EARN BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Minutes of the Meeting Held April 21 and 22, 1988 PLACE: Golden Dolphin Hotel, Izmir, Turkey EARN DIRECTORS: Athanase Adou, Ivory Coast Kurt Bauknecht, Switzerland Mats Brunell, Sweden Paul Bryant, U.K., EARN Technical Director Avi Cohen, Israel Andreas Eleftheriades, Cyprus Frode Greisen, Denmark Michael Hebgen, Germany, EARN General Secretary Matti Ihamuotila, Finland Jean-Claude Ippolito, France, EARN Treasurer Dennis Jennings, Ireland, EARN President Arne Laukholm, Norway Oguz Manas, Turkey Olivier Martin, CERN Kees Neggers, Netherlands Jean Nuyens, Belgium Arturo Ribagorda, Spain Stefano Trumpy, Italy EARN STAFF: Alain Auroux, Manager, Paris Office Joe Chester, Executive Assistant, Dublin Office Marie Christine Clarisse, Secretary, Paris Office Ann Hovenden, Secretary, Dublin Office OBSERVERS: Rafik Arkut, Northern Telecom (Turkey) Jose Barbera, IRIS, Spain Herb Budd, IBM (Europe) Harry Clasper, IBM (Europe) Sastoric Davor, Yugoslavia Thedi Hatt, SWITCH Odd Jorgensen, Digital (Europe) Alfredo Martinangeli, ASSR, Italy Nicholas Newman, CEC Pierre Roy, Digital (Europe) Harri Salminen, FUNET Martin Wilhelm, DFN ABSENT: Algeria, Austria, Greece, Iceland, Luxembourg, Portugal Draft Minutes, to be approved by the EARN Board of Directors (BOD). Items are numbered according to the running order of the agenda and in a unique way to ease later references. 88.1. WELCOME Dennis Jennings, EARN President, opened the meeting and welcomed all participants. 88.2. AGENDA The agenda and running order for the meeting were approved with some changes and additions. It was decided to hold two closed sessions on the OSI Transition Programme including offers from manufacturers and on Finance (the latter session closed to manufacturers only). 88.3. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING AND MATTERS ARISING The minutes were presented by Michael Hebgen and with minor changes on pages 1 and 6 approved. Michael Hebgen noted that Appendix C marked EARN CONFIDENTIAL had been distributed to observers. It was decided after discussion that this appendix would no longer be considered confidential. Matters arising: Items on EARNXX and ASTRA Liaison were added to the agenda. The EARN Board of Directors formally thanked Prof. Oguz Manaz and the local organizing committee for the excellent EARN88 meeting in Cesme. 88.4. LIAISON – COSINE Dennis Jennings outlined the background to the COSINE/EARN/EUNET/RARE Statement of Direction and on Cooperation and the obligations which it will place on Board Members. 00000006 EARN-MIN Z5 VM/XA CMS 5.5 Atlas Centre 201.07 27/10/89 Page 00003 Avi Cohen pointed out the differences of country membership between EARN and COSINE, Paul Bryant mentioned the problems of interpretation and requested a clear interpretation to be minuted and Nick Newman informed the EARN BoD that a COSINE textual change proposal is expected. The Board adopted this statement as EARN’s Statement of Direction and on Cooperation. It was agreed to continue and progress the discussions on the actions arising from this statement. The agreement reached on this statement will be posted on the network. 88.5. OPERATING PROCEDURES Michael Hebgen explained the proposal for electronic voting from the EARN Operating Procedures Group (OPG) which was approved by the Board as the current working set of Operating Procedures which may be revised by discussion on the network – see Appendix A. It was decided that the Executive Committee should distribute the proposed agenda right in time to the Board before meetings and provide more information and alternative views before decisions are taken. Dennis Jennings will send a message inviting Board Members to participate in a restructured Operating Procedures Sub-Committee to deal with this problems and bring forward a report on EARN Network Management, as soon as possible. A message will be sent to the Board seeking initial input for this committee. Michael Hebgen will set up a list for this committee with closed membership and open submission. 