[815] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Gordon Cook Asks....
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Marty Schoffstall)
Fri Jun 7 18:50:03 1991
Date: Fri, 7 Jun 91 18:43:19 -0400
From: schoff@psi.com (Marty Schoffstall)
To: com-priv@uu.psi.com
Who read the Communications Daily article on the NREN, I just did, and
here are some highlights vis a vis the NREN.....
The following are interesting quotes from the publication:
QUOTES ON
#1
Preparation of the OTA report has generated intense debate, carried
out face to face at confernces and, to a large degree, by electronic
mail across the country.
#2
Roy Perry, member of US West...speaking for himself...there's "growing
recognition that the Internet model will be adopted by most organizations
as a means of providing open data connectivity."....
Making the situation more difficult, Perry said, is that it
"appears from some camps that there is a large company [IBM] positioning
itself into that market without any regulatory restrictions." He said
result is that there's "potential issue" of IBM's growing
into same "monopolistic position" for data network that Bell System had
on public telephone network.
#3
David Hughes, on-line communications pioneer and consultant, also raises
questions about private control. He noted that IBM in 1988 started
to develop a gigabit switch, called Paris, and MetaRing local area
network. Together they have potential to turn NREN into national
private network based on proprietary standards,....
...Govt. is subsidizing
large amount of IBM's research into high-speed networking, he said, which
in turn gives it "inside track" to managing and controlling
NREN, leading to question: "What does the public get in return. That's
the part I'm choking on."
#3
Weis was firm in turning aside argument that ANS was front organization
for IBM's strategic agenda: "We are not a front organization for
anyone."
#4
ANS has won one important convert, Mitch Kapor.....
QUOTES OFF
I of course have my opinion on this, but I'll defer for the moment.
Marty
