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- F I D O N E W S -- Vol.10 No.21 (24-May-1993)
- +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
- | A newsletter of the | |
- | FidoNet BBS community | Published by: |
- | _ | |
- | / \ | "FidoNews" BBS |
- | /|oo \ | +1-519-570-4176 1:1/23 |
- | (_| /_) | |
- | _`@/_ \ _ | Editors: |
- | | | \ \\ | Sylvia Maxwell 1:221/194 |
- | | (*) | \ )) | Donald Tees 1:221/192 |
- | |__U__| / \// | Tim Pozar 1:125/555 |
- | _//|| _\ / | |
- | (_/(_|(____/ | |
- | (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. |
- | | -- JOSEPH PULITZER |
- +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
- | Submission address: editors 1:1/23 |
- +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
- | Internet addresses: |
- | |
- | Sylvia -- max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
- | Donald -- donald@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
- | Tim -- pozar@kumr.lns.com |
- | Both Don & Sylvia (submission address) |
- | editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
- +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
- | For information, copyrights, article submissions, |
- | obtaining copies and other boring but important details, |
- | please refer to the end of this file. |
- +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
- ========================================================================
- Table of Contents
- ========================================================================
-
- 1. Editorial..................................................... 2
- 2. Articles...................................................... 3
- Subject: The lies of Derek Balling.......................... 3
- Requesting a Fidonet Number?................................ 4
- Sensible BBS names in the Nodelist.......................... 6
- Cost Sharing Ripoffs & Other Assorted Tidbits............... 6
- Texas Employment Commission (update)........................ 8
- What Is StormNet?........................................... 9
- Dark Fibre, Dumb Network.................................... 11
- 3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 20
- FidoNews 10-21 Page: 2 24 May 1993
-
-
- ========================================================================
- Editorial
- ========================================================================
- There are two articles in the snooze this week that respond
- to Mr. Balling's article a few weeks back. If you remember, that
- article was over his being dropped from the nodelist.
-
- There are a few points that we, as editors, would like to
- make about both the original article and the responses. We do
- not have any way of knowing who is right and who is wrong, or
- even if anybody is wrong in a situation like this. We receive
- articles, and we print them. It is up to those that are
- familiar with the situation to attempt to give both sides of the
- story.
-
- Be that as it may, there are *always* two or more sides to a
- story. Fidonet is run, and works, because a great number of
- people donate a great deal of time and effort into making it
- work. It is not at all unusual for one person to expect undue
- amounts of work from a volunteer, or to complain bitterly when
- they do not get the snap-to-it reaction that they expect. It is
- unfair for people to read one side of any story, then take a
- harsh stance without hearing the other side.
-
- In addition, we and Tom Jennings before us have always pushed
- for as few formal rules as possible within the net; this entire
- episode illustrates one of the main reasons why. If Mr. Balling
- had the ability to simply apply to another net for a node
- number, then the dispute would be over. How annoying is
- "excessively annoying"? The question would be a lot easier to
- answer if policy 4 did not have a "rule" putting one person in
- charge of an entire geographic area. Nets could operate like
- echos: if you do not like one, start another.
-
- Finally, we are running the second half of the "dark fibre"
- article this week. For those too technically impatient to wade
- through the entire thing, Mr. Gilder makes an extremely strong
- case that the replacement of the entire switched telephone system
- is inevitable from both cost and technical standpoints. In it's
- place, he envisions a single world-wide fiber link, common to
- all, and operating more akin to an ethernet cable than a
- switched network. The implications for BBSing are profound. If
- all computer-to-computer communication is "local", and every BBS
- in the net is connected in real-time to every other computer in
- the the net (*including the users*!), just what purpose would
- policy 4 serve? Indeed, what purpose would the sysop or the BBS
- serve? The entire structure of everything we do will be
- radically changed.
-
- Personally, I would put more credence in Mr. Guilder's vision
- than in the vision of policy 5 ever becoming reality <S>.
- FidoNews 10-21 Page: 3 24 May 1993
-
-
- ========================================================================
- Articles
- ========================================================================
- Subject: The lies of Derek Balling
- From: Richard Ploski (1:272/74)
- To: Editors (1:221/192)
-
- I just read your post concerning Derek Balling's nonsense - I
- had no idea that it had spread further than this net, and am
- saddened to see that the twisted facts, which he insists are
- true, continue spreading.
-
- I too am relatively new to net 272, and the net I see is much
- different than the one which Derek has created in imaginary
- world of evil fascists and other horrible people who are `out to
- get him'.
-
- My experience with Janis Kracht, our NC has been nothing but
- positive. In my early days in the net, several months ago, I was
- running an early beta of VFido (the VBBS FIDO interface) and was
- impressed by her support and willingness to help me. And while
- she did give me a certain time period in which I had to `get
- compatible with the network' I did not see this as being
- dictatorial, but rather as a sensible move by an NC who was
- working with the best interests of the network in mind.
-
- I too was faced with the long distance calls which Derek
- complained about. But unlike Derek I did not just decide to do
- whatever I wanted and tell Janis if she did not like it too bad
- - instead I approached my netmail server and asked if I could
- pick up the two local nets from him. He was agreeable and
- together we approached Janis and my echomail server, Anthony
- Grillo, who gave their blessing to the switch. Sorry, but Derek
- wants you to believe that he is the rebel-saviour of net 272,
- but it seems that he is more akin to Don Quixote, chasing demons
- of his own creation.
-
- Derek chose to publicly, and quite rudely, do whatever he wanted
- without regard to the wishes of the NC and _other members_ of
- the net. He was asked to stop a number of times - he refused,
- claiming that we were the dupes of an evil fascist regime and
- that he would save us all. He also publicly refused to acceed
- to the NC's requests to cease and desist and would not listen to
- reason if it conflicted with his distorted perception of the
- reality here in the network.
