Danny Amor's Online Library/Danny Amor's Online Library - Volume 1.iso/html/society/announce/trustees/kowak

Text File | 1995-07-25 | 4KB | 71 lines

Glenn Kowack
EUnet Limited
[e-mail]


Glenn Kowack is presently Managing Director of EUnet Limited. He
studied at the Center for Intercultural Documentation in Cuernavaca,
Mexico, and holds degrees in Mathematics and Experimental Psychology
from the University of Illinois. He is a co-author of "The Cybernetics
of Cybernetics".

He has been active in government-funded R&D on network protocols and
network front-ends, and managed one of the first
commercially-available TCP/IP products (during the late 1970's he even
had an ARPANET IMP in his office). He was a Senior Director of
Development for Gould Computer Systems Division, managing their
software development center in Urbana, Illinois, focusing on operating
systems and network protocol development. He was involved in the
formation of Unix International, and has served as a software
management consultant to Harris Semiconductor.

As a founding board member of community radio station WEFT-FM, he
served 5 years on the board including one as chairman, and produced a
variety of news and radio programs.

His current phase of involvement with the Internet began when he was
investigating setting up a software development company in Eastern
Europe and discovered that the Internet and UUCP were the only
effective way to communicate with Western Europe and the US.  Since
1990 he has led EUnet's transition from a loose collection of
academically-oriented groups into a tightly-bound commercial Internet
service provider, coordinating national networks operating in Europe,
Northern Africa, and the former Soviet Union region. He is active in
other major networking-related organizations in Europe including RARE,
Ebone, the Ebone management committee, and RIPE, and represents EUnet
in the CIX Association.


I would bring two perspectives to the ISOC board of trustees: that of
a commercial Internet service provider, and of an
internationally-active and especially European Internet professional.

The great challenge, as the Internet becomes even more commercial and
pervasive, is to accelerate and influence that process while
preserving its magic.  As other technologies such as cable TV adopt
networking technologies, the Internet metaphor and single domain of
addresses where all users and agents are peers must continue and
develop.  The society must enhance its public relations program to
further impress the public of the stability of the Internet, and its
suitability for all enterprises and areas of human communication.
This must be accompanied by navigating a course between the influences
of the two major industries which provide the technology on which the
internet stands: the telecoms providers and the computer industry.

ISOC must be an organization that commands respect, which has been
accomplished.  However, one sometimes gets the sense that that respect
is derived more from stately appearance than accomplishment. ISOC
appears in danger of becoming a cozy and somewhat sleepy organization.
The Internet is too important for this to be allowed; ISOC and its
constituent groups need to push much harder and more aggressively than
they have in the past.  I would like to see a review of ISOC's
position and goals vis a vis other similar organizations.  Although
the stated direction of the organization is clear, with all the
activity and change in the last several years the role and value of
the society relative to other organizations has become unclear.

Having extensive experience with business management, I also expect to
actively participate in reviewing ISOC internal management and
business practices to ensure economy, effectiveness, and aggressive
pursuit of goals.