Internet Info 1994 March/Internet Info CD-ROM (Walnut Creek) (March 1994).iso/inet/isoc/isoc_news/issue1-3/kalin

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"Proposal for the Networking Support and Coordination, transmitted by
RARE to the CEC"


1. Scientific theme:

   Establishment of open data communication networks for research in
   Central and Eastern Europe and their interconnection with R&D networks
   of the Community countries.

2. Title:

   Support, counselling and training coordination for the establishment
   of R&D networking in Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC)

3. Acronym: SCTC - CEEC

4. Name and organization of the project coordinator:

  RARE, with those of the member organisations, national networks, which
  are operating in the European Community countries: DENnet, Renater,
  DFN, ARIADNE, HEAnet, GARR, SURFnet, INIC, RedIRIS, JNT.  Coordinator
  RARE secretariat, T. Kalin, Secretary General

5. Summary of motivations, objectives and major initiatives:

  The existence of any S&T network in Europe can not be envisaged
  without infrastructural support by a pan-European computer network and
  network services.  A period of intensive consolidation of network
  service provision is taking place now in EC countries, but the history
  of European networking seems to be repeating itself in the Central and
  Eastern European countries.  Establishment of communication islands,
  each connected to a national or international network, using a wide
  variety of communication media and protocols is the present trend.  It
  is, of course, the prerogative of each national organisation to tailor
  its national network to its own needs.  Unfortunately, it takes more
  to achieve a good international connectivity.  The wish of the whole
  European networking community to assure a harmonised pan-European R&D
  networking infrastructure may be in jeopardy.

  RARE is proposing to establish a centre for coordination of technical
  support, counselling activities and training for the needs of Central
  and Eastern European countries in the area of computer networking.  By
  establishment of such service, one can assure a balanced approach to
  the task of R&D network development in whole Europe.

6. Cost Summary Table

   Proposers   Institution    Country         Total     1st Year

   T. Kalin    RARE           EU              589,250   271,000
   E. Huizer   SURFnet        Netherlands        -         -
   K. Ullmann  DFN            Germany            -         -
   J. Hutton   JNT            United Kingdom     -         -
   M. Bonac    ARNES          Slovenia         10,000     5,000
   P. Bakonyi  HUNGARNET      Hungary          20,000    10,000

   Total:                                     619,250   286,000

7. Major milestones & proposed reports:

Phase I.

  Agreement on the strategy for the development of the R&D networks in
  participating Central and Eastern European countries, with particular
  emphasis on the interconnectivity.  Deliverable: Report on the
  strategy for R&D networking in CEEC.  Date: 31 March, 1993 (+6. months
  after award of the support)

Phase II.

  Design of communication infrastructure (Layers 1-3) for the S&T
  network participants with regards to connectivity to pan-European
  multiprotocol backbone.  Deliverables: Report on the design.
  Date: 31 July, 1993 (+10 months)

Phase III.

  Support implementation of the Phase II plans, support for service
  provision.  Deliverables: Implementation reports.
  Date: 31 December 1993 (+ 15 months)

Phase IV.

  Support in the planning and implementation and for service provision
  of network application services.  Deliverables: Implementation
  reports.  Dates: +15 months to + 36 months.

Final Report.

  Date: September 1995

8. Name, date, and signature of the coordinator on behalf of all joint
proposers:

            Tomaz Kalin
            RARE Secretariat
            Amsterdam,  30 July, 1995

10. Objectives of the scientific network and motivation:

  Today, one can not envisage any effective European scientific network
  without high-quality network services and without a pan-European
  computer network.  This fact has been recognized by the EC member
  states and EFTA countries which have, assisted by the CEC, launched
  the Eureka Project COSINE.  The project proved that common actions
  toward creation and operation of Europe-wide computer can successfully
  contribute to harmonisation of R&D networking in Europe.  The
  proposals for the establishment of the Operational Unit and the ECFRN
  initiative grew out of understanding of the need for common and
  coherent action.  One can claim that the general trends in networking
  in Western Europe are pointing into the right direction.