-
- Net 272 is now in a wonderful state of evolution - the polling
- system is being changed dramatically and soon there will be no
- one who will have to make a LD call to pick up echos. But you
- see, Derek wanted to be in charge, Derek wanted Janis and the
- rest of us to bow to *his* wishes and acceed to *his* ideas -
- and rather than `play ball' with the rest of us, he wanted to
- rewrite the rules and create his own game. And to be perfectly
- honest, I much prefer Fidonet to `Derek BallingNET'.
- FidoNews 10-21 Page: 4 24 May 1993
-
-
- I am saddened to see that this nonsense has gone this far...
-
- Best Regards,
- Richard Ploski
- Delusions of Grandeur 1:272/74
-
- *CC: Doug Mclean @1:255/9 FIDOnet *CC: Editors @1:1/23 FIDOnet
- *CC: Janis Kracht @1:272/0 FIDOnet
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Requesting a Fidonet Number?
-
- By: Robert Diepenbrock (1:2330/18)
-
- My Experiences in obtaining a Fidonet node number (As Policy 4 Turns!)
-
- The experience of obtaining a Fidonet node number varies, almost as
- much as there are people in this net. Where my experience may differ
- from the normal run of the mill, I'd like to relate some specifics,
- and make some comments about my experiences.
-
- My fidonet story starts in January 1991, when I purchased my computer
- system. When I unpacked the 386/dx 25, loaded the modem and my
- personnel copy of Procom, little did I know the headaches and triumphs
- that awaited. Most can relate to my quest, first to run my own BBS
- and then to join Fidonet. Through seemingly endless hardware additions
- and modem initialization string changes while trying to configure 4
- different software packages concurrently I finally managed to meet the
- Requirements of sending and receiving netmail. I owe much of this
- achievement to the help of a handful of sysops who basically did most
- of the work via a DOS doorway in my BBS. The early days were fraught
- with errors, down time, lost mail, late nights, and a few days off of
- work, but through all my problems the local sysops remained supportive
- and helpful. The local sysops made entry into Fidonet an encouraging
- experience. But then, I moved.
-
- Barely 6 months after receiving my node number, I had to move to
- continue my education. Almost 2 years goes by before I can arrange to
- have a phone hooked to my computer. Again, as before, the Fidonet bug
- bite begin to cry for access to netmail. I had been calling some
- local boards by this time, using my off-line reader but Oh to have
- access to direct netmail once again. You see, I like the religious
- echoes and I found some of the limits within them to be constraining.
- Though I attempted to stay within the guidelines, I longed for the days
- of old when I could just netmail folks to get the discussion out of the
- public grandstanding which often takes place on those echoes. My
- problem was that the phone line I was using was not mine, and nobody
- could call me direct. I could send and receive netmail, but I could
- not maintain a fidonet compatible mailer that anybody could call. I
- applied for a node number but was turned down, and rightly so.
-
- In the mean time, the local sysops are being generous and are starting
- to receive some of the type of echo I was interested in. Yes, I turned
- FidoNews 10-21 Page: 5 24 May 1993
-
- into that old echomail junky self I once knew. Though I rarely posted
- more than 4 messages a day, I would read sometimes over 200. Once you
- start to read that many messages, you quickly learn the value of your
- time. My reading (and replying) was eventually limited to 3 echoes.
-
- I settled into having some brisk theological discussions which I enjoy.
- Now, I don't think I'm unreasonable (but who does?) I do, however,
- have some firm opinions. You guessed it, there was trouble in paradise.
- Though the echo's rules may stipulate "anybody can voice their opinion,"
- don't believe it. There was a certain echo, which did not allow flames
- but the moderation staff generally did what they pleased regardless of
- the rules. Many were roasted and when they replied with disrespect,
- were promptly banished. I was toasted a few times along with the
- others who disagreed with the theology of the moderation staff. For
- the most part I ignored the hot parts of the posts, remained calm and
- continued the discussions, leaving the flaming issue alone. It was
- unfair, I did not like it, but what option did I have without netmail?
- You take the good with the bad sometimes. I bet you can guess what
- happens next... Yes, I was eventualy banished from that echo for what
- was apparently theological reasons (no actual reason was given by the
- moderator). Boy, I really wanted netmail then. Perhaps it was good
- I had to wait a few weeks or the moderator's inbound netmail would have
- been blazing. After all, one good flame deserves another, even if it
- is not a good idea to stir the fire once you pour gasoline on it. Oh
- how I longed for netmail!
-
- But alas my dreams began to be realized once again! Upon moving into a
- new office at work (with a new computer) the possibility of running a
- Fidonet node became a reality once again. After scarping up a 2400
- baud modem and the backups of my old BBS, I set to work. A lot of
- stuff has changed in 2 years! I had to upgrade most of my software,
- and just flat change the rest! With a little help from my former Net
- Coordinator and a local sysop I was up and running again. Off went
- the node number request, and I begin to poll daily for replies. None.
- A few phone calls to the local Net Coordinator still produced little in
- response and in fact I seemed to get some resistance. What was going
- on?
-
- Looking back, I understand. It's not very often that someone gets
- banished from an echo. They were being careful, though the reasons
- they gave for delaying were rather lame against policy 4. After a talk
- with my old NC, I net-mailed the node request again, only this time
- making it clear that I had read policy 4 and expected a reason if I was
- to be turned down. (Yes, I'm a little bull headed sometimes.) I
- received my node number and have been mostly happy with fidonet ever
- since, except for one small thing. (Don't tell me you see it coming!)
