Current Computer Networking Status

Current Computer Networking Status
A brief overview of the IT business / awareness can be easily seen in the following graphs pertaining:
Hardware Sales / Market Penetration in Indonesia.
Software Sales / Market Penetration in Indonesia.
Consult Services in Indonesia.
The number shown is in Million US$ (source http://www.swa.co.id).
Private Sector
IT has been one of the major thrust behind the success of many businesses in Indonesia, IT has the primary impact in financial businesses. The trade and business communities are gradually catch up with the IT development. Major IT & network users in private sector are at:
Financial Institutions. One leading Internet Presence Provide in this area may be http://www.IndonesiaExchange.com/ especially in responds to the current trend in stock market in Indonesia.
Trade & Business Institutions. Several major players have been working on presenting Indonesian trade & business industries in Internet.
Media & Newspaper Industries. Many Newspaper & Magazine as well as TV industries in Indonesia have put their company on Internet & generate a significant of traffic.
Travel, Hotel & Tourist Industries. These industries have known to be the forefront in promoting Indonesia in global community - many have catched up with the Internet especially in Bali.
A significant increase in the activities of these institutions in Internet is indicated by the large increase in the URL presence of these institutions in Internet. Try to search in Internet search engines using “Indonesia” as keyword from time to time will give us some ideas on how fast the rapid development of Internet in Indonesia. The most recent list can be found at the author’s home page, e.g., http://www.aim.apic.net/indonesia/. Most of the rapid progress in the Internet Presence of the commercial & business communities are helped by several Internet Presence Providers as listed in Table 2
Table 2. Some Known Indonesia Internet Presence Providers
Indo-Homepage
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http://www.indo-homepage.com/
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Indonesia Exchange
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http://www.IndonesiaExchange.com/
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IndonesiaNet
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http://www.indonesianet.com/index.htm
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Indonesia Export
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http://www.indonesiaexport.com/
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Indonesia Connect
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http://www.indocon.com/
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Indonesia Directory
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http://www.indodirect.com/
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Promindo Global Internet
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http://www.promindo.com/
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Indonesia Business Center Online
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http://indonesia.clever.net/
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Indonesia Media Network
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http://www.imn.co.id/
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Indonesia Business Center Online
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http://www.indobiz.com/
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AdWork!
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http://www.adwork.co.id/
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Indosoftindo Ciptapiranti
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http://www.indosoft.co.id/
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Indonesia Net
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http://www.indonesianet.com/index.htm
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IndoWEB
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http://www.indoweb.com/
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Sustainable Networking Programme
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http://www.sdn.or.id/
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BoNet
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http://www2.bonet.co.id/
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PT. Zantara
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http://www.zantara.com/index.htm
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PT. Indera Media Nusa
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http://www.bico.co.id/
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Surf Indonesia
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http://www.surfindonesia.com/
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Indonesia WebSite Services
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http://www.indosite.com/
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Galeri Informasi Indonesia
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http://www.go-indonesia.com/
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Local Information Technology Industry
Local computer (hardware & software) vendors are quite abundant in Indonesia. There are several major IT consultant firms, e.g, Anderson Consulting, IBM, Hewlett Packard and DEC. When it goes into a specific Internet & TCP/IP computer networking, not that many people around in Indonesia. Most of the real TCP/IP-ers in Indonesia are located at research & educational institutions with major mailing lists:
sysop-l@itb.ac.id
pau-mikro@ee.umanitoba.ca
As for computer technology, most of the computer used are PC-based, normally, 386 & 486 class. For some computing intensive applications, we use a more powerful computing equipment.
Telecommunication Infrastructure and Services
The Indonesian telecommunication infra-structure is basically can be divided into two main categories, namely:
Ground / Terrestrial Segment (moving towards 2Mbps backbone).
Satellite / Space Segment.
In terms of Internet development we will look into both segments. Major operators in terrestrial segment are:
PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia (http://www.telkom.net.id or http://www.sisfotel.net.id). They have been putting B-ISDN and 2Mbps ATM Network in more than 90 cities in Indonesia involving a large number major switches on the network. It is PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia vision to become the largest Internet backbone operators in Indonesia.