  Unfortunately, we are very likely to see the pre-consolidation history
  of European networking repeated in the Central and Eastern European
  countries.  It is of course the prerogative of each national
  organisation to tailor its national network to its own needs, taking
  into account communication infrastructure and other resources
  available.  Unfortunately, it takes much more to achieve a good
  international connectivity and the failure to do so, may considerably
  affect the whole Europe.  Establishment of communication islands, each
  connected to a national network in a EC or EFTA country, or to an
  international network, using a wide variety of communication media and
  protocols seems to be the present trend.  The results may lead, if the
  trend continues, to a mesh of unharmonised communication
  infrastructures with the consequence of an inferior price performance
  and poor services for the end users in Central and Eastern European
  countries and users of the R&D networks in the EC when communicating
  with Central and Eastern European countries.  The present efforts for
  harmonisation like OU and ECFRN will not be able to provide a
  harmonised pan-European R&D infrastructure in the required time.  This
  would lead to a waste of resources, human and financial.

  This situation is to a large extent a consequence of one-sided
  information and advice provided.  RARE is proposing to establish a
  centre for coordination of technical support, counselling activities
  and training for the needs of Central and Eastern European countries
  in the area of computer networking.

  By establishment of such service, one can assure a balanced approach
  to the task of R&D network development in the Central and Eastern
  European countries and at the same time secure participation of all
  expertise and resources available in the RARE community.

  It is obvious that the function proposed is vital for European R&D
  networking.  Up to now, counselling and help with service
  establishment etc., for the newcomers in the field has been provided
  in the framework of RARE Working Groups.  This was possible since the
  number of new networks and support they needed was minor compared to
  the main body of the RARE community and the total work performed in
  the RARE Working Groups and in the COSINE projects.  With the large
  membership increase of the European networking community, this support
  function has to be provided in a properly organised way, the cost of
  which is financially beyond the possibilities of RARE's normal
  operation budget, thus the submittal of this proposal.

  It should be noted, that RARE is coordinating another proposal within
  the same programme: Introduction of MHS and Directory Services in the
  Central and Eastern European countries.  The two proposals are fully
  compatible.  If they are both accepted an even better utilisation of
  common resources will take place since they will be both coordinated
  by RARE which will provide technical and administrative support to
  both S&T networks.

11. Rules for incorporation of new members:

  The activity is structured in such a way that addition of new partners
  only slightly increases the cost of the exercise, but not its modus
  operandi.  New members can join with less cost per entry due to the
  general nature and applicability of the results of the Phase I
  (Network Architecture).  This is true for the generic part of the
  results of the Phase II. as well.

12. Plans of joint activities and costs:

  The main method of working on the common project is direct support of
  the project teams elaborating on the particular subject:

    Network design in Phase I
    Infrastructure design in Phase II
    Implementation in Phase III
    Service provision support in Phase IV

  The support, by the specialists from the national networking
  organisations from European Community countries to Central and Eastern
  European countries, will take any or more of the following forms, for
  each task:

    development of parts of designs and implementations
    participation in the mixed teams
    consulting
    on job training of operators in  EC countries
    on job training of management staff in practices and
        methods of service provision

  The main expenditures is in travel costs and subsistence for the
  specialists from the European Community countries and reimbursements
  to their organisations for the time spent on the common projects.

  The budgeting is done in such a way to enable the widest possible
  utilisation of resources available in the networking organisations and
  research institutions in the Community countries, thus the majority of
  the funds are proposed to be allocated to RARE, which will act as a
  clearing house responsible to find the most suitable specialist for
  the task at hand.  This should yield a better price/performance ratio
  and the required flexibility for the widely variable conditions taking
  place in the networking environment.

13. Existing and planned infrastructure:

  The main task of this proposal is to provide the necessary data,
  parameters designs and knowledge for the extension of the network
  services the Central and Eastern European countries.  The network
  infrastructure on the side of RARE community is already existing,
  while it is under development (and the subject of this proposal) in
  the Central and Eastern Europe utilising PHARE funds as well.

14. Infrastructural needs and costs:

  No particular infrastructure is needed for the performance of the
  common tasks, other than basic communication services like E-mail,
  which is available to all participating countries at least in a
  rudimentary form.

15.  Workplan for setting up the initial S&T network and its
operation:

  The work will proceed in the following way:

  Immediately after the project grant: establishment of the Network
  Coordination Committee with one member from each participating
  organisation/country with secretarial support provided by the RARE
  Secretariat.

    elaboration of a detailed workplan for Phase I ( + 1 month )
    execution of the workplan by Phases

  RARE is prepared to provide secretarial support for the proposed S&T
  network and for the X.400/X.500 project (another proposal in the
  running) if they are approved by CEC.  Related budget line is proposed
  in the cost section.

16. Management of the S&T network:

  The management will be done by the Project Committee, using RARE
  financial rules and supervised by the RARE Council of Administration.