-
- Yes, I went and did it. I contacted the moderator of the echo from
- which I was banished, BIG mistake. I resisted the urge to bring out
- the blow torch and hold his "feet over the fire" but I did voice my
- complaint about not being told exactly why I was banished and his
- apparent violation of his own "no flame" policy. The next day or two
- passes and I find out that this guy is trying to get my node number
- revoked by contacting my local NC! I may sometimes act like a "twit"
- but did I qualify for this? All my netmail in an effort to work this
- FidoNews 10-21 Page: 6 24 May 1993
-
- out has gone unanswered to this point, but are you suprised? Did I
- deserve this? No, but I should have avoided it! One nice thing about
- Fidonet is you can choose to ignore some, without turning all off.
- His system now hangs up on mine, guess that ends the discussion.
-
- Though my experiences with fidonet members vary from friendly to
- hateful, I must say that it has been a good experience overall.
- People with differant views abound, besides if two agree on everything
- one is not necessary. In the future I look forward to working within
- fidonet and doing my part to return the favor of those sysops from my
- original net who helped me out and ignored my mistakes, by helping
- other fledgling fidonet sysops get their start, and put up with their
- mistakes while they too learn. Thanks to all the members who labor
- to keep this network running, growing and progressing.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Sensible BBS names in the Nodelist
-
- Keeping the NODELIST down to size
- by Terry Bowden 3:772/20 NC 772 Auckland New Zealand
-
- When new nodes approach me to join FidoNet, they give me the
- suggested title of their BBS to go into the nodelist. This
- is a free world, and so long as the title isn't obnoxiously
- profane, they can call it what they like. Of course, a name
- like This_is_my_own_BBS_and_I'm_proud_of_it would be a bit
- excessive, and I'd ask the newcomer to re-think.
-
- Now the nodelist is a listing of bulletin board systems, right?
- And every entry is a BBS, let's face it. So when I'm asked to
- list a newcomer as The_Lantern_BBS, I generally suggest that
- "_BBS" is not necessary. Then again, do you really need "The_"
- at the front as well? 99 out of 100 tend to agree with this,
- so we end up with the title "Lantern".
-
- May I suggest that users and coordinators take this approach?
- Unless there is some really burning reason to include the
- superfluous (not to mention redundant) parts of the titles,
- let's keep them brief. We might just save some electronic trees.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Cost Sharing Ripoffs & Other Assorted Tidbits
- by: Phillip M. Dampier
- 1:2613/228
-
- In response to the article from Derek Balling in last week's Fidonews,
- let me offer the following views based on my experiences as a Net
- Coordinator in a Region 13 net for over two years.
-
- First, let me touch on cost sharing matters. The gouging is still
- continuing in many nets. Nodes need to add up the numbers for
- themselves. We are currently receiving well over 500 echos in
- Net 2613 and our total phone bill with MCI Primetime (without
- FidoNews 10-21 Page: 7 24 May 1993
-
- Friends & Family as we connect with an RHUB that is not F&F
- compatible) is around $200.00. Ask how many echos your net imports
- and then add up your cost sharing x the number of nodes in your net,
- if you have a flat rate system in place.
-
- In many cases, the results will be staggering. There are some nets
- out there that charge a flat 5-10 dollars a month and have close to
- or over 100 nodes. Unless these nets are calling weekday afternoons
- for their mail, it's time to start questioning where the $500-1000
- goes every month. It sure isn't going to MCI Friends & Family!
-
- Those people subjected to long distance rates AND cost sharing are
- prime candidates for net formation if they reside in a local/reduced
- rate calling area.
-
- It has been my personal experience that Bill Andrus, our RC, will
- grant net status to a small handful of nodes.
-
- Those of you in Net 272 who want to split have been talking about
- it since Moses walked on the earth. :-) In Region 13, here's how it
- works:
-
- Step 1 (Ross Perotism): Get the people who want to split together
- at a meeting, draw up a list of candidates to run for Net Coordinator
- and Net Echomail Coordinator, have a free and fair election among
- all nodes qualified to vote in your new net, then have the Net
- Coordinator draw up a nodelist segment and rough sense of what
- your net will encompass as far as area.
-
- Step 2: Have your newly elected NC crashmail a copy of the nodelist
- fragment to both Ms. Kracht and Mr. Andrus. It has been my personal
- experience in dealing with breakaway nets in Region 13 that Bill
- Andrus will immediately grant a net number to the breakaway group.
-
- When you are granted your net number, have the elected NC contact
- your existing NC and tell her to remove those people in the new net
- from her nodelist update.
-
- The basic reality is that she has very little say over the
- formation of new nets in your area. The reality in Region 13 is
- that Bill Andrus decides.
-
- You have an excellent case if there is a group of you in a local
- calling area that could save considerably on cost sharing.
-
- The other simple truth in Region 13 is that filing policy complaints
- is a complete waste of time. Bill Andrus doesn't want to waste
- time getting involved in personality disputes, so just drop that
- matter and get on with the business of getting a new net and your
- number reinstated.
-
- While I don't know both sides of the story surrounding your
- dismissal from Fidonet, if the things you quoted were true, this
- would be one of the more bizarre set of rules I've seen in
- Fidonet and none of them are grounds for dismissal in Fidonet.
- FidoNews 10-21 Page: 8 24 May 1993
-
-
- Finally, you were wrong to have installed a commercial copy of Frontdoor
- on your system. I just don't buy your explanation, considering the
- number of references to the "commercial" vs. "non-commercial" software
- that make both versions distinct. I am glad to hear you did switch
- back to the non-commercial version.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Texas Employment Commission (update)
-
- I read with excitement the article regarding the TEA-HR BBS in
- F I D O N E W S -- Vol.10 No.19 (10-May-1993). Unfortunately,
- there were a couple of criticial errors. Maybe you would be willing
- to republish the article or the corrections:
-
- 1. The organization is the Texas Education Agency (State Board of
- Education and State Education Department). Also, our net/node
- number has been changed due to a local conflict to 1:382/6.
