THE WORKS OF D A N T E

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

__________________________________________________________________


                  * *      A bi-monthly electronic news bulletin
                 *   *     reporting on the activities of DANTE,
                *          the company that provides international
               *           network services for the European
THE WORKS OF D A N T E     research community.


No.1, December 1993        Editor: Josefien Bersee
__________________________________________________________________


DANTE was established by the national research networks in Europe
in July this year and is based in Cambridge, UK.


Currently the main services DANTE is providing are:


-  EuropaNET, a combination of pan-European backbone services up
   speeds of 2 Mbps, gateways to other (European) networks and
   intercontinental connectivity to the US.
-  pan-European X.400 E-mail co-ordination and support services.


In the course of 1994 DANTE will further develop and extend
EuropaNET services and add a number of services to its portfolio
such as international directories, information and security
services, and software.


In addition DANTE is in the process of setting up its own help
desk, to provide technical and operational support to its
customers and to monitor the performance of its services. The help
desk is planned to start operations in February next year.


* Developing EuropaNET *


A total of 6 national networks (Belgium, Germany, Italy,
Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom) now have 2 Mbps connections to
EuropaNET. Other countries and organisations (ESA, Greece,
Ireland, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland) have connections at
lower speeds. Access to a further group of European countries is
available via two gateways to Ebone, one in Amsterdam, the other
in London. Both operate at 512 kbps.


The commercial arrangement with Ebone for these gateways is valid
until 31 December 1993. For six months from 1 January 1994, DANTE
will act on behalf of SURFnet and a number of other EuropaNET-
connected networks as an Ebone partner with 1 Mbps access to Ebone
in Amsterdam (and with responsibility for Ebone's Amsterdam-Geneva
line which will remain in place during this period).


The New Year will also see the introduction of significant
EuropaNET extensions. A 2 Mbps transatlantic link has been ordered
between Amsterdam and the Washington GIX; DANTE will provide US
connectivity to networks such as ARIADNET (Greece) and RedIRIS
(Spain) as well as SURFnet (Netherlands) which do not have direct
access to a transatlantic link of their own. SWITCH (Switzerland)
has agreed to purchase its US connectivity - as well as an
increase in capacity for its European traffic - via DANTE and CERN
(Geneva) has decided to acquire 1024 kbps of global connectivity
from EuropaNET. In order to support US traffic from CERN and
SWITCH, DANTE is acquiring a second transatlantic line, at T1
speed (1536 kbps), between Washington and the CERN site.
A number of High Energy Physics communities are planning to
communicate with CERN via EuropaNET, with the hope that the
performance they obtain will allow them to suppress their private
leased lines; American physicists who need to access CERN facilities
will also be encouraged to make use of the EuropaNET access path.


In those Central and Eastern European countries (Bulgaria, the
Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania) which have been provided with
connections to EMPB (the European Multi-Protocol backbone which
forms the pan-European component of EuropaNET), under the EU's
PHARE Programme, DANTE is arranging for the original X.25 access
interfaces to be changed to native IP connections. It is expected
that the 1994 PHARE budget will allow a continuation of these
accesses as well as the extension of EMPB connections to other
CEEC countries.


DANTE has also been asked by the CEC to make 64 kbps connections
to EuropaNET from Canada and from Korea. Initial preparations have
already been made; the connections will be finalised once formal
contracts are in place.


* DANTE staff *


During the past two months the first wave of DANTE staff have
taken up their posts. The following people are now working in the
DANTE offices:


The company is jointly managed by Howard Davies (GB) and Dai
Davies (GB). Howard Davies previously held the position of
Director of the Computer Unit at Exeter University. He is also
Vice-President of RARE, the European Association of Research
Networks. Dai Davies headed the COSINE Project Management Unit for
the past 2.5 years and before that he worked in various technical
and commercial positions for British Telecom.


Jan van der Ven (NL) holds the position of Senior Operations
Engineer. Jan previously worked for SITA (Societe International de
Telecommunications Aeronautique), the international airline
network. From 1986 to 1990 he was responsible for setting up,
managing and operating the Nordic countries part of the SITA
network and from 1990-1993 he was involved in the setting up and
promoting of ITS (International Telecommunications Services), a
commercial branch of SITA.


Tim Streater (GB) holds the position of Senior Network Engineer.
He worked in the US for the past 12 years at Stanford Linear
Accelerator Center (SLAC). His work included future network
planning, support for network operations and special projects.


Michael Behringer (DE) holds the position of Network Engineer. He
graduated in 1993 from the Technical University of Munich as
Diplom-Informatiker. He wrote his thesis at the IBM European
Networking Centre in Heidelberg.


Marko Kaittola (FI) holds the position of Senior Applications
Engineer. Marko previously worked for FUNET, the Finnish research
network, as Senior System Analyst. He is a well-known figure in
the "RARE community", i.e. as an active member of the RARE Working
Group on Mail and Messaging and the IETF.


Marta Capdevila (ES) started work for DANTE in September and holds
the position of Applications Engineer. She graduated from the
Polytechnic University of Catalonia in October 1991 as a
Telecommunications Engineer and worked for ESA Italy from
January 1992 to July 1993.


Josefien Bersee (NL) held the position of Publicity Officer at the
RARE Secretariat in Amsterdam before she joined DANTE. She is
responsible for setting up customer and public relations
activities.


Heather Wilkin (GB) is holding the position of secretary/
administrator. Her experience includes working in several European
countries and the US. For the last two years she has been working
in a variety of administrative positions on a freelance basis.


DANTE staff can be reached at the following e-mail addresses:


h.e.davies () dante org uk (Howard Davies)
d.r.h.davies () dante org uk (Dai Davies)
j.vanderven () dante org uk
t.c.streater () dante org uk
m.h.behringer () dante org uk
marko.kaittola () dante org uk
m.capdevila () dante org uk
j.bersee () dante org uk
h.m.wilkin () dante org uk
__________________________________________________________________


DANTE
Lockton House
Clarendon Road
Cambridge             Tel +44 223 302 992
CB2 2BH               Fax +44 223 303 005
United Kingdom        E-mail dante () dante org uk