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n-1-4-012.50a
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Subject: n-1-4-012.50
Internet Connectivity in Eastern Europe
by Milan Sterba <Milan.Sterba@vse.cs>
[ed. From a lengthier article by Milan Sterba prepared for the RIPE
Connectivity Group]
Considerable progress has been made during the last year in IP
connectivity of ECE countries. Czechoslovakia and Poland have today
several hundreds of connected hosts each and are the most advanced
ECE countries with respect to IP connectivity.
Bulgaria, Estonia and Hungary also have IP connectivity today
and have several tens of connected hosts each. By the end of 1992 IP
connectivity will probably also reach Latvia and Lithuania through
NORDUnet and maybe also Romania and one of the CIS republics.
In all the connected countries the initial capacity of
international lines has rapidly become insufficent and an upgrade of
existing lines and set up of reasonable backup solutions is being
sought. Internetworking is rapidly spreading and good IP
connectivity is considered as the first priority by the national
academic network organisations.
All the countries considered have at the present time some (often
more than one) connection to international networks. Certain countries
have only a dial-up e-mail connectivity, others have low or
medium speed leased
Albania
Curently an electronic mail connection exists between the
University of Tirana and the Internet. The gateway and relay function
resides at CNUCE, Pisa, Italy.
Estonia
Estonia works in close co-operation with NORDUnet in setting up
external IP links. Currently a 64 kbits/s IP satellite link is
operational between Tallin and Stockholm, and between Tartu and
Stockholm. These lines connect the Baltic backbone network (BaltNet)
to the rest of the Internet. Another 19.2 kbit/s IP line is operational
between Tallin and Helsinki.
Inside Estonia IP links are currently planned between the Institute
of Cybernetics and the University of Technology in Tallin and the Tartu
University.
Latvia
An international 14.4 kbit/s IP line connects the Institute of
Informatics and Computer Science of Latvian University in Riga to the
Institute of Cybernetics in Tallin, Estonia. This line is part of the
Baltic backbone network (BaltNet). Other networks active in Latvia have
only dial-up connections (FidoNet to Tallin and Helsinki, RELCOM to
Moscow).
Inside Latvia X25 services are available from the public X25 network
Latpak and Sprint, UUCP services are available from JET and Versia, who
are the Latvian partners of RELCOM-EUnet. FidoNet also is very active.
Lithuania
A dial-up EUnet connection exists between Vilnius and Helsinki.
A 9.6 kbit/s X.25 link, used for X.400 electronic mail and
sponsored by Norwegian Telecom, exists between Vilnius and Oslo.
Bulgaria
A switched international X.25 connection connects the Bulgarian
EARN node in Sofia to Linz (Austria). A dial-up connection over
public X.25 connects the Bulgarian EUnet via the backbone node in
Varna to the Internet via the EUnet node in Heraklion (Greece).
This connection will be converted to IP/X25 and will be the first IP
connection in Bulagaria. Coordination between both projects, resulting
in a shared fixed IP connection, is under study.
Several tens of EUnet sites are now connected over dial-up
links to the national EUnet backbone. A public X25 service is available
to a limited extent. EARN services have been opened recently at
Sofia University but no gateway exists between the two services yet.
Commonwealth of Independent States.
Dial-up connections between Helsinki, Finland and Amsterdam,
Netherlands on the one hand, and Moscow on the other hand connect
the RELCOM network in Russia and a few other former USSR republics to
the Internet. Currently the services consist of electronic mail and
Network News. A medium speed IP line to Amsterdam is planned in the near
future. Recently another 14.4 kbit/s IP link has been put between
Moscow and AlterNet (USA). On this link only SMTP traffic is allowed. A
4.8 kbit/s leased line between Moscow and DESY in Hamburg, Germany,
supporting IP, delivers HEPnet services to two research institutes
in Moscow. Low speed links between Moscow and ESOC (Germany) and
CNES (France) serve the space physics community. All existing IP links
to CIS have full connectivity only to the European part of Internet.
The 9.6 kbit/s leased line from Moscow to Copenhagen, Denmark which
used to connect the EARN node in Moscow to the EARN/BITNET
network has been replaced by a dial-up link to Stockholm.
A considerable effort undertaken by the RELCOM networking
organization has brought e-mail connectivity to several thousands
sites all over the former Soviet Union. The growth of the network
was 400% a year. RELCOM has been operating some IP links in
the Moscow and St. Petersburg areas and several other places.
Other national IP connections are expected to connect
Ukraine, Siberia, St. Petersburg, Far East and other regions in order
to set up the kernel of a nationwide IP backbone. The whole network has
some 60 regional centres, some of which connect more than 500
sites. The rapidly
growing volume of international mail traffic makes the need for a medium
speed IP channel to Europe urgent.
