From: BUDD@CSPGAS11.BITNET (Richard Budd)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Internet Services in Former USSR
Date: 22 Nov 92 16:42:34 GMT
Organization: CSAV UTIA
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 869, Message 4 of 8

There was a question several days back about Internet Facilities in
the former Soviet Union and whether WorldNews was being received
there.  An excerpt from a recent article written for the RIPE
Connectivity Working Group could answer that question.

My apologies for being unable to reproduce the original posting in
TELECOM Digest, but I probably erased it sometime back.

                          -----------

The 9.6 kbit/s leased line from Moscow to Copenhagen, Denmark which
used to connected the EARN node in Moscow to the EARN/BITNET network
has been replaced by a dial-up link to Stockholm due to funding
problems.
 
A considerable effort undertaken by the RELCOM networking organization
has brought e-mail connectivity to several thousands of sites all over
the former Soviet Union.  The growth of the network was several 100% a
year.  RELCOM has been operating some IP links in the Moskow and St.
Petersburg areas and in other communities (Novosibirsk Barnaul in
Altai). Other national IP connections are expected to connect Ukraine,
Siberia, St. Petersburg, Soviet Far East, and other regions to setup a
kernel of a nation wide IP backbone.  The whole network has about 60
regional centres, some of which connect more than 500 sites.  RELCOM's
international traffic is split over two dial-up lines, one to the
Finish EUnet backbone and one into the central EUnet node in
Amsterdam. Both operate as gateways on application level. The rapidly
growing volume of international mail traffic makes the need for a
medium speed IP channel to Europe urgent.  Part of the international
traffic is carried by the filtered IP line to AlterNet.
 
The first EARN node started its operation in Moscow late in 1991, but
the increasing availability of EARN services is still expected.  An
e-mail gateway now exists between RELCOM DEMOS and SUEARN.  SUEARN
also provides international mail relay services for FREENET, a
national research IP network which interconnects some 45 institutes of
the Academy of Sciences mostly in the Moskow area with international
connections to Jaroslavl and Baku.
 
The current situation has been badly affected by the split of RELCOM
into two independent entities (RELCOM RelTeam Ldt. and RELCOM DEMOS).
Each of them holds a part of CIS network users and part of their
international connectivity. While RELCOM RelTeam Ldt. has inherited
the RELCOM's membership in EUnet, RELCOM DEMOS seems to position
itself as a partner of AlterNet in CIS. Negotiations are still
underway to find a cooperative approach to national and international
connectivity.
 
Contact persons:

Valery Bardin <fox@ussr.eu.net>           - EUnet - RELCOM
Misha Popov <popov@hq.demos.su>           - EUnet - RELCOM Demos
Andrej Mendkovich <mend@suearn2.bitnet>   - CIS EARN director
Nickolay M.Saukh <nms@ussr.eu.net>        - EUnet - RELCOM
Igor Sviridov <sia%lot.cs.kiev.ua@relay.ussr.eu.net> - EUnet - Ukraine contact.
Oleg Tabarovsky <olg@ussr.eu.net>   - EUnet - RELCOM
Dima Volodin <dvv@hq.demos.su>            - EUnet - RELCOM Demos

Prague School of Economics  e-mail : Milan.Sterba@vse.cs
 
I have the whole article on file.  It is a survey of network
connections and services available in every country in Central and
Eastern Europe.  It is quite a long article - over 900 lines.  Pat may
have to put out a special issue of the Digest to accommodate it.
 

Richard Budd  | USA  klub@maristb.bitnet    | CSFR  budd@cspgas11.bitnet
              |      139 S. Hamilton St.    |       Kolackova 8
              |      Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 |       18200 Praha 8