-
- Texas Employment Commission
- Larry Loiselle (1:382/16)
-
- Texas Education Agency
- 1701 North Congress Avenue
- Austin, Texas 78701
-
- The Texas Education Agency has embarked on an aggressive
- recruitment program in order to reach the broadest possible
- population. In order to accomplish this mission, the agency
- will be posting its job vacancies with the Texas Employment
- Commission and the twenty Education Service Centers.
-
- We will also be posting our job vacancies on TENET and the
- following public bulletin board system (BBS) networks:
- FidoNet (Jobs-Now message echo), FamilyNet (Jobseek message
- echo), and KesherNet (Education echo). The messages (job
- vacancy notices) posted on these networks are gated to EchoNet,
- UseNet, and InterNet. TENET may be accessed at (512) 472-0602.
- Public BBSes carrying FidoNet, FamilyNet, and KesherNet message
- echos can be found all across the U.S.A., Canada, and many foreign
- countries. These public BBSes may be found in most major cities
- and many smaller communities.
-
- To assist those who do not have access to these TENET or these
- public BBSes, the Texas Education Agency, Human Resource Division,
- is running its own BBS:
-
- TEA-HR BBS
- (512) 475-3689
- 300-9600 Baud N-8-1
- V32, V42, V42bis
- 24 hours per day
- 7 days per week
-
- FidoNews 10-21 Page: 9 24 May 1993
-
- FidoNet Net/Node Number: 1:382/6
- FamilyNet Net/Node Number: 8:71/5
-
- Please call our BBS at your convenience. Information on
- types of jobs, salaries, and fringe benefits is available.
- The current job vacancy notices are available for review and
- downloading. You may also receive and/or leave messages for
- the Human Resources Division. Also, you will be able to
- download copies of the job vacancy notices and upload copies
- of your resumes to us.
-
- 3. If they want to mail us their resumes, please send them, plus
- a cover letter noting where they heard the news and what kind
- of job they are seeking. We would appreciate some feedback on
- our effort. Letters and/or messages can be addressed to
- Lisa Adame, Recruiter; Harvester Pope, Director of Employment;
- or Dr. Roberto Zamora, Chief Of Operations.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- What Is StormNet?
- --------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- ******* **** *
- * * * *
- ******* ***** **** **** ***** * * * **** *****
- * * * * **** * * * * * * ** *
- ******* * **** * * * * * * **** **** *
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- I thought I would take the time to write about out network, StormNet.
-
- * What Is StormNet?
-
- StormNet is an alternative network for use with FidoNet compatible
- or QWK network software. We pass messages back and forth both in
- netmail and in echomail conferences. In StormNet, each node is
- welcomed and assisted in many ways by other StormNet members. We
- have active echomail areas and a growing file echo selection.
- Although the traffic in our echo areas is lower than in some other
- networks, StormNet has a more friendly atmosphere than can be found
- in many of those others.
-
- StormNet has been in existence for just over a year, and in that
- time, has grown significantly. Our membership has changed from an
- inexperienced group of local nodes to a more mature group of people
- from all over the United States, and even parts of Canada.
- Currently, we have over 50 nodes in this area, and are expanding
- every week!
-
- * Why is StormNet here?
-
- StormNet was started for a few reasons. When we created it, we
- wanted to serve teens, adults, and others worldwide with a quality
- FidoNews 10-21 Page: 10 24 May 1993
-
- alternative network that is relatively cheap to pull in. Most of our
- high speed transfers take less than a minute. You don't have to poll
- every day, we are flexible and will allow you to poll whenever you
- like. We want to serve you with the finest quality echomail and
- files for you and your users. We are considerably smaller than
- FidoNet, and therefore do not have the overflow of mail often seen in
- its conferences.
-
- * What are the rules like?
-
- StormNet? Rules? You've got to be kidding me. Well, it's not
- like we don't have any rules; all of the rules in our policy
- statement basically stem from one basic principle - "Be nice and use
- common sense." The policy's specifics were written to outline some
- problems which may potentially arise when people aren't nice and
- don't use common sense.
-
- The SNAC (StormNet Advisory Council) consists of teenagers and
- adults. This group of fine folks helps to ensure the smooth running
- of StormNet affairs. StormNet does not discriminate against, deny,
- or turn someone down because of their age, sex, national origin,
- religion, sexual orientation, beliefs, taste in food, opinion on
- world politics, or favorite color. We welcome anyone who is
- interested in joining a fun network to try out StormNet. We also
- don't allow "bashing", spindling or other forms of mutilation of
- groups in our newsletters, or most of our echos, and other parts of
- our network.
-
- * What are the echos like?
-
- We have a variety of conferences to suit most needs. If you are
- a user of StormNet, or a node, you can request an echo if you feel it
- would be active. We have echos on many subjects, A to Z (as we say
- SN_A to SN_Z <g>). We have a talented staff of moderators and
- co-moderators, and combined with the efforts of our international
- echomail coordinator, keep the network running smoothly.
-
- * What are the file echos like?
-
- We offer file echos for our nodes too. Although we will not go
- into this matter much in this article, we have great files from all
- around. We don't allow trash to be hatched in our echos. Our file
- echo coordinator helps to coordinate our file echos.
-
- * Nodelists, Policies, and Newsfiles..
-
- Our nodelist coordinator is dedicated to his nodelist
- management. He strives to make sure the nodelist that is released is
- as accurate as possible. The nodelist coordinator has never secretly
- switched the nodelist for new Folgers' Crystals :-)
-
- Our Literature Coordinator updates the policy and creates
- "StormNews", the official newsletter of StormNet. He also edits
- carefully other documents for StormNet.
-
- FidoNews 10-21 Page: 11 24 May 1993
-
- In almost all cases, our nodelists and nodediffs are issued by
- Friday at 12am. In fact, we usually issue most periodicals before
- the Friday deadline. To make less calls necessary, all of StormNet's
- documents are released at about the same time.
-
- * Why should I consider StormNet?
