From: ip_boss@degsyd.syd.deg.csiro.au (Jack Churchill)
Newsgroups: aus.aarnet
Subject: Re: FASTPAC and AARNET
Date: 2 Oct 92 12:23:22 +1000
Organization: CSIRO, Exploration Geoscience

In article <1992Sep28.144103.27065@newshost.anu.edu.au>, cmf851@huxley.anu.edu.au (Albert Langer) writes:
> In article <1992Sep25.221252.159@degsyd.syd.deg.csiro.au> ip_boss@degsyd.syd.deg.csiro.au (Jack Churchill) writes:
> 
>>Is it about here we should start planning for B-ISDN/ATM to provide reliable
>>mult-media services.  Definitive standards for B-ISDN/ATM are yet to be set but
>>by the sounds of people I've talked to in the commercial networking world, ATM
>>style networking has a very promising future which will effectively merge WAN
>>and LAN.  Is Optus looking at it and should we be encouraging it?
> 
> Who is "we"? If you mean AARNET circles, what on earth would they encourage
> it WITH? 

We = Australia.  Else we remain the stupid country.  When I said
encourage I meant to inspire with hope, keeping in mind AARNet doesn't
have any real money for such a large venture as installing modern
high speed networks.  AARNet could just sit back and let someone else
do all the work and when it's all in place winge about how it should
have been done in the first place.  Isn't AARNet big enough and smart
enough to have some influence on where Australia should be heading with
networking?

> Surely the point of ATM is not just to merge WAN and LAN, but to
> merge them both with PABX and local telephone exchange and the available
> digital circuit switched network structure.

Not necessarily but that can be done if AARnet wanted to.  I'm just
suggesting AARNet use the most appropriate technology for it's future
needs which I see are mainly for linking computers of all types (ranging
from low end desktops to supercomputers) all over the country for
research activities of all kinds including high speed graphics
applications as well as pushing through large volumes of data (computer,
video, etc).  If have the wrong idea about what AARnet is really for
them please accept my apologies.  If it's mainly for e-mail type
communications then I'm certainly barking up the wrong tree.

> The international standards for a MAC hardware interface have been pretty
> widely accepted. There won't be any major problems converting existing
> equipment when the telephone companies are ready to move in to the computer
> industry. Most of the people who think they understand data communications
> better than the telephone companies have also at least started shifting
> from coax etc to Unshielded Twisted Pair - distributed via wiring closets 
> from central risers conveniently located along with the rest of the UTP 
> that connects extension telephones on the same desktops to PABXs. Call
> them ATM switches if you like - same technology from the same industry and
> a damn sight better designed than anything small companies like IBM have
> been able to come up with.

Not sure why you think coaxial is out-of-date but I do understand the
advantages of using utp.  Both will have their place for many years to
come.  Also, the use of fibre optic all the way to the desktop is
increasing.

I suppose who actually provides the physical links between sites as
distinct from within a site is the big important question I'm raising
here.

> The broadcast industry is a rather more interesting market than the
> still immature computer industry. Are those optic fibres REALLY being
> run to pillars within 600 metres of 60% of Australian subscribers in
> order to interconnect LANs? Surely Telecom's public explanation that this
> approach is clearly superior to AUSSAT etc for pay TV is rather more
> credible than Government policy on the subject?

Not sure what you're getting at here.  I'm just interested in high speed
networks for work to push Australia into the 21st century and improve
our chances of developing new ideas for the world market, and avoid us
becoming a banana republic (if it's not too late). I'm not that
interested in the home use of networks for so called leisure activities.
There's enough rubbish on normal TV - I don't want more of it and have
to pay for it!

-- 
  Jack N. Churchill                         | J.Churchill@syd.deg.csiro.au
  CSIRO  Division of Exploration Geoscience | churchill@decus.com.au
  PO Box 136  North Ryde  NSW  2113         | Phone:  +61 2 887 8884
  Australia                                 | Fax:    +61 2 887 8909
** Unless otherwise specified, the opinions expressed here are my own. **
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