[8594] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Maybe GE should show NSF how to do it
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Erik E. Fair" (Your Friendly Postm)
Thu Nov 25 02:22:11 1993
From: "Erik E. Fair" (Your Friendly Postmaster) <fair@apple.com>
In-Reply-To: <9311210210.AA00734@spare-parts.crd.Ge.Com>
To: stpeters@dawn.crd.ge.com
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 93 23:21:11 -0800
Date: Sat, 20 Nov 93 21:10:24 EST
From: stpeters@spare-parts.crd.ge.com (Dick St.Peters)
Subject: Re: Maybe GE should show NSF how to do it
GEIS does not, to my knowledge, do any IP networking. Again,
no exchange, no rationale to join the CIX. I would like GEIS
to do IP networking and join the CIX, which is why I contacted
Bill.
For the record, I have never had any association with GEIS's
current networking.
I have some knowledge of GEIS's activities in this area - AppleLink,
Apple Computer's existing information service, is in fact run on a big
cluster of GEIS mainframes using their "QUIK-COMM" & "Mark III" service.
Our stuff is a simple point-and-click veneer on top of that. I'm the
lucky sod who wrote & operates the Internet E-mail gateway that Apple
provides to that beast.
GEIS developed their own version of an Internet E-mail gateway for
GEnie, their public information service, and their gateway is on
PSInet. It's "genie.geis.com." If they're moving the same volume of
E-mail that I am to AppleLink, they're staring some hard capacity
problems in the face.
I'm told that GEIS is beginning to have some organizational cognizance
of the Internet, but I think that they're going to have to throw out
the existing systems before they try and address the Internet market
for real - their existing systems are too old and cumbersome to
retrofit; much cheaper to buy current gear, thus starting with a more
recent technology base, and let the old systems fade away. It will be
interesting to see if they have the guts to do that.
Erik E. Fair apple!fair fair@apple.com