-
- We respect each and every StormNet member and his/her rights.
- We offer our services to all. We are have a great network setup. We
- want all to join and have a good time in the network that we have
- created. We're proud of our network. You should look into us!
-
- Alan Jurison
- StormNet Int'l EchoMail Coordinator
-
- Philip Spevak
- StormNet International Coordinator
-
- You May F'req STORMNET (or STORMNET.*) From these nodes:
-
- System Name Phone/Baud Fido StormNet
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- StormNet Int'l HQ (315)682-1824 (1:260/375) (181:181/1) 14400/v32b
- StormNet Coord. (315)445-5643 (1:260/374) (181:181/0) 2400
- StormNet Canada (613)563-7164 (1:163/527) (182:1820/0) 9600/HST
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- * See our Ads in FidoNet's OTHERNETS confrence for more polling sites *
-
- Thank you! Hope to see you soon!
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Dark Fibre, Dumb Network
- George Gilder / MCI ID: 409-1174
- ....CONTINUED FROM LAST ISSUE
-
- LAW OF THE TELECOSM: NETWORKS DUMB AS A STONE
-
- The new regime will use fiber not as a replacement for copper
- wires but as a new form of far more capacious and error-free air.
- Through a system called wavelength division multiplexing and access,
- computers and telephones will tune into desired messages in the
- fibersphere the same way radios now tune into desired signals in the
- atmosphere. The fibersphere will be intrinsically as dumb and dark
- as the atmosphere.
-
- The new regime overcomes the electronic bottleneck by altogether
- banishing electronics from the network. But, ask the telcos in
- unison, what about the switches? As long as the network is switched,
- it must be partly electronic. Unless the network is switched, it is
- not a true any- to-any network. It is a broadcast system. It may
- offer a cornucopia of services. But it cannot serve as a common
- carrier like the phone network allowing any party to reach any other.
- FidoNews 10-21 Page: 12 24 May 1993
-
- Without intelligent switching it cannot provide personal
- communications nets that can follow you wherever you go. Without
- intelligent switching, the all optical network, so they say, is just
- a glorified cable system.
-
- These critics fail to grasp a central rule of the telecosm:
- bandwidth is a nearly perfect substitute for switching. With
- sufficient physical bandwidth, it is possible to simulate any kind of
- logical switch whatsoever. Bandwidth allows creation of virtual
- switches that to the user seem to function exactly the way physical
- switches do. You can send all messages everywhere in the network,
- include all needed codes and instructions for correcting, decrypting,
- and reading them, and allow each terminal to tune into its own
- messages on its own wavelength, just like a two-way radio. When the
- terminals are smart enough and the bandwidth great enough, your all
- optical network can be as dumb as a stone.
-
- Over the last several years, all optical network experiments
- have been conducted around the world, from Bellcore in New Jersey to
- NTT at Yokosuka, Japan. British Telecom has used wavelength division
- multiplexing to link four telephone central offices in London.
- Columbia's Telecom Center has launched a Teranet that lacks tunable
- lasers or receivers but can logically simulate them. Bell
- Laboratories has generated most of the technology but as a long
- distance specialist has focussed on the project of sending gigabits
- of information thousands of miles without amplifiers. But only fully
- functional system is the Rainbow created by Paul Green at IBM.
-
- As happens so often in this a world of technical disciplines
- sliced into arbitrary fortes and fields, the large advances come from
- the integrators. Paul Green is neither a laser physicist, nor an
- optical engineer, nor a telecommunications theorist. At IBM, his
- work has ranged from overseeing speech recognition projects at Watson
- Labs to shaping company strategy at corporate headquarters in Armonk.
- His most recent success was supervising development of the new APPN
- (Advanced Peer to Peer Network) protocol. According to an IBM
- announcement in March, APPN will replace the venerable SNA (systems
- network architecture) that has been synonymous with IBM networking
- for more than a decade.
-
- Green took some pride in this announcement, but by that time,
- the project was long in his past. He was finishing the copy editing
- on his magisterial tome on Fiber Optic Networks (published this
- summer by Prentice Hall). And he was moving on to more advanced
- versions of the Rainbow which he and his team had introduced in
- December 1991 at the Telecom 91 Conference in Geneva and which has
- been installed between the various branches of Watson Laboratories in
- Westchester County, N.Y.
-
- As Peter Drucker points out, a new technology cannot displace an
- old one unless it is proven at least 10 times better. Otherwise the
- billions of dollars worth of installed base and thousands of
- engineers committed to improving the old technology will suffice to
- block the new one. The job of Paul Green's 15 man team at IBM is to
- meet that tenfold test.
- FidoNews 10-21 Page: 13 24 May 1993
-
-
- Green's all optical network creates a fibersphere as neutral and
- passive as the atmosphere. It can be addressed by computers the same
- way radios and television sets connect to the air. Consisting
- entirely of unpowered glass and passive spitters and couplers, the
- fibersphere is dark and dumb. Any variety of terminals can
- interconnect across it at the same time using any protocols they
- choose.
-
- Just as radios in the atmosphere, computer receivers connected
- to the fibersphere do not find a series of bits in a message; they
- tune into a wavelength or frequency. Because available Fabry Perot
- tunable filters today have larger bandwidth than tunable lasers,
- Green chose to locate Rainbow's tuning at the receiver and have
- transmitters each operate at a fixed wavelength. But future networks
- can use any combination of tunable equipment at either end.
-
- When Green began the project in 1987, the industry stood in the
- same general position as the pioneers of radio in the early years of
- that industry. They had seemingly unlimited bandwidth before them,
- but lacked transmitters and receivers powerful enough to use it
- effectively. Radio transmitters suffered splitting losses as they
- broadcast their signals across the countryside. Green's optical
- messages lose power everytime they are split off to be sent to
- another terminal or are tapped by a receiver.
