EARN BOD 03 84

EARN Document

Title:      Minutes of EARN Board of Directors Meeting September 4, 1984

Author(s):  Not known

Date:       1984/9/84

Committee:  Board of Directors

Document:   BOD3 84 EARN-MIN LISTSERV@UKACRL

Revision:   0

Supersedes:

Status:     Final

Maintainer: Board of Directors

Access:     Unrestricted

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EARN Board of Directors Meeting September 4, 1984 – Rome

Minutes

  1. Opening and Report on Major Events
  1. Jennings welcomed the participants and recalled the major events since the last meeting:

– the activation of the lines from Rome to Israel and to Spain

– the positive attitude of CEPT on the EARN network acceptance

– the joining of new countries (Finland and norway) to the EARN community

As proposed by D. Jennings and accepted by the BoD, the minutes of the meeting will contain only the conclusions of each discussion and items which had explicitly been requested to be inserted.

2 Status of EARN in EAch Country

Each country had been solicited to collect a set of information to be forwarded to the Documentation Centre group. Each BoD member presented the status of EARN in his country.

– Ireland: 5 nodes and 20 planned. 1 international leased line (from Dublin to RAL), 1 internal leased line. No volume charge tariff on leased lines.

– France: 4 sites, 20 by end of 1984. 4 nodes, and 20 + planned. 4 leased lines. 1 international 1 leased line to CERN, and 1 to Barcelona planned. (PTT contact M. Soleil.)

– CERN: 3 nodes, 4 international leased lines (RAL, Darmstadt, Paris, Rome). Problems on the international lines. Swiss PTT telex to France, Germany, Italy and UK asked for an official position of EARN lines. The answer had been positive from Germany, negative from France and Italy, and referred to the Department of Trade and Industry in the U.K. who are the competent Authority. Action necessary to clarify the situation. (PTT contact M. Vaconn.)

– Switzerland: 10 nodes, 3 leased lines, No clear position on tariff.

– U.K.: 1 node, 2 international leased lines (Dublin and CERN). Gateway to Janet ready for file transfer, will be available for mail by the end of the year. Volume charge should be applied but is not clear. (PTT contact Chris Hobson.)

– Belgium: 10 nodes, 6 leased lines, 1 international line to Paris. PTT position on volume charge not yet discussed.

– Denmark: 2 nodes, 1 international leased line (to Darmstadt). No volume charge tariff on leased lines.

– Germany: 75 nodes, 55 leased lines. No volume charge except for traffic coming from dial-up terminals. (PTT contact Mr. Daudt.)

– Italy: 13 nodes, 3 leased lines, 3 international leased lines (CUNY, CERN, Haifa). No volume charge. Action under way to understand the PTT position on the Geneva lines. (PTT contact Mr. Piecioni.)

– Israel: not represented.

– Spain: 6 nodes, 6 leased lines. International leased line to Rome. No volume charge tariff on leased lines.

– Finland: Gateway to Finnish University Network (12 nodes). Connection to Stockholm.

– Sweden: 1 node, 1 international leased line (Paris). Gateway to SUNET (20 to 30 sites). No clear position of PTT on tariff.

3 EARN Charter

The new version of the charter had been distributed. comments and suggestions to be sent to D. Jennings from each BoD member by October 1st.

4 EARN Organisation

BoD agreed that EARN needs legal and financial support. Possibly a staff member should be provided by each centre. To be investigated by IBM Europe.

5 Conferencing System

The COM system was presented by B. Carlson. Agreed that the available system should be evaluated to choose a conferencing system for EARN. A temporary computer conference for BoD will be generated at QZ in Stockholm. Agreed all BoD members would use it at least once a week.

6 BITNET

  1. Fuchs presented the status of the Bitnet Information Centre as planned EDUCOM.

7 Working Groups Reports

CEPT Liaison (H. Hultzsch): Telex from Mr. Huebner underlining the CEPT EARN Approval conditions. Agreed that EARN BoD should accept all the points of the telex. The experimental project aspect should be underlined when discussing volume charge principle. Agreed that the main point is the evolution towards the international standards. Agreed that the board members in each country would coordinate actions to bring the PTT representatives together and clarify details of each international leased line.

Standards (D. Lord): Evaluating the best way to move towards standards. Asking for what IBM can do in a short/medium term. Formally agreed that decisions on standards will be taken by the EARN Board. BoD members asked to nominate participants in the standards Sub-Committee by 1 October, 1984.

Applications (H. Budd): New applications under investigation in the physics and biology areas.

Technical Coordination (P. Bryant): Collecting Available tools. Creating a distribution list for information spread-out. Agreed the need for a technical implementation group. BoD members asked to nominate technical delegates.

Promotion/Information Centre (J.L. Delhaye): Many activities under way. By the end of November a complete set of information tools on EARN will be available.

8 EARN Development Plan

Agreed that a development plan for EARN, covering the migration to OSI standards was required by the end of the year. H. Budd confirmed that it was his understanding that IBM was committed to EARN, irrespective of the technical direction taken. D. Lord to coordinate the preparation of an EARN development plan.

9 Any Other Business

  1. Jennings introduced Mr. H. Vantilborgh of the CEC to the meeting, and outlined that it was his understanding that the CEC was interested in EARN and wished to remain informed of developments.

10 Next Meeting will be December 7. The working groups will meet the day before. Location for the meeting to be arranged.