17.  Extension of the workplan to other members:

  The function provided by the S&T network is, as described before, to
  contribute to the harmonised development of the pan-European research
  and development network.  Therefore, it is a natural wish to include
  everyone, who wishes to participate.  The organisation of the project
  into phases, with Phase I. and Phase II. providing general development
  strategy and network architecture, applicable to everybody, gives
  enough time for the latecomers to join the network and even to
  influence the course of the developments.  Further phases will follow
  commonly defined framework by giving support to the efforts of the
  individual Central and Eastern European network service providers for
  their service implementation and management.  New members not in the
  original group can join at this time as well.

  Financial consequences will amount to proportional increase of the
  effort and costs for the Phases III. and IV.

18. Financial proposal

A: Overall management costs:

   1. Coordination Committee

      3 meetings/year *12 persons * 1000 ECU (36,000 ECU/year)

   2. Professional support

      one (1) technical staff at RARE Secr. (55,000 ECU/year)
      financial mngmt., secretarial support for CC,
      organisation of meetings, mngmt. of contracts (25,000 ECU/year)

   Total A:  121,000 ECU/year

B:  Operation of the network:

   1.  Task force for Phase I:

      2 meetings * 12 persons @ 1000 ECU (24,000)
      5 visits of experts 2 @ 3250 ECU (16,250)
      preparation of the report 10 days @ 300 ECU (3,000)

   Total B.1.:  43,250

2. Phase II:

      2 meetings * 12 persons @ 1000 ECU (24,000)
      15 visits of experts @ 3,250 ECU (48,750)
      5 visits of experts @ 1750 ECU (8,750)
      preparation of the reports 40 days @ 300 ECU (12,000)

   Total B.2:  93,500

3. Phase III:

      20  visits of experts @ 3250 ECU (63,500)
      10 visits of experts @ 1750 ECU    (17,500)
      software and subcontracts (35,000)
      final Phase III meeting 12 pers. @ 1000 ECU (12,000)

   Total B.3:  (127,000)

4. Phase IV:

      20 visits of experts @ 3,250 ECU (65,000)
      10 visits of experts @ 1750 ECU    (17,500)
      final Phase IV meeting 15 pers. @ 1000 ECU (15,000)

   Total B.4:  97,500


Total B:  361,250

First year's cost (Phase I, Phase II, and half of Phase IV) is:

        First year    286,000 ECU

Total cost of running and managing the S&T network for three years
(taking into account 1/2 of professional staff at RARE) is:

        TOTAL Network    619,250 ECU

Remarks:

   1.  If both Network proposals from RARE are accepted, 1/2 of a
       technical staff can be appointed for the task and costs for
       professional support are reduced accordingly and A amounts
       to 86,000 ECU/year.

   2.  Expert priced @ 3750 ECU if 300 ECU/day reimbursement for the
       institution is included, @ 1750 is the cost for average travel
       cost and subsistence for one week.

19. Relation with other projects or programmes and finance received or
expected from other sources:

  There is a correlation with the second RARE coordinated proposal with
  the acronym M&DS proposing extension of the messaging services and
  directory pilot service into Eastern and Central Europe, establishing
  a coordinated and managed set of services.  Both proposals do not
  duplicate the effort since the present proposal addresses mainly basic
  interconnectivity issues and does not include the application services
  approached be M&DS network.

  One can expect that some funds from the PHARE programme will be
  utilised for the infrastructure inside the Eastern and Central
  European country and some for the international connectivity as well.
  Additional input can be expected from the national networks in the
  form of free expert's time.

20. Reference information on the proposers:

  Due to the infrastructural nature of the proposed S&T network,
  scientific references are not the primary measure of the relevant
  experience of the proposers.  Most of the proposers have long
  experience in technical field and operational experience in the
  network service provision (E. Huizer, J. Hutton, K. Ullmann, M. Bonac,
  P. Bakonyi).  K. Ullmann is managing director of DFN, the German
  research network, and past President of RARE.  Coordinator, Prof.T.
  Kalin is the now Secretary General of RARE, with past experience in
  computer science and international project management (Project leader
  COST 11bis).  Proposers are members of different relevant
  international bodies: ISOC BoT, IETF, IEPG, CCIRN, COSINE Policy
  Group, ECFRN Steering Committee, Operational Unit SC, RARE CoA, RARE
  Technical Committee, etc.  Together with their staff, they can commit
  at their home institutions, as they represent a good cross section of
  technical and managerial background to secure competent guidance and
  efficient execution of the contract.