News
| Published date | 01 April 1993 |
| Date | 01 April 1993 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045258 |
| Pages | 352-359 |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
News
Internetworking
developments
A pan-European network for the aca-
demic, government and commercial re-
search community is to be provided by
DANTE, launched in July in Cam-
bridge, England. The name stands for
'Delivery of Advanced Network Tech-
nology to Europe.'
A non-profit making body backed by
12 European countries, DANTE will
provide
a
bridge from national services,
such as JANET in the UK, to interna-
tional networks. The company will de-
velop and introduce advanced, high-
speed networks which also link to the
US NREN. Resources will be bought
centrally by each national organisation.
DANTE is the successor to the
RARE forum, created in 1986, and will
take over management of the existing
EuropaNET network. A gateway will
also be maintained to Ebone, a Euro-
pean network for users who do not have
to belong to the academic community.
Amongst other Internet news, read-
ers will probably have noted from the
general press that the White House in
Washington DC has gone online. Presi-
dent Clinton and Vice-President Gore
have appealed for patience as the sys-
tem settles down, pointing out that it is
unprecedented and no-one really knows
what to expect. The pattern of use and
the extent to which it increases under-
standing between government and gov-
erned will be fascinating to note when
sufficient time has passed.
Changing patterns of access to wide-
area networks have led to the ceasing of
a user survey which began in 1986.
Eusidic, the European Association of
Information Services, and Eurolug, the
confederation of online user groups,
have made this year's the last in their
annual monitoring weeks of European
public data networks.
They explain that when they began,
most online access by their members
was via third-party data networks run
by the national telecoms operators, but
today there are so many other options,
including the likes of Infonet and
SprintNet, private networks such as
Dun & Bradstreet's Dunsnet, and the
Internet, based on the R&D networks of
the world. These are more and more
being connected to online information
services and used as replacements for
the PTT network routes.
Another reason that the number of
calls logged had declined, from a peak
in 1990, is that increasingly the 'net-
work' is, as the report points out, 'a fa-
cility that the user connects to, without
much idea of what it actually means. If
it
works,
it
is,
to all intents and purposes,
invisible.'
The survey signs off with the news
that overall 12.8% of calls monitored
failed
(10.3%
for telecoms reasons),
compared with 19.5% two years ago
and 30.7% back in 1986. National vari-
ations remained, with all German-origi-
nated calls this year succeeding and
only
78%
of those from Spain doing so,
at the other extreme.
Talking of European access to the
Internet, the UK arm of EUnet has
added
a
high-speed dedicated link to the
hub in Amsterdam and opened a fifth
national node. It has also introduced a
fax gateway service.
London-based Demon Internet has
become a fully independent Internet
service provider, after
a
year of offering
connectivity via third parties. This fol-
lows its installation of a leased line to
Sprintlink and entry into full member-
ship of the Commercial Internet Ex-
change, so that it can now share traffic
with all of the major US-based provid-
ers.
Demon's original access service, at
£10 per month with no online or usage
charges, has attracted over 1500 sub-
scriptions since launch last year, with
180 more currently joining each month.
Across the Atlantic, the BIX online
service for computer professionals has
added full access to the Internet. The
Massachusetts-based operation still
asks $13 per month plus connect
charges, without further fees. There is
local access throughout the USA via
SprintNet and Tymnet, and an introduc-
tory five-hour offer for $5.
Data Research Associates has ex-
panded the range of services available
over
Open
DRANET,
its network for re-
source-sharing among libraries and
other information providers. Fifty-one
libraries are now participants, double
the number at launch a year ago.
Cambridge Scientific Abstracts has
introduced 28 databases, to add to those
already offered by UMI and Informa-
tion Access Company, and server soft-
ware has been made to conform to the
Z39.50 protocol so that users of other
library automation systems can partici-
pate.
The system is designed to help
libraries worldwide share the cost of
loading databases and to make their
own files available to others. Internet
access is also offered.
The release of a Unix version of the
OVID search system from CD Plus is
seen by that company as strategically
important. The Unix protocol TCP/IP
'is the Internet standard,' it notes, 'and
therefore the networking protocol for
academic institutions and government
entities which increasingly rely upon
the Internet's vast information-sharing
capabilities.'
Johns Hopkins, Penn State and
NorthWestern Universities, in addition
to the University of Tokyo, are among
the first installation sites. A Z39.50-
compatible version is also planned for
early next year, adding connectivity to
non-Unix platforms.
Strategic plans and
alliances
Seventeen library networks, of which
OCLC is by far the largest, have joined
forces in a strategic grouping. More
than 9500 libraries and information
352 The Electronic Library, Vol.
11,
No. 4/5, August/October 1993
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