88.6. OSI TRANSITION PROGRAMME Dennis Jennings outlined the development of the EARN OSI Migration strategy and manufacturer support received for this migration. Kees Neggers, chairman of the COSINE Working Party A, outlined the background and plans for WPA. EARN has its own plan to establish a european X.25 infrastructure which is to be seen as a contribution to COSINE WPA. EARN will do the best possible effort to reach consensus with COSINE WPA. Manufacturer Support – closed session: The Minutes of this section are listed separately in Appendix B. 88.7. MANAGEMENT REPORT The Board of Directors accepted the report of the Management Team. 00000006 EARN-MIN Z5 VM/XA CMS 5.5 Atlas Centre 201.07 27/10/89 Page 00004 88.8. OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT The Board of Directors approved the Executive Committee decision to extend the contracts of the Dublin Office staff to end February 1989. 88.9. TECHNICAL ITEMS Paul Bryant presented the report of the Technical Director. Technical Group: Olivier Martin gave a summary of the Izmir Technical Group Meeting. The EARNTECH Minutes will be cir culated to the Board, when approved by the Technical Group. The Board expressed their thanks to Udo Meyer for his work on devel oping a code for traffic statistics. All Board Members were asked to ensure that their Country Coordinators implement this pro gramme . Country Coordinators Proposal: Alain Auroux summarised the proposal for Country Coordinators as amended and approved by EARNTECH and the Executive Committee. He stated that EARNTECH meetings are open to all interested parties and Country Coordina tors will be requested to attend. This proposal was approved by the Board, each Board Member will appoint a Country Coordinator and inform Alain Auroux. Alain Auroux will circulate a list of existing Country Coordinators to the Board. 88.9.3. Node Administrators Proposal: This proposal was present ed as an information item. The Executive Committee has agreed to build a job description for Node Administrators and, when agreed, it will be circulated to the Board. 88.9.4. Operations Group: Alain Auroux presented a proposal for the setting up of this group, to be known as the Network Opera tions Group (NOG). The Board approved this proposal. Technical Staff Proposal: Alain Auroux presented a pro posal to employ two additional technical staff. This decision was approved, subject to financing and detailed arrangements for ERFC’s: Paul Bryant presented a proposal on ERFC’s, now known as Technical EARN Documents (TED’s). This proposal was accepted by the Board and Alain Auroux will maintain the Register of these documents. 88.10. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES. 00000006 EARN-MIN Z5 VM/XA CMS 5.5 Atlas Centre 201.07 27/10/89 Page 00005 The Board agreed there is a need for the strategic formulation of EARN’s aims with regard to other networks and a future full OSI environment. It was decided to form a Working Group of the Board of Directors to look at the Strategic Objectives of the Network. Nominations were invited to form this group. All Board members are invited to make an initial input to the work of this group. 88.11. TOPOLOGY 88.11.1. Proposal for Extra Line: Olivier Martin outlined the background to this proposal for an additional line to the US. The Board decided there is a need for an additional line but agreed., that there is no money to fund such a line this year. The Executive is asked to investigate other options. 88.12. NEXT MEETING The next meeting of the EARN Board of Directors will take place in Tel Aviv, Israel on 24 and 25 October 1988. If necessary, Avi Cohen may inform Board Members no later than one month before the meeting of the need to change the venue. 88.13. DFN Michael Hebgen presented a letter from DFN which was noted by the Board. 88.14. LIAISON 88.14.1. SPAN: Joe Chester reported on discussions with SPAN. A meeting has been scheduled for May with SPAN representatives. The Board requested further clarification of the status of SPAN with regards to EARN and approved continuing discussions with SPAN. 88.14.2. CEPT: Stefano Trumpy reported on the December meeting with CEPT where the authorization of leased circuits usage for EARN was extended until the end of 1988. A further meeting is planned for October. EARN has been invited to participate in the group on packet switched services. Paul Bryant has been mandated by the Executive Committee to attend the final part of the work of this committee. Dennis Jennings said there is now an implicit acceptance by CEPT of a mixture of leased line networks and public data networks. 