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N-1-1-100.3  Inter-American NET - Background Information
by Tadao Takahasi* <[e-mail]>


The so-called First Interamerican Networking Workshop which took place
in Rio de Janeiro from October 7th to 11th, 1991 began to be organized
as the third meeting of SIRIAC GROUP.  An initiative which started in
Sevilha (Oct '90), promoted a second meeting in Santiago (March '91),
and in this process managed to attract representatives from major
relevant networking efforts in LA&C.

As one of the decisions of the Santiago Meeting, Brazil was entrusted
with the responsibility for the organization of the third meeting,
which would strive to ensure the participation of all major players in
networking in LA&C.

In the process of assembling a program for the meeting, it soon became
clear that it would not be a simple "extended SIRIAC meeting".  The
number of participants and themes would be much higher than usual.
After a number of false starts, the event was finally organized into
two tracks, one to address organizational and political issues, and the
other to address technical aspects in networking.

The Workshop included presentations on the following topics:

       . Building a Research Network: An Advanced Tutorial  (Daniel
         Karrenberg)

       . Organizational Aspects of INTERNET (Steve Goldstein)

       . Organizational Aspects of RARE  (Jose' Barbera')

       . Trends in Academic Networking in the US (Glenn Ricart)

       . Trends in Academic Networking in Europe (Jose' Barbera')

       . An Appraisal of RIPE (Daniel Karrenberg)

       . Low Cost Communications (Randall Bush)

       . Packet Satellite Communications (Charles Clemments and
         Junior de Castro)

       . Trends in High-Speed Networking (Guy Almes)

       . A Satellite Backbone for LA&C : Issues (Joseph Choy)

       . VSAT Technology (Brien Morgan)

       . Long Distance Education (Armando Villarroel)

       . Health Applications (Carlos Gamboa and Pablo Liendo)

In addition, several panel and open sessions were organized, involving
the participants in lively discussions and exchanges.  One of the most
informative panel sessions dealt with the current activities of
international agencies (OAS, UNPD, etc.) in the LA&C networking.  The
agencies were represented by Saul Hahn (OAS), Enzo Puliatti (UNDP),
Daniel Prado/Daniel Pimienta (UNION LATINA), and Gian-Franco Romero
(UNESCO).

Finally, it is important to mention that the Workshop was preceded by
a Hands-on Training Seminar on Networking (a series of talks and
demonstrations on grass-roots approaches to Networking) and conjugated
with the CRESALC/REDALC Meeting on Science and Technologies Systems in
LA&C.

The Event and its Results:

Over 120 participants from countries in the Americas attended the
Workshop and associated events.  All workshop sessions allowed
unrestricted access to any interested participant.  Given the current
situation of most networking efforts in the region (which are just
getting organized), it was not surprising that the political track
attracted overwhelming attention.

After several rounds of open discussion in a very hectic atmosphere,
29 representatives from LA&C held a closed session, the outcome of
which was a proposal which was unanimously approved by a general
assembly.  The workshop participants agreed to establish a "permanent
forum for the coordination of networking activities" in LA&C, having
as its mission:

       . to establish the LA&C Academic, Scientific, and Research
         Network,

       . to promote the development of national networks in
         participating countries, and

       . to foster cooperative integration between the LA&C network
         and counterparts from regions all over the world.

The Forum was concretely established as a Working Group composed of
five elected members (Ida Holz, Julian Dunayevich, Roberto Loran,
Sergio Flores, and Tadao Takahashi) which will address the following
short-term tasks:

        . to identify joint projects currently in development which
          can help establish a framework for regional networking
          activities.

        . to define a set of projects to develop within a 6-month
          time frame.

        . to develop a strategic plan for the LA&C initiative.

The proposal went on to enumerate six activities for the Working Group
to execute during 1992, ranging from general studies and assessments
to specific, local-impact activities.  Finally, a major commitment of
the subscribers of the proposal was the naming of a formal
representative from each country no later than November 10th, 1991.

Conclusions:

All in all, the final results of the Workshop were amazing and
incredibly matter-of-fact.  The Working Group was stocked with
credibility that no previous or competing initiative can claim.  A
concrete timetable of activities was proposed to the Working Group.
Finally, the commitment was made to univocally define one
representative per country to interact with the Working Group.

Not all problems are solved.  In particular, the role of international
agencies such as OAS, UNDP, UNESCO, etc., with respect to the newly
formed Working Group is not all clear.

Notwithstanding, the progress made is remarkable, and the LA&C
networking community has many reasons to be proud of its impressive
growth in maturity in such a short time.

The next Inter-American NET:

It is still too early to guess whether the Second Interamerican
Networkshop shall take place next year.  The Working Group is still
trying to get fully organized.  The on-going activities will have a
good checkpoint at INET'92 (Kobe, June 1992).  Then, it will be
possible to decide when and how the next edition will happen.  As a
preliminary guess, a smaller, more technically-oriented workshop in
October/November of 1992 is a good bet.


*Coordinator, Brazilian Research Network