[8466] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Puzzled thoughts re ANS goals for CIX
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Daniel P Dern)
Fri Nov 19 22:19:16 1993
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1993 22:18:46 -0500
From: ddern@world.std.com (Daniel P Dern)
To: com-priv@psi.com
Cc: ddern@world.std.com
>Anyone who is at all tuned in to the mass media has certainly realized
>that the Internet has come of age.
Actually, anyone who's tuned into the mass media is likely to be a few
octets short of a packet in terms of having any good real notion of
what the Internet is all about. Present company excepted, of course,
the majority of the mass media are still obsessing on Usenet and email
as "the Internet." The only good sign is that that poor high school
girl somewhere in Kentucky seems to have gotten her net feed, as we
haven't heard about how NREN will help her get homework done any more...
>I think we can all agree the single largest driver of the Internet
>phenomenon is the value organizations and individuals derive from
>being able to obtain connectivity into a global mesh of networks that
>now interconnects upwards of 15 million people.
Thank you, Ittai, for bringing a reminder of what the Internet really
means, in the public forum. I mean it. (See above comment.)
>In August 1991, three Internet service providers formed an
>organization called the CIX to pursue a different vision of
>interconnectivity.
...
>What does ANS want from a Commercial Internet Trade Association:
...
I'm not going to comment about the connecting stuff; I don't feel I
know enough to contribute to that discussion. My question is, where
did this segue come in. Last I heard, the CIX was providing inter-
member transport, and nothing else. Have they expanded their charter,
mission, or whatever? Or is this CITA stuff a different topic; if
so, what does it necessarily have to do with the CIX -- if it does,
how do businesses join, etc (e.g., O'Reilly, Counterpoint, Delphi,
Dow Jones, Bunyip, WAIS Inc, Internet Company... and perhaps the
companies involved as users in Internet-based business)? This might
be an org that in turn makes suggestions to the CIX, indeed, to providers,
carriers, ISOC, et. al.
>Ways in which the CIX can become the Commercial Internet Trade
>Association that ANS envisions:
> o Create an environment that allows the CIX to expand its
> membership to include a broader set of data network service
> providers.
>
> o Develop a CIX mission statement that defines what the CIX mission
> is, and how it will seek to accomplish that mission.
OK, here's some of the segue after the fact. Here's a reasonable
question... didn't you guys (ANS) just join the CIX? If so, isn't
it a little early to start requesting changes; if what you want from CIX
is so different from what it is, did it make sense to join?
Again, if what is being asked for is a CITA, why ask the CIX to
> o Get out of the network services business. A trade association
> can not provide a high quality, well managed network service.
If you want the CIX out of the network services business, why'd you join
it for connectivity?
>In summary, it is our hope that the CIX Association becomes an
>effective trade association for the entire Internet service provider
>community. While it is not that today, ANS feels that the time has
>come to put aside past differences and begin to work together to
>ensure the continued success of the commercial Internet.
Again-2, why couple one item to another?
Puzzedly,
Daniel Dern, editor, Internet World magazine, etc.
