158

Policy Issues

Academic Network Coordination Policies: An Outsider's View

J im N O R T O N Director, Group Vendor Consultancy, Butler Cox plc, 12 Blooms- bury Square, London, UK WCIA 2LL (Tel.: + 44 71 831 0101; Fax: + 44 71 831 6250)

Abstract. This short paper contrasts the interests of academic and commercial users of national and international network- ing. It highlights the lessons which can be drawn from the experience of each group. The paper categorises networking into three classes, and strongly argues that funding and sup- port for "networking to support other research activities" (research networking), should be separated from "research into networking itself" (networking research). It suggests national and international research networking should be supported on a quasi-commercial (but non-profit) basis, drawing on the lessons already learnt in commercial networking.

Keywords. Commercial and academic networking, network facility lifecycle, the service ethic.

Jim Norton is Director of the Butler Cox Consultancy practice dedicated to meeting the needs of the supply side of the IT industry. His practice regu- larly provides strategic consulting help to major computing and telecommuni- cations product/service suppliers throughout Europe. Jim has spent twenty years in the IT industry. Prior to joining Butler Cox he spent 17 years with British Telecom, latterly as the senior manager responsible for new business development in USA, Jal~an,

and Europe for British Telecom International.

North-Holland Computer Networks and ISDN Systems 19 (1990) 158-161

1. Introduction

This paper was requested by RARE in the context of the first E A R N / R A R E joint con- ference. It aims to stimulate discussions and de- bate at a crucial point in the development of global academic networking. The author, whilst in the early 1980's much involved in British Telecom's support of academic networking through the UK "coloured books" initiative, is now rather more familiar with commercial than research network- ing.

2. Commercial and Academic Networking: Some Key Issues

As can be seen from Fig.l, there is much com- monality of concern between commercial and academic networking. An efficient and reliable service, which spans national boundaries, is of major concern to international business users as well as those in the academic world. Until recent regulatory change within Europe, this requirement was especially poorly met, for services such as packet switching, by the traditional Telecommuni- cations Administrations (TAs). The demand from

Topic Academic Commercial interest interest

International coverage • • • • • • • • • •

Standards and architecture • • • • • • • •

Tariff and costs • • • • • • •

Timely availability • • • • • • • •

Wideband services • • • • •

International sales and support • • • • • • •

Fig. 1. Commercial and academic networking: some key issues.

Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (North-Holland)

J. Norton / Academic network coordination policies 159

academe for high bandwidth international circuits (at 512 kbps and above) for data and conferencing purposes is only slightly ahead of the commercial world. Butler Cox research suggests a strong de- mand over the next five years for such circuits carrying data, image and video communications, as well as the more conventional voice traffic. Indeed, looking at the national UK market, we expect before the end of this decade that non-voice usage of commercial leased circuits will exceed voice usage on circuits at 2 Mbps and above.

Both academic and commercial users are much exercised by the question of standards and archi- tecture. Whilst there is a little impact from T C P / I P in commercial networking, there is very significant commitment to proprietary standards, notably to those forming part of IBM's System Network Ar- chitecture (SNA). In both communities there is a genuine long term desire to exploit "Open Sys- tems" to the full, but a migration strategy which recognises the past non-OSI investment, not merely in assets but in skills and familiarity, is essential. It is crucial that the current needs of users are met and also that future plans and investments are shaped into a more "open" ap- proach.

It has been interesting to see the traditional concern of the academic world to have "capped" tariffs reflected recently in similar demands on commercial networks. Within the past two years the major international X.25 operators Telenet and BT-Tymet have both introduced optional

Commercial Commercial Competitive edge Infrastructure

Research Leading edge

Commercial Utility

Continuing Research development Utility

1 2 3

Time

'Todays competitive edge is tomorrow's uti/ity!' Fig. 2. Life cycle of network facility usage.

tariffs which are fixed fee and usage independent. IBM's Information Network (IN) has a similar offering and the European TAs are gradually in- troducing similar arrangements.

The major divergence between commercial and academic demand seems to be in the area of "local support". Here the absence of that " f ree" resource-- the research student, is much envied by the commercial world!

In summary, there is perhaps more commonal- ity between the needs of the commercial user and the academic users of "research networking" than is commonly recognised.

Phase number

Research label

Leading edge

Continuing development

Utility

Research example

Computer conferencing Hypermedia Groupware

Database services E-Mail

Access to distributed processing resources

Commercial label

Competitive edge

Infrastructure

Utility

Commercial example

Electronic service delivery

Facsimile E-Mail EDI

Basic connectivity

'Over time you accumulate a great deal of utility/'

Fig. 3. Examples of network facility life cycle.

160 J. Norton / Academic network coordination policies

3. Life Cycle of Network Facility Usage

Figure 2 illustrates the three phases of net- worked facility usage, plotting "excitement" against time and Fig. 3 suggests academic and commercial examples for each phase.