88.14.3. EUNET: Joe Chester reported on cooperation with EUNET, a Memorandum is to be produced on EUNET Statutes and Membership Rules. Mats Brunell requested that the Strategic Objectives Group be mandated to look at EUNET, with regard to the direction of both EARN and EUNET. A Working Committee of the Board is to be 00000006 EARN-MIN Z5 VM/XA CMS 5.5 Atlas Centre 201.07 27/10/89 Page 00006 set up to cooperate with EUNET. Dennis Jennings is to send a message to the Board requesting participation in this committee. This message will also go to COSINE Working Party A and RARE Working Group 8. The Board approved further discussions with EUNET, with specific reference to mail gateways, common addressing and international routing. RARE: The Board approved the sending of a formal letter of request to RARE for details of working groups and forthcoming The Board Members were asked to identify at local lev el people who represent national networks and EARN and who will present EARN’s views at WG meetings. Nick Newman will send a list of RARE, COSINE etc. meetings to the EARN Offices. CEC: Dennis Jennings reported that finance from the CEC will only be available through the framework of the COSINE Plan. A formal answer to a letter from EARN is outstanding and expect BITNET: Dennis Jennings gave a short report on BITNET and noted that CSNET/BITNET merger discussions have run into dif ficulties . Michael Hebgen noted that at the EARNTECH meeting it had been decided that representatives from BITNET and EARN will attend each others Technical Meetings. NACC: Dennis Jennings informed the Board of a NACC (Necessary adhoc coordination committee) meeting of NASA, NSF, DOE, Dep. of health, RARE, EARN, COSINE, EUNET and CEC to coordi nate the multiple link requests between Europe and US. James Hut- ton was elected as the secretary of the european participants. 88.15. MEMBERSHIP Dennis Jennings presented the Membership report. * Accepted EARN members: Yugoslavia: Alain Auroux will go to Yugoslavia to clarify the situation there and will report back to the Board. Iceland: Joe Chester presented a mail message from Iceland and will pursue the position further. * Pending EARN membership requests: Hungary: The Board instructs Dennis Jennings to request with more urgency information from the relevant agencies (Foreign Affairs Dept.) and President of the CEC regarding Eastern Bloc countries. * New EARN membership requests: Morocco: Joe Chester will request a letter of application from Morocco. Tunisia: was unanimously accepted as a full member of EARN. India: A letter from India applying for membership was presented. USSR: A letter from the USSR applying for membership was presented. 00000006 EARN-MIN Z5 VM/XA CMS 5.5 Atlas Centre 201.07 27/10/89 Page 00007 It was decided that the Membership Committee and the Executive Committee will work together to bring forward a paper on Membership. Decisions on applications from Hungary, India and USSR will be deferred until this paper is approved by the Board. 88.16. FINANCE – CLOSED SESSION The Minutes of this session are listed separately in Appendix C. 88.17. ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP 88.17.1. Additional Associate Members: Frode Greisen reported on the recent activities and mentioned that the EARN Director of the country may grant temporary permission. The Board approved the decision of the Membership Committee regarding Finland. Applications for Associate Membership were presented from Israel and will be voted on electronically. 88.17.2. Associate Membership Proposal: Alain Auroux presented a proposal on Associate Membership. It was decided that Alain Auroux and the Membership Committee will work to draw up a state ment on usage of the network, including the use by Associate Mem bers. 88.18. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (SWEDEN) ACTIONS Mats Brunell confirmed that he is now acting EARN Director for Sweden. Dennis Jennings requested that he nominate a Deputy Director. The departure of Birgitta Carlson as Swedish Director created a vacancy for Chairmanship of the Membership Committee. Frode Greisen was unanimously elected as the new Chairman and consequently co-opted as an Executive Committee member. Oguz Manas is the new member of the Membership Committee. 88.19. TOPOLOGY Alain Auroux presented a report on the connection of new countries (Algeria, Yugoslavia and Cyprus – all not yet connected) and the implementation of topology change agreed during the last Board meeting to minimize some costs. He encouraged all countries to run the new traffic statistics programme. 