The first EARN node started its operation in Moscow late in 1991,
but proliferation of EARN services is still expected. An e-mail gateway
now exists between RELCOM DEMOS and SUEARN. SUEARN also provides the
international mail relay services for FREENET, a national research IP
network which interconnects some 45 institutes of the Academy of Sciences
mostly in the Moskow area with international connections to Jaroslavl
and Baku.
Czechoslovakia
A 64 kbit/s IP link between Prague and Linz (Austria) is
operational today. The line is full IP carying general IP, EARN and
Czech EUnet traffic. A second link, 14.4 kbit/s between Bratislava and
Vienna is shared between EUnet traffic and general IP traffic and
IXI.
The upgrade of this link to 64 kbit/s is planned for the near future.
Both links connect into the upcoming national academic backbone networks
CESNET (Czech Educational and Scientific Network) and SANET (Slovak
Academic Network). Both networks are interconnected with IP links with
the aggregate capacity of 28.8 kbit/s.
Both CESNET and SANET are now setting up national backbone
infrastructures connecting major academic towns in the country. 64
kbit/s lines are used wherever available and considered necessary, 19.2
kbit/s on all other links. The first protocol supported is IP. Connected
to the backbones are appearing metropolitan networks in major cities.
Hungary
Hungary is connected to EARN by a 9.6 kbit/s IP line between
Budapest and Linz (Austria). For the time being the same line is
used also for the Internet and EUnet connection. It is planned to
upgrade this line to 64 kbit/s in 1992. The High Energy Physics
community has access to HEPnet services via a 9.6 kbit/s leased line
between Budapest and CERN, Geneva (Switzerland) which is now running
IP.
Hungary has a good operational public X25 network which is the
base of Wide Area Networking between small and medium sized sites.
Currently there are about 250 X.25 access points in the country. A
high speed national IP backbone (called HBONE) will come into production
in 1993 to provide a country wide IP connectivity and access to EBONE
services.
Poland
The main external connection consists of a 64 kbit/s satellite
link between Warsaw and Stockholm, Sweden. The link is an IP one and
carries all Internet, EARN and EUnet traffic. A new 64 kbit/s IP link
is being set up between Warsaw and Vienna with the objective to establish
an Ebone Bondary System in Warsaw. A 9.6 kbit/s IP connection is in place
between Krakow and CERN in Geneva, Switzerland for HEPnet services.
Public X.25 services have only started in 1992. Thus connections
at national level can only be implemented on switched or leased lines.
The country already has an infrastructure of leased lines, shared
between EARN and IP traffic operting at speeds between 9.6-64 kbit/s.
The Polish network is coordinated by an organization called NASK
(National Academic and Research Network) which also includes the
Polish part of EARN. Realistic plans exist to substantially extend IP
connectivity over the territory in 1992 using 64 kbit/s lines on their
national backbones wherever possible and economically viable. A National
Network Operation and Monitoring Center has been set up in early 1992
which operates the whole national and international infrastructure. A
system of network user training and support has also been put in
place.
Romania
International connectivity is now provided by a switched X25 link
to EARN in Austria. A 9.6 kbit/s leased line is planned before the end
of 1992 between Bucharest and Linz, Austria. This line will be able to
carry both IP and EARN/NJE/BSC traffic.
Romania has poor internal networking infrastructure. A government
project of building a public X25 network is under commercial
negotiations and should start to offer some services in 1993.
In Romania the emerging networking activities seem to be
coordinated by the National Council for Informatics and the Polytechnic
Institute of Bucharest.
Slovenia
Slovenia is connected over a 64 kbit/s IXI access point in
Ljubljana to the IXI backbone. Over this connection an IP link via
NIKHEF, Amsterdam (Netherlands) provides Internet connectivity. A
PSDN X25 connection connects the main EUnet node in Ljubljana to
EUnet. Another IXI access point, also located in Ljubljana, connects
Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina to IXI over the JUPAK PPSDN.
Currently Slovenia have achieved a well spread-out branching
of their national networks due to the existence of a wide spread public
X.25 network. There exists as well a developed X.400 service.
In Slovenia the Academic and Research Network of Slovenia (ARNES)
is coordinating network activities. In Croatia the coordinating
organization is CARNet and both organizations cooperate.
Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia has had a 9.6 kbit/s leased line between Beograd and Linz
to carry EARN traffic. Currently this line is cut after a decision by
the Austrian government to cooperate with the UN embargo on Yugoslavia.
Macedonia
The University of Skopje, Macedonia recently was made the lead
organization for the country by the Ministry for Science and Technology
for inaugurating networking activities in the country. They joined CEED
and are planning soon an IP connection.
Currently Macedonia has achieved a good degree of capillarity
of their national network (DECNET) due to the existence of the public
X.25 network, which is a part of JUPAK PPSDN.