[8706] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: The Merit IBM Alliance Moves to Japan
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (David R Conrad)
Wed Dec 1 01:54:10 1993
To: dave@oldcolo.com (Dave Hughes)
Cc: cook@path.net (Gordon Cook), com-priv@psi.com (compriv)
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 30 Nov 1993 13:31:30 MST."
Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1993 15:49:07 +0900
From: David R Conrad <davidc@iij.ad.jp>
>Well, things are not as they seem with this IIJ bunch,
And how do they seem?
>whom some call, as Cook notes, the "Great Pretender."
And no doubt, it is easy to guess who the "some" are. But rather than
add gasoline to a fire, I'd like to answer some of your questions and
correct some of your innuendos.
>My sources - and I am directly *on* the
>first general, dial up, anyone-can-have-an-account commercial Internet
>service, TWICS, via InterCon International, via telnet - report that IIJ is
>authorized, as of now, ONLY to provide e-mail services and not full IP
>services.
Then your sources are telling you half-truths. IIJ does not have the
Special Type 2 license the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications
requires for international (leased line) telecommunications. (The
MoPT's Special Type 2 license allows an organization within Japan to
obtain an international leased line and then resell services on that
line). IIJ has a regular Type 2 license which allows IIJ to sell
services domestically within Japan (although the regular type 2 does
have limitations on the number of connections we can provide... on the
order of 500 or so).
The MoPT requires an applicant for a Special Type 2 license to prove
(among many other things) sufficient financial viability. IIJ has
been informed this means we must have around 3 years of operating
capital in the bank. Yes, we must prove that we can operate for 3
years with no customers. As we are a small startup that doesn't have
a deep pocketed parent, this has been a little difficult. IIJ has
been negotiating with the MoPT now for approximately 10 months in
attempting to resolve this and other issues.
I should point out that Intercon International K.K. does not have a
Special Type 2 license either, but is using AT&T Jens Spin Project's
license to enable it to connect outside of Japan. IIJ chose to pursue
their own Special Type 2 license instead of relying on a competitor's
license.
>That may change, (but licencing is a very political, as well as
>costly and time consuming act in Japan) but there has been a lot of horn
>blowing of and by IIJ (here in compriv once I believe), and I thought the
>record should be corrected.
Yes, it should. Currently IIJ:
Serves over 200 customers (both UUCP only and domestic IP customers)
Has domestic IP connectivity to all major R&E networks
Has POPs in Tokyo and Osaka with Yokohama coming soon (12/3)
Has a T1 backbone connected with Cisco 7000 routers
>Not only InterCon as the link, but also little
>TWICS a neat commercial service whose founder was Jeff Shapard (read about
>him in Rheingold's 'Virtual Communities' book) I have been on for years,
>were the first, and really operate. So be careful who you contract with in
>Japan, compriver's. For starters whats IIJ's IP number?
IIJ has 192.244.176.0 through 192.244.191.0. We are heavily involved
in building Internet infrastructure both domestically within Japan and
in the Asia Pacific region in general. IIJ is very involved in the
Asia Pacific Network Information Center pilot project, JPNIC, and the
WIDE project.
>TWICS is
>192.135.222.3 - with interesting skulldudgery having gone on in getting
>their IP name into the DDN.
(I assume you mean into the DNS, not the DDN since TWICS isn't
registered at nic.ddn.mil)
That's strange. There was no need for IIJ to indulge in "interesting
skulldudgery" since we are cooperating with all the relevant Internet
organizations.
>And at that 'conference' yesterday in Japan, the Professor from Toyko
>University (Ishihda), who should have known better, managed to name IIJ
>(which is not) and SPIN (which is, now) as 'the' commercial Internet
>providers while IIKK (InterCon) which IS a provider, was not mentioned.
Yes, AT&T Jens Spin project is currently the only commercial IP
provider in Japan with the required Special Type 2 license. But
contrary to your assertion above, IIJ is an IP service provider (as
our IP customers will attest), as is AT&T Jens Spin project and IIKK.
The key difference is that IIJ does not yet have international IP
connectivity due to delays from the MoPT.
>Fortunately, Mr. Murai, the much respected 'Godfather of Japan Internet'
>corrected the record before the hundreds present.
>
>So between mis-information, Internet Wars reported in Nikki, and the Asian
>Times, mailed razor-blades, PTT bureaucracy, cozy relationships at higher
>levels, Japan's startup in Internetting is already beginning to resemble
>the US 'commercialization' wars of a couple years ago.
And I honestly find it pretty sad that people are adding to the
misinformation...
>Lets just call it 'jp ip de ja vu.'
If you say so.
-drc
(Working at, but not speaking for, IIJ)