88.20. EARNXX 00000006 EARN-MIN Z5 VM/XA CMS 5.5 Atlas Centre 201.07 27/10/89 Page 00008 Matti Ihamuotila offered holding EARN90 in Helsinki which was accepted by the Board. Dennis Jennings will send a message over the network regarding the possibility of EARN89 and asking for possible volunteers and locations. 88.21. ASTRA Stefano Trumpy presented a short report on the ASTRA project and suggested to make the ASTRA service available through remote interfaces. The Board welcomed it and decided to review existing services and new services during the next Board Meeting. 88.22. RESTRUCTURING BOARD MEETINGS Michael Hebgen will send a message to the Board of Directors to begin a discussion on restructuring of Board meetings. Ann Hovenden Michael Hebgen September 16, 1988 Appendix A 88.23. OPERATING PROCEDURES EARN OPG DOCUMENT, REVISION 2 – MARCH 25, 1988 This is the up to date document of all accepted EARN Operating Procedures. The most recent changes are marked with the character | . 1) ELECTRONIC VOTING Because of the need to come to decisions between meetings the following operating procedure for electronic voting is defined for the EARN BOARD OF DIRECTORS (EARN BOD), which has two regular anniversary meetings, and the EARN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (EARN EXEC), which has regular meetings about every two months: 00000006 EARN-MIN Z5 VM/XA CMS 5.5 Atlas Centre 201.07 27/10/89 Page 00009 Any member of the EARN BOD/EXEC can at any time submit a proposal for electronic voting and act as “Vote Administra tor (VA)”. If appropriate the EARN BOD/EXEC can appoint a VA to whom the VA task may be delegated at the discretion of the submitter of the proposal. The VA poses the proposal to the EARN BOD/EXEC and gives a time limit for initial comments (typically two weeks for BOD/one week for EXEC). At the close of that limit, or more frequently if comments are substantial, the VA recasts the proposal in light of what he sees as an emerging consensus and items for contin uing discussion. As long as, in the judgement of the VA, new information is emerging from the discussion, the issue will be periodically restated with a new time limit for When it is the judgement of the VA that further discussion on the issue is not meaningful, or at the request of an EARN BOD/EXEC member, the proposal is called for electronic For an electronic vote to be binding, the vote of the majority of the BOD/EXEC must be received. It is up to the VA to make sure that the majority votes (this may require phone calls, etc.). The electronic vote options are: Yes/No/Abstain/Veto. The Veto option is to be selected by a member if he determines that the issue has not been vetted to his satisfaction and therefore wishes to reopen discussion. Upon a VETO vote, the in-progress electonic vote is can celed and process reverts to the discussion stage or is referred to an in-person meeting at the VA’s discretion. Up until the time the VA has announced the results, any member may change his vote, including to a VETO. Upon resolution of an electronic vote (closure or referal to an in-person meeting), the VA will state the issue and the results to the EARN General Secretary for recording in the BOD/EXEC’s minutes. A proposal is accepted if the majority of EARN BOD/EXEC members give a positive vote, except the cancellation of membership which requires a 2/3 majority of the EARN BOD. Decisions will be ratified by the next EARN BOD/EXEC 2) DEPUTIZING FOR EARN DIRECTOR Each EARN BOD member is permitted and encouraged to declare 00000006 EARN-MIN Z5 VM/XA CMS 5.5 Atlas Centre 201.07 27/10/89 Page 00010 the deputy EARN Director of his country and maybe one other person (a secretary e.g.) to ensure that electronic mail is read in time. The electronic addresses of these persons will be included into the distribution list EARN-BOD at IRLEARN. In case of absence of the EARN BOD member the deputy EARN Director of the country is entitled to vote on behalf of the EARN BOD member. 