-
- The radio industry solved this problem by the development of the
- audion triode amplifier. Green needed an all optical amplifier to
- replace the optoelectronic repeaters that now constitute the most
- widespread electronic bottleneck in fiber. Amplifiers in current
- fiber networks first convert the optical signal to an electronic
- signal, enhance it, and then convert it back to photons.
-
- Like the pioneers of radio, Green soon had his amplifier in
- hand. Following concepts pioneered by David Payne at the University
- of Southhampton in England, a Bell Laboratories group led by Emmanuel
- Desurvire and Randy Giles developed a workable all optical device.
- They showed that a short stretch of fiber doped with erbium, a rare
- earth mineral, and excited by a cheap laser diode, can function as a
- powerful amplifier over the entire wavelength range of a 25,000
- gigahertz system. Today such photonic amplifiers enhance signals in a
- working system of links between Naples and Pomezia on the west coast
- of Italy. Manufactured in packages between two and three cubic
- inches in size, these amplifiers fit anywhere in an optical network
- for enhancing signals without electronics.
-
- This invention overcame the most fundamental disadvantage of
- optical networks compared to electronic networks. You can tap into
- an electronic network as often as desired without weakening the
- voltage signal. Although resistance and capacitance will weaken the
- current, there are no splitting losses in a voltage divider.
- Photonic signals, by contrast, suffer splitting losses every time
- they are tapped; they lose photons until eventually there are none
- left. The cheap and compact all optical amplifier solves this
- problem.
- FidoNews 10-21 Page: 14 24 May 1993
-
-
- Not only did Green and his IBM colleagues create working all
- optical networks, they also reduced the interface optoelectronics to
- a single microchannel plug-in card that can fit in any IBM PS/2 level
- personal computer or R6000 workstation. Using off-the-shelf
- components costing a total of $16,000 per station, Rainbow achieved a
- capacity more than 90 times greater than FDDI at an initial cost
- merely four times as much.
-
- Just as Jack Kilby's first ICs were not better than previous
- adders and oscillators, the Rainbow I is not better in some respects
- than rival networks based on electronics. At present it connects
- only 32 computers at a speed of some 300 megabits per second, for a
- total bandwidth of 9.5 gigabits. This rate is huge compared to most
- other networks, but it is still well below the target of a system
- that provides gigabit rates for every terminal.
-
- A more serious limitation is the lack of packet switching.
- Rather than communicating down a dedicated connection between two
- parties, like phones do, computer networks send data in small
- batches, called packets, each bearing its own address. This requires
- switching back and forth between packets millions of times a second.
- Neither the current Rainbow's lasers nor its filters can tune from
- one message to another more than thousands of times a second. This
- limitation is a serious problem for links to mainframes and
- supercomputers that may do many tasks at once in different windows on
- the screen and with connections to several other machines.
-
- As Green shows, however, all these problems are well on the way
- to solution. A tide of new interest in all optical systems is
- sweeping through the world's optical laboratories. The Pentagon's
- Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched a program for
- all optical networking. With Green installed as the new President of
- the IEEE Communications Society, the technical journals are full of
- articles on new wavelength division technology. Every few months
- brings new reports of a faster laser with a broader bandwidth, or
- filter with faster tuning, or an ingenious new way to use bandwidth
- to simulate packet switching. Today lasers and receivers can switch
- fast enough but they still lack the ability to cover the entire
- bandwidth needed.
-
- The key point, however, is that as demonstrated both in Geneva
- and Armonk, the Green system showed the potential efficiency of all
- optical systems. Even in their initial forms they are more cost
- effective in bandwidth per dollar than any other network technology.
- Scheduled for introduction within the next two years, Rainbow III
- will comprise a thousand stations operating at a gigabit a second,
- with the increasingly likely hope of fast packet switching
- capability. At that point, the system will be a compelling
- commercial product at least hundreds of times more cost effective
- than the competition.
-
- Without access to dark fiber, however, these networks will be
- worthless. If the telephone companies fail to supply it, they risk
- losing most of the fastest growing parts of their business: the data
- FidoNews 10-21 Page: 15 24 May 1993
-
- traffic which already contributes some 50 percent of their profits.
- But there is also a possibility that they will lose much of their
- potential consumer business as well: the planned profits in
- pay-per-view films and electronic yellow pages. This is the message
- of a second great prophet of dark fiber, Will Hicks of Southbridge,
- Massachusetts.
-
- A venerable inventor of scores of optical products, Hicks
- believes that Green's view of the future of fiber is too limited.
- Using wavelength division, Hicks can see the way to deliver some 500
- megahertz two-way connections to all the homes in America for some
- $400 per home. That is fifty times the 10 megahertz total capacity
- of an Ethernet (with no one else using it) for some 20 percent of the
- cost. That is capacity in each home for twenty digital two-way HDTV
- channels at once at perhaps half the cost of new telephone
- connections. Then, after a large consumer market emerges for fiber
- optics, Hicks believes, Green's sophisticated computer services will
- follow as a matter of course.
-
- The consumer market, Hicks maintains, is the key to lowering the
- cost of the components to a level where they can be widely used in
- office networks as well. He cites the example of the compact disk
- laser diode. Once lasers were large and complex devices, chilled with
- liquid nitrogen, and costing thousands of dollars; now they are as
- small as a grain of salt, cheap as a box of cereal, and more numerous
- than phonograph needles. An executive at Hitachi told Hicks that
- Hitachi could work a similar transformation on laser diodes and
- amplifiers for all optical networks. Just tell me what price you want
- to pay and I'll tell you how many you have to buy.
-
- The divergence of views between the IBM executive and the
- wildcat inventor, however, is far less significant than their common
- vision of dark fiber as the future of communications. By the power
- of ever cheaper bandwidth, it will transform all industries of the
- coming information age just as radically as the power of cheaper
- transistors transformed the industries of the computer age.