PT. Aplikanusa Lintas Arta (http://www.idola.net.id or http://www.la.co.id). They are in process to put a 2Mbps Frame Relay Network to integrate 17 cities in Indonesia. They hope to increase into 31 cities in 1997.
An increasing usage of 2Mbps Wireless CDMA LAN is apparent in several major cities. It may become an alternative for building low cost 2Mbps MAN as compare to the costly ATM Network currently deployed.
Several companies, such as, PT. Telkomsel, PT. Komselindo, PT. Pasific Satellite Nusantara are providing GSM & AMPS services. Several efforts are currently underway towards the building of Wireless Data Network WAN - However, lack of understanding on the technology in the regulatory body tends to slow down the process.
In Space segment, the situation is more interesting with several major operators / companies:
PT. Elektrindo Nusantara (http://www.en.co.id), specially using TDMA VSAT (TCP/IP), DAMA & SCPC.
PT. Citra Sari Makmur (CSM), specially using TDMA VSAT.
PT. Aplikanusa Lintas Arta (http://www.lintasarta.co.id), specially using TDMA VSAT.
PT. Compact Microwave Indonesia (CMI), specially using SCPC.
IT Manpower Supply and Demand
Computer technology is not an alien to many Indonesian with many computer colleges. Unfortunately, Internet & computer networking technologies are relatively new in Indonesia. There are only two major Indonesian Universities, i.e.,
Institute of Technology in Bandung (ITB) (http://www.itb.ac.id/)
University of Indonesia (UI) (http://www.ui.ac.id/)
have the capacity to teach correctly the Internet technology. A training program would be crucial & strategic to support the further Indonesian network development
Government Sector
A significant effort in the Indonesian government computerization can be found in the education, science and technology community. The monumental effort lead by several institutions, such as,
Institute of Technology Bandung (http://www.itb.ac.id). especially with the establishment of 2Mbps Internet gateway for education and research as part of Asia Internet Interconnection Initiatives (AI3).
The Science and Technology Networking IPTEK-NET (http://www.iptek.net.id/) currently running at 64Kbps & will be increased to 256Kbps.
The Indonesian National Research Council (http://www.drn.go.id/).
Status by Ministry / Department
Ministry of Education & Culture
Significant IT activities in many Indonesian universities is apparent. Users in Educational institutions contribute a significant portion to the Indonesian Internet users. More detailed description is described in the next section in educational & research networking activities.
Ministry of Science and Technology
Under the co-ordination of Ministry of Science and Technology (http://www.inn.bppt.go.id/), there are several government networking initiatives. Some of the major networking initiative under this ministry are:
The Indonesian National Research Council (NRC / DRN)
As part of the NRC effort to support their top-down and highly competitive research programs, the NRC has been supporting the Science & Technology Network (IPTEK-NET) as the major infra-structure for disseminate research results & encourage collaboration among Indonesian researchers.
IPTEKnet provides several services such as:
Scientific research and development activities in Indonesia.
World-wide international access through the Internet at speed of 64Kbps (it is planned to be increased to 256Kbps in 1996).
Library access.
Primary Name Server for *.go.id.
To performed its functions, several Web servers have been installed, namely,
http://www.iptek.net.id/ The IPTEK-NET Web Server.
http://www.drn.go.id/ The National Research Council Server.
The connection to IPTEK-NET should be provided by each institutions and not by IPTEK-NET. IPTEK-NET is basically only maintain the gateway to InterNet.
Another major Education & Research gateway will be run by Institute of Technology Bandung (ITB) at a speed of 2Mbps to Internet - It is scheduled to be launched in September 1996. It is part of Asia Internet Interconnection Initiatives (AI3) experiment to build 2Mbps Asia-Pacific Internet backbone.
National Aerospace Agency (LAPAN).
The Indonesian National Aerospace Agency (also known as LAPAN), is one of the pioneer in trying to acquire the networking technology specially in satellite & packet radio networking technology (their packet radio network is known as JASIPAKTA). They have collaborating with the German National Aerospace Agency (DLR).