3) DOCUMENTS All documents produced are open by default unless explicitely stated. Working papers must be marked “DRAFT”. Appendix B 88.24. OSI TRANSITION PROGRAMME – CLOSED SESSION This session was closed to manufacturers. Dennis Jennings outlined the details of offers of support received from DEC, IBM and NT. As a point of information, he mentioned an offer from ITT Alcatel to provide discounted X.25 switches to the CEC within the COSINE framework. A lengthy discussion followed to clarify the details of these offers. Dennis Jennings and Joe Chester detailed the recommendations of the OSI Technical Group. Paul Bryant presented a Technical Report on the X.25 infrastructure where the proposed square is a balance of the ideal solution (1 switch) and economy regarding line costs – the topology itself is subject to further study. It was agreed that the primary goal of EARN is to build a europe-an X.25 infrastructure for the tens of thousands of users who want to maintain the existing level of service, while also accommodating super computer users. There is also a need to develop full functionality IP to the US. The X.25 infrastructure itself must be open to be modified according to the COSINE/EARN/EUNET/RARE Statement of Direction and on Cooperation. The Board agreed: To migrate to OSI and build an X.25 infrastructure; Immediately pilot NJE/OSI/X.25 and test gateway boxes; Warmly welcome and accept in principle the offers received from these three manufacturers (DEC, IBM, NT); 00000006 EARN-MIN Z5 VM/XA CMS 5.5 Atlas Centre 201.07 27/10/89 Page 00011 Request cooperation from the manufacturers in implementing the pilot and to work with them as partners; Mandate the Executive to have further detailed discussions with the manufacturers on the details of the implementation plan ; Work actively with COSINE WPA to discuss the X.25 infrastruc ture issues; Executive Committee to report to the Board on a continuing basis and seek endorsement from the Board on an agreed plan. The deadline for these activities is 1 September 1988. Michael Hebgen encouraged the Board to participate actively in the electronic discussion. Joe Chester will send a test message to the Board list, requesting acknowledgement of receipt. Appendix C 88.25. FINANCE – CLOSED SESSION This session was scheduled for EARN Board Members, EARN staff, Deputy Directors and National Network observers. 88.25.1. ACCOUNTS: The Statement of Accounts for 1987 was pre sented and approved subject to clarification of interest charges. 88.25.2. Budget 1988: The Budget for 1988 was presented and with deletion of the item “additional US line” approved. Dennis Jen nings noted that travel expenses are considerable and travel may have to be cut down in future. Dennis Jennings and Alain Auroux will check the split of the IBM grant between both offices. 88.25.3. Budget 1989-1992: Alain Auroux presented the proposed budget for 1989-1992. There was a request for more clarification of tables to ensure ease of understanding by Board Members. Michael Hebgen, seconded by Frode Greisen, stated that the overall goal should be to share all costs dependent on the usage in the past which is today not possible because of the lack of traffic statistics. Frode Greisen requested a change from RARE based keys to GNP as a first step in this direction. The 1989 budget includes a number of additional items like EARN 00000006 EARN-MIN Z5 VM/XA CMS 5.5 Atlas Centre 201.07 27/10/89 Page 00012 office, line speed upgrade, 10 percent contingency etc. which may for some countries result in a not acceptable increase or has the risk that some new countries may not connect as Andreas Eleftheriades mentioned. The Board agreed the following working arrangement: Adopt a reduced budget, e. the proposed budget with a decrease of 300 KECUs due to the manufactureres offers to cov er the costs of faster lines or a significant part of it. Adopt a compromise between 1988 tables in briefing documents (Table D) and the GNP version (Table I), the compromise being the mean value of these two tables. Alain Auroux will redistribute the 1989 budget figures, as soon as possible. The Forward Look remains the same. A discussion will be held at the next Board Meeting on different ways to connect new countries. Legal Responsibilities of Board Members: Alain Auroux detailed the responsibilities of Board Members. Progress Report on Transatlantic Line Payments: Dennis Jennings urged countries to pay the money for this line quickly. So far, only 50% of this money has been received. International Line Payments: Alain Auroux presented a short report on these payments. There are few formal agreements between countries. Share this:FacebookTwitterReddit