-
- For the telephone companies, the age of ever smarter terminals
- mandates the emergence of ever dumber networks. This is a major
- strategic challenge; it takes a smart man to build a dumb network.
- But the telcos have the best laboratories and have already developed
- nearly all the components of the fibersphere.
-
- Telephone companies may complain of the large costs of the
- transformation of their system, but they command capital budgets as
- large as the total revenues of the cable industry. Telcos may recoil
- in horror at the idea of dark fiber, but they command webs of the
- stuff ten times larger than any other industry. Dumb and dark
- networks may not fit the phone company self-image or advertising
- posture. But they promise larger markets than the current phone
- company plan to choke off their future in the labyrinthine nets of an
- intelligent switching fabric always behind schedule and full of
- software bugs.
-
- The telephone companies cannot expect to impose a uniform
- FidoNews 10-21 Page: 16 24 May 1993
-
- network governed by universal protocols. The proliferation of
- digital protocols and interfaces is an inevitable effect of the
- promethean creativity of the computer industry. Green explains, You
- cannot fix the protocol zoo. You must use bandwidth to accommodate
- the zoo.
-
- As Robert Pokress, a former switch designer at Bell Labs now
- head of Unifi Corporation, points out, telephone switches (now 80
- percent software) are already too complex to keep pace with the
- efflorescence of relatively simple computer technology on their
- periphery. While computers become ever more lean and mean, turning
- to reduced instruction set processors, networks need to adopt reduced
- instruction set architectures. The ultimate in dumb and dark is the
- fibersphere now incubating in their magnificent laboratories.
-
- The entrepreneurial folk in the computer industry may view this
- wrenching phone company adjustment with some satisfaction. But the
- fact is that computer companies face a strategic reorientation as
- radical as the telcos do. In a world where ever smarter terminals
- require ever dumber communications, computer networks are as gorged
- and glutted with smarts as phone company networks and even less
- capacious. The nation's most brilliant nerds, commanding the 200
- MIPS Silicon Graphics superstations or Mac Quadra multimedia power
- plants, humbly kneel before the 50 kilobit lines of the Internet and
- beseech the telcos to upgrade to 64 kilobit basic ISDN.
-
- Now addicted to the use of transistors to solve the problems of
- limited bandwidth, the computer industry must use transistors to
- exploit the opportunities of nearly unlimited bandwidth. When
- home-based machines are optimized for manipulating high resolution
- digital video at high speeds, they will necessarily command what are
- now called supercomputer powers. This will mean that the dominant
- computer technology will emerge first not in the office market but in
- the consumer market. The major challenge for the computer industry
- is to change its focus from a few hundred million offices already
- full of computer technology to a billion living rooms now nearly
- devoid of it.
-
- Cable companies possess the advantage of already owning dumb
- networks based on the essentials of the all optical model of
- broadcast and select-- of customers seeking wavelengths or
- frequencies rather than switching circuits. Cable companies already
- provide all the programs to all the terminals and allow them to tune
- in to the desired messages. Uniquely in the world, U.S. cable firms
- already offer a broadband pipe to ninety percent of American homes.
- These coaxial cables, operating at one gigahertz for several hundred
- feet, provide the basis for two way broadband services today. But
- the cable industry cannot become a full service supplier of
- telecommunications until it changes its self-image from a cheap
- provider of one way entertainment services into a common carrier of
- two way information. Above all, the cable industry cannot succeed in
- the digital age if it continues to regard the personal computer as an
- alien and irrelevant machine.
-
- Analogous to the integrated circuit in its economic power, the
- FidoNews 10-21 Page: 17 24 May 1993
-
- all optical network is analogous to the massively parallel computer
- in its technical paradigm. In the late 1980s in computers, the
- effort to make one processor function ever faster on a serial stream
- of data reached a point of diminishing returns. Superpipelining and
- superscalar gains hit their limits. Despite experiments with
- Josephson Junctions, high electron mobility, and cryogenics, usable
- transistors simply could not made to switch much faster than a few
- gigahertz.
-
- Computer architects responded by creating machines with multiple
- processors operating in parallel on multiple streams of data. While
- each processor worked more slowly than the fastest serial processors,
- thousands of slow processors in parallel could far outperform the
- fastest serial machines. Measured by cost effectiveness, the
- massively parallel machines dwarfed the performance of conventional
- supercomputers.
-
- The same pattern arose in communications and for many of the
- same reasons. In the early 1990s the effort to increase the number
- of bits that could be time division multiplexed down a fiber on a
- single frequency band had reached a point of diminishing returns.
- Again the switching speed of transistors was the show stopper. The
- architects of all optical networks responded by creating systems
- which can use not one wavelength or frequency but potentially
- thousands in parallel.
-
- Again, the new systems could not outperform time division
- multiplexing on one frequency. But all optical networks opened up a
- vast vista of some 75 thousand gigahertz of frequencies potentially
- usable for communications. That immense potential of massively
- parallel frequencies left all methods of putting more bits on a
- single set of frequencies look as promising as launching computers
- into the chill of outer space in order to accelerate their switching
- speeds.
-
- Just as the law of the microcosm made all terminals smart,
- distributing intelligence from the center to the edges of the
- network, so the law of the telecosm creates a network dumb enough to
- accommodate the incredible onrush of intelligence on its periphery.
- Indeed, with the one chip supercomputer on the way, manufacturable
- for under a hundred dollars toward the end of the decade, the law of
- the microcosm is still gaining momentum. The fibersphere complements
- the promise of ubiquitous computer power with equally ubiquitous
- communications.