Indonesian Science Institute (LIPI)
The Indonesian Science Institute (LIPI) is the largest government own research and development agency. LIPI in Bandung is one of the most active group in building the computer network within LIPI. Some of LIPI’s major Web servers are:
http://www.lipi.go.id/ Main LIPI Home Page.
http://www.inkom.lipi.go.id/ Home Page of Control & Computer Networking Group within LIPI.
Network of Government Owned Strategic Industries.
There is ten (10) government owned strategic industries & all of them will be networked. It is interesting to know that all of the strategic industries are not located in Jakarta. Only Bandung has the most dense strategic industries, namely,
PT INTI (inti.co.id), Indonesia's telephone digitalization pioneer, the center of excellence in telecommunication industry.
PT IPTN (iptn.go.id), (Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara), Indonesia's sole manufacturers of aircraft, the center of excellence in aircraft industry.
PT. LEN (len.co.id), Indonesia’s microelectronics pioneer.
PT PINDAD (pindad.go.id), the center of excellence in weapon and munitions industry.
A brief description of these strategic industries can be found at http://www.inn.bppt.go.id/government/bpis/bpis.html
Ministry of Industry and Trade
Ministry of Industry has been developing for several years the Center Data and Information Services. Web services are also provided by the Center at:
http://idndprin.dprin.go.id/
http://www.dprin.go.id/
Information provided by the ministry of industry via their Web includes:
PUSDATA OnLine Services (24hour BBS)
Export-Import Industry, Industry Capacity, Tax Tariff, Industry Directory etc.
Information for potential investors in Indonesia.
Company profile of various industries in Indonesia.
Export & Import status of industries in Indonesia.
Vendor, Standard, Trade Statistics, OKI, G15, APEC, ASEAN, UNCTAD, and other foreign relation information (on CD-ROM etc).
Industry Technology, Environment, Industrial R&D Centers
The Policies & Profile in Metal, Machinery & Electronics Industries.
Industrial Policies & Profile.
Several group of Government own industries are currently looking at the possibilities to build their computer networking. These groups of companies are:
The Oil companies, specially to co-ordinate among Oil companies. To name a few, these companies are Pertamina, Arco, Elnusa, Caltex.
The Government Own Fertiliser Companies, specially to keep up with the demand. To name a few, these companies are PT. Pupuk Sriwidjaja, PT. Pupuk Kujang, PT. Pupuk Kalimantan Timur.
A major effort to integrate these networking activities into an integrated network called Industry-Trade Network (Intranet) has been pursued within the Ministry of Industry and Trade lead by PUSDATA and PT. Krakatau Information Technology (KIT).
Ministry of Environment
The ministry of Environment is currently building a solid Web site specially to meet international demand on BioDiversity, EcoLabeling as well as other international environmental requirements. It is in operation with 64Kbps Internet access and is located at:
http://www.bapedal.go.id.
The earlier project within the ministry of environment is the Sustainable Development Networking Program (SDNP) in collaboration with United Nation Development Program (UNDP) and located at http://www.sdn.or.id/.
Other Departments
Several other Indonesian government ministries are looking more seriously into building their information system & networking. These ministry offices are Ministry of Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Finance & Taxation, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Mining. A coordination among these ministries in implementing their information system is being sought by the National Development & Planning Agency.
Educational & Research Network in Indonesia
Educational & Research Network has been a major trust behind the development of computer network in Indonesia and can be traced back to early 1980. UUCP Network among Indonesian universities has been a pioneering work of University of Indonesia (ui.ac.id). Their UUCP system is still in operation - although, recently, they provide the service mostly for commercial & NGOs entities.
Figure 3. Major University Network Topology (January 1996).
It is interesting to note that only ITB is currently giving Internet access to most of other universities. Please note the Ku-Band Ground Station connected to ITB is shown in the figure is actually will be installed in Early September 1996. The Ku-Band is part of Asia Intenet Interconnection Initiatives (AI3) (http://shika.aist-nara.ac.jp/research/ai3) activities to test a Asia Pacific Information Infrastructure (APII) (http://hite.etri.re.kr/~apii/apii.html) at a speed of 2Mbps. ITB has been proposed and committed to use the gateway as the major education & research gateway in Indonesia at using the topology shown in Figure 4.
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