[421] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
tcp/ip and the Eastern Block
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Brian Lloyd)
Sat Mar 23 01:04:17 1991
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 91 21:47:04 PST
From: Brian Lloyd <brian@napa.telebit.COM>
To: com-priv@uu.psi.com
Reply-To: brian@napa.telebit.COM
I am a newcomer to this group and perhaps this issue has been
discussed.
The issue of control of Internet connectivity blurs when you consider
the ability to use as ubiquitous a resource as the general switched
telephone network (GSTN) to provide network connectivity. One of the
side discussions that has always been a part of the Telebit NetBlazer
development is, "what happens when people start providing their own
connectivity independent of any controlling administrative entity?"
The comments re IP and the Eastern Block brought this subject again to
my mind.
The GSTN reaches virtually every part of the world. Dial-up IP
technology permits one to extend any IP-based network to anywhere
there is a telephone. The technology is straight forward and
NetBlazer-like capability is relatively easy to come by (the dialupip
package is available for anonymous FTP from csnet). Needless to say
there is virtually nothing preventing the Eastern Block, or anyone else
for that matter, from making use of this capability.
Now comes the $64 question: what effect will dial-up IP technology
have on the growth and management of networks? It has certainly had
an effect on the people who work at Telebit. We have even created some
very interesting international networks for demonstration purposes.
The bottom line is that dial-up IP technology WILL be used to
circumvent restrictive network architecture and organizational
regulation. How will we deal with this?
Brian Lloyd, WB6RQN Telebit Corporation
Network Systems Architect 1315 Chesapeake Terrace
brian@napa.telebit.com Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1100
voice (408) 745-3103 FAX (408) 734-3333
