  National and namely metropolitan telecommunications
infrastructure seems to be the main bottleneck in most of them. 

With the basic connectivity problems being progressively solved the
network services are now becoming major issues in the most advanced ECE
countries.  PC's remain the most spread technical basis, thus network
solutions based on this platform (routers, mail, news, archive and
information servers and clients) either Unix or MS DOS oriented are of
major concern today. 

6. Organizational issues

The starting period in international networking is often characterized
by a fuzziness in the organizational structure together with a lack of
information about the people actually responsible and working in the
area.  The situation is nearly stabilized in Croatia, Czech republic,
Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, where national academic
networking groups have been founded and are coordinated with EARN/EUnet
activities, and a coordinated effort tends to build nation wide
multiprotocol academic network infrastructures.  A similar effort is
underway in Bulgaria (UNIKOM, EARN and EUnet Bulgaria).  These coun-
tries seem also to have found a stabilized position in international
network organizations (EARN, EUnet, RARE, RIPE). The situation is more
complicated in other countries where also international contacts are for
various reasons much more scarce. 
