Telecommunications & Information Infrastructure

As a result of political and economic developments in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the science decision makers and the scientific and technological communities in these countries are faced with new and challenging problems. Within the framework of the Workplan for Dialogue, Partnership and Cooperation established by the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC), the NATO Science Committee has introduced a number of priority areas of concern to both NATO and its Cooperation. One of those areas, the NATO Science Programme - Priority Area on Computer Networking is intended to provide support for the enhancement of the communication infrastructure available to scientists rather than to support fundamental and applied research in the field. The initiative possesses strategy for improving computer communication between scientists in NATO countries and Cooperation Partners.

The definitive source for what's happening with telecommunications in Russia and neighboring states is the Proceedings from the 1994 NATO Moscow Advanced Networking Workshop. Thanks to the VEGA Laboratory and Vlad D. Nebolsin, 'Friends and Partners' is now maintaining a "mirror" of these important materials. The International Laboratory VEGA, Institute of Psychology, Moscow is the originating site for this collection of documents.

The Internet Society 1996 Workshop on Network Technology for countries in the early stages of Internetworking.

David Zlotchenko has developed the Central and East European / CIS Telecommunications server.

Network maps of Russia and other FSU countries are available to view courtesy of Little Russia in San Antonio, Texas.

The International Science Foundation (ISF) Telecommunications Program WWW server is available.

"FAQ: E-mail and Internet in the NIS and Baltics" is a booklet put out by IREX which is available online. This document is a must for those who have or want to have computer contact with those in the former Soviet Union.

Telecommunications in the NIS was developed by Brenden West, owner of West Research. His page will guide you to some of the most accurate and reliable resources about telecommunications in the FSU including companies, comparison of services, public access e-mail sites and much more.

The Lips' List of IAP's: Internet Access Providers Around the World is an information resource started by Benoit Lips in Belgium. It contains an everchanging list of Internet access providers in Australia, Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and the Russian Federation, Central Europe, Western Europe, and South America. (Central America and North America are under construction.)

The Network Startup Resource Center at PSGnet is mostly concerned with networking in the developing world, low-cost networking tools, and computer networking in general. In addition to other things, this information resource contains and index by country of networking in developing countries. This includes the former Soviet Union.

ICICX - International Community Interconnected Computing eXchange, is an EMERGING -- charitable non-profit, scientific, research and educational organization. It is the objective of ICICX to make aware, create synergy, involve and provide channels of practice for the many populations and concerns on issues surrounding telecommunication issues and global network services. ICICX is also sponsoring the conference People, Networks and Communications in '95 October 30-November 3, 1995.

A monthly table, FAQ: International E-mail Accessibility has been compiled by Olivier M.J. Crepin-Leblond. His table will tell you if a country has email access, which have Internet access or just general email services. Also included are country codes which are derived from the International Organization for Standardization standard ISO 3166.

The BelCom WWW Server has been developed by BelCom, Inc. They provide satellite-based private international communications for the oil, hotel and banking industries, and community telecommunications facilities in key business regions throughout the former Soviet Union. BelCom maintains the essential communications links for the largest multi-national ventures operating in the former Soviet Union.

We have placed a link to the Electronic Frontier Foundation WWW server. From their introduction: "The EFF was founded in July of 1990 to ensure that the principles embodied in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are protected as new communications technologies emerge. Since its inception, EFF has worked to shape our nation's communications infrastructure and the policies that govern it . . ." There is lots of good information here related to telecommunications technologies and policy.

The United States-Russian Telecommunications Program was an informal survey to gather information regarding telecommunications projects between the U.S. and Russia. This program is being conducted by The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and had a deadline of April 30, 1995.

Articles about networking and network construction in Russia, the United States, and other countries across the globe and information about telecommunications facilities:

• "Uzbekistan: USG Assistance Nudges Key Central Asian Nation Onto the Infobahn" is an article about email connectivity in Uzbekistan from the NIS BISNIS report.

• Boosting the Baud Rate: Email and Connectivity in the Former Soviet Union. (an IREX sponsored publication). The appendix is here.

• The non-commercial Russian network, FREEnet (network for Research, Education and Engineering), established in December 1991, is described here.

• Dave Caulkins has provided us with a wealth of information on Glasnet. GlasNet is the first non-profit, non-governmental telecommunications network to be established in the Former Soviet Union for people there who have access to electronic communication equipment; typically a PC and a modem. Anyone with access to the Internet or many other networks can exchange Email with GlasNet users. The GlasNet WWW server is also accessible.

• Al Gore's speech on building Global Information Infrastructure - delivered on September 22, 1994 to the International Telecommunication Union Plenipotentiary Conference in Kyoto, Japan.

• Brown University has established a US-Russian teleconferencing facility at Brown connecting points all over the US with Moscow via satellite. This is a non-profit service intended to facilitate and enhance academic, scientific, and non-profit exchange.

• An interesting paper, entitled " Network Infrastructure Development and Defense Industry Conversion for Satellite Towns: Using and Building an Electronic Distance Education System for Russia with Connections to the Worldwide Information Society" is available here.

• Jeff Davis from Wyoming has very generously transcribed and provided the speech by Electronic Frontier Foundation co-founder John Barlow to a USENIX conference last year. This is an interesting and important speech about information infrastructure. Our thanks to Jeff for his generosity in transcribing his friend's speech.

• Information describing the DBMOE electronic catalogue of databases in Eastern Europe is available here -- it contains information on a catalog with information on 8000 databases produced in Russia and some other former Soviet republics.

• Leaders of fifteen of the nation's largest research libraries and archives (including the University of Tennessee) and the Commission on Preservation and Access signed an agreement on May 1, 1995 that pledges collaboration toward the establishment of a National Digital Library Federation.

• Another important article on information infrastructure entitled "Civic Promise of the National Information Infrastructure" is also provided from the "Information" page. Our thanks to Terrance Blake with the U.S. House of Representatives for forwarding this to our attention.

• An interesting article on Canada's Information Highway is provided courtesy of Terrance Blake. This describes Canada's current efforts to build good information infrastructure.

• Relcom has a mail distribution service that everyone can subscribe to. This automatic mail server relays news articles from Relcom and USENET via usual E-mail. If you want to use server you should send e-mail letter containing the list of commands to the address news@kiae.su.

• Lorrie Faith Cranor has written an interesting summary of the 1994 meeting entitled "Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conference." We thank Jeff Davis for providing us with this information.

• "Paradigms of Revolution" -- an interesting article about the global information revolution currently underway . . . Our thanks to Jeff Davis for providing this article.

Frontiers of Perception Institute

Telecommunications Equipment and Sources

Cyrillic keyboard stickers are available from several sources in the United States.

natasha@ibpm.serpukhov.su - OR - gcole@solar.rtd.utk.edu

Last Modified October 23, 1995