The first phase is "networking research" where the means by which networking itself supports the application is being studied. This may involve novel hardware developments such as "frame re- lays" or novel switching/software developments such as resource reservation and stream protocols. This phase is interesting, exciting and a ready source for research papers, conference presenta- tions and funding requests.

The last phase is where boredom can set in. It is "uti l i ty" networking--crucial to support other research, but no longer academically interesting in its own right. Here the requirements are much as for a commercial user. It needs to be service orientated, delivered reliably, cost effective and backed by good training, documentation and user support.

The intermediate "Infrastructure" or "Continu- ing Development" phase is much more difficult to categorise. A strong case can be made for an academic role here in applied research, demon- strating how new network technology and applica- tions can be used and transferred to the commer- cial world. Such a phase highlights the logistical and operational problems which must be resolved prior to wider exploitation.

At least to an outsider, these three phases each have their own distinctive pattern of demands and results and should be funded separately: - The "leading edge" phase should be funded

primarily from the existing government chan- nels.

- The "continuing development" phase should be funded primarily through collaboration with those who would be involved in providing the eventual commercial service, the TAs and inter- national equipment/service providers.

- The "util i ty" phase should be treated as if it were a commercial service. Such service pro- viders should be set up as limited companies but run on a break-even basis. An element of competition is essential to ensure responsive- ness and efficiency, but such competition should be at the switching and protocol stack level with international leased circuits shared as far

as logistically and legally possible. Funding should be via simple "capped" tariffs levied directly on the using institutions. Clarity of purpose and clarity of funding could

do much to resolve the current European debates about academic networking. One thing is certain, as time passes you accumulate a great deal of "util i ty" networking. It must be dealt with effec- tively.

4. Trailblazers in Complementary Disciplines

The focus of this paper is very much on the utility aspects of networking which are most anal- ogous to the "commercial" world, but today's "util i ty" was yesterday's leading edge. It is im- portant to acknowledge the debt commercial oper- ators owe to the networking research community which pioneered the original technologies. Packet networking, local area networking, open standards and architecture, and so on were all developed initially in that arena. It is perhaps then fitting that many lessons can be drawn from the interna- tional network service operators, (Telenet, Tymnet, GEISCO, IBM . . . . ), on meeting the "uti l i ty" service needs of research networking. There is no need to reinvent user technical support, system management, help desks, structured documenta- tion, flexible accounting and so on. These areas are relatively well understood and can easily be reapplied. The research community provided the technology, but the commercial networks can re- turn the service ethic.

5. The Service Ethic

The concern from the research networking community for more "service" and less '" technol- ogy" also mirrors changes occurring in the com- mercial world. As Fig. 4 illustrates, the last decade was characterised by "technology push". Many major international users are suffering "technol- ogy indigestion" as a result. Technology is also proving unreliable in providing differentiation be- tween the major suppliers, hence the next decade will be dominated by "services" as illustrated in Fig. 5. The objective is to ensure that technology is appropriately packaged and matched to real business needs. A new class of Pan-European,

J. Norton / Academic network coordination policies 161

Applications Electronic Funds Transfer

(EFT)

Electronic Docm't Mgt

(EDM)

Gateways

Enhanced services I x4oo

,., ,, yr~e"ver- networks Packet data networks

Interworking units for: Telex, Teletex, Fax, E-Mail

EDI Voice mail

Circuit data Digital voice networks services

Directory access

ISDN trials

Core networks

Transmission Radio Packet paging radio

Integrated digital network (IDN)

Fibre Optic Flexible Access (FAS)

Cellular Optical radio fibre

Local Area Networks (LANs)

Digital microwave

'A decade driven by new technology capability' Fig. 4. 1980s: the technology pyramid.

Digital satellite

(and indeed global), providers of services is being created. "Hybrid" data networks, partly private, partly shared, will become commonplace over the next five years. Again, there may be significant opportunities for negotiating hybrid arrangements in support of academic networking.

6. Conclusions

Clarity of objective and clarity of funding will be crucial to resolving current confusion and slow progress on academic networking in Europe, com-

pared to the USA. The community should find benefit in employing the three level model de- scribed. The academic "utility" class of network- ing is strikingly similar in its requirements to the needs of major commercial networks users. De- spite the inevitable difficulties, this should be placed on a quasi-commercial footing with cost recovery tariffs drawing on the existing commer- cial experience. A clear goal of OSI support and usage is essential, but justifiable short term needs to support existing investment in proprietary sys- tems must also be met.

Hybrid services

Basic skill building blocks

Customer access ~

I Total service management ] 'Ultimate' package (Telecom facilities management)

Flexible Multinational Single point Added acilities accounting help desk fault

management

Software Intelligent Centrex defined

networks networks

Consultancy Systems integration Operations and mangement

International account management and customer support

Fig. 5. 1990s: the service pyramid.

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