-
- What happens, however, when not only transistors but also wires
- are nearly free? As Robert Lucky observes in his forward to Paul
- Green's book, Many of us have been conditioned to think that
- transmission is inherently expensive; that we should use switching
- and processing wherever possible to minimize transmission. This is
- the law of the microcosm. But as Lucky speculates, The limitless
- bandwidth of fiber optics changes these assumptions. Perhaps we
- should transmit signals thousands of miles to avoid even the simplest
- processing function. This is the law of the telecosm: use bandwidth
- to simplify everything else.
- FidoNews 10-21 Page: 18 24 May 1993
-
-
- Daniel Hillis of Thinking Machines Corporation offers a similar
- vision, adding to Lucky's insight the further assertion that
- massively parallel computer architectures are so efficient that they
- can overthrow the personal computer revolution. Hillis envisages a
- powerplant computer model, with huge Thinking Machines at the center
- tapped by millions of relatively dumb terminals.
-
- All these speculations assume that the Law of the Telecosm
- usurps the Law of the Microcosm. But in fact the two concepts
- function in different ways in different domains.
-
- Electronic transistors use electrons to control, amplify, or
- switch electrons. But photonics differ radically from electronics.
- Because moving photons do not affect one another on contact, they
- cannot readily be used to control, amplify, or switch each other.
- Compared to electrons, moreover, photons are huge: infrared photons
- at 1550 or 1300 nanometers are larger than a micron across. They
- resist the miniaturization of the microcosm. For computing, photons
- are far inferior to electrons. With single electron electronics now
- in view, electrons will keep their advantage. For the foreseeable
- future, computers will be made with electrons.
-
- What are crippling flaws for photonic computing, however, are
- huge assets for communicating. Because moving photons do not collide
- with each other or respond to electronic charges, they are inherently
- a two way medium. They are immune to lightning strikes,
- electromagnetic pulses, or electrical power surges that destroy
- electronic equipment. Virtually noiseless and massless pulses of
- radiation, they move as fast and silently as light.
-
- Listening to the technology, as Caltech prophet Carver Mead
- recommends, one sees a natural division of labor between photonics
- and electronics. Photonics will dominate communications and
- electronics will dominate computing. The two technologies do not
- compete; they are beautiful complements of each other.
-
- The law of the microcosm makes distributed computers (smart
- terminals) more efficient regardless of the cost of linking them
- together. The law of the telecosm makes dumb and dark networks more
- efficient regardless of how numerous and smart are the terminals.
- Working together, however, these two laws of wires and switches impel
- ever more widely distributed information systems.
-
- It is the narrow bandwidth of current phone company connections
- that explains the persistence of centralized computing in a world of
- distributed machines. Narrowband connections require smart
- interfaces and complex protocols and expensive data. Thus you get
- your online information from only a few databases set up to
- accommodate queries over the phone lines. You limit television
- broadcasting to a few local stations. Using the relatively
- narrowband phone network or television system, it pays to concentrate
- memory and processing at one point and tap into the hub from
- thousands of remote locations.
-
- FidoNews 10-21 Page: 19 24 May 1993
-
- Using a broadband fiber system, by contrast, it will pay to
- distribute memory and services to all points on the network.
- Broadband links will foster specialization. If the costs of
- communications are low, databases, libraries, and information
- services can specialize and be readily reached by customers from
- anywhere. On line services lose the economies of scale that lead a
- firm such as Dialog to attempt to concentrate most of the world's
- information in one set of giant archives.
-
- By making bandwidth nearly free, the new integrated circuit of
- the fibersphere will radically change the environment of all
- information industries and technologies. In all eras, companies tend
- to prevail by maximizing the use of the cheapest resources. In the
- age of the fibersphere, they will use the huge intrinsic bandwidth of
- fiber, all 25 thousand gigahertz or more, to replace nearly all the
- hundreds of billions of dollars worth of switches, bridges, routers,
- converters, codecs, compressors, error correctors, and other devices,
- together with the trillions of lines of software code, that pervade
- the intelligent switching fabric of both telephone and computer
- networks.
-
- The makers of all this equipment will resist mightily. But
- there is no chance that the old regime can prevail by fighting cheap
- and simple optics with costly and complex electronics and software.
-
- The all optical network will triumph for the same reason that
- the integrated circuit triumphed: it is incomparably cheaper than the
- competition. Today, measured by the admittedly rough metric of MIPS
- per dollar, a personal computer is more than one thousand times more
- cost effective than a mainframe. Within 10 years, the all optical
- network will be millions of times more cost effective than electronic
- networks. Just as the electron rules in computers, the photon will
- rule the waves of communication.
-
- The all optical ideal will not immediately usurp other
- technologies. Vacuum tubes reached their highest sales in the late
- 1970s. But just as the IC inexorably exerted its influence on all
- industries, the all optical technology will impart constant pressure
- on all other communications systems. Every competing system will
- have to adapt to its cost structure. In the end, almost all
- electronic communications will go through the wringer and emerge in
- glass.
-
- This is the real portent of the dark fiber case wending its way
- through the courts. The future of the information age depends on the
- rise of dumb and dark networks to accommodate the onrush of ever
- smarter electronics. Ultimately at stake is nothing less than the
- future of the computer and communications infrastructure of the U.S.
- economy, its competitiveness in world markets, and the consummation
- of the age of information. Although the phone companies do not want
- to believe it, their future will be dark.
- FidoNews 10-21 Page: 20 24 May 1993
-
-
- ========================================================================
- Fidonews Information
- ========================================================================
-
- ------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ----------------
-
- Editors: Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees, Tim Pozar
- Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince Perriello,
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- IMPORTANT NOTE: The FidoNet address of the FidoNews BBS has been
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-
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- Sylvia -- max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca
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-
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- FidoNews 10-21 Page: 21 24 May 1993
-
- (consult a recent nodelist for phone numbers).
-
- A very nice index to the Tables of Contents to all FidoNews volumes
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-
- Asked what he thought of Western civilization,
- M.K. Gandhi said, "I think it would be an excellent idea".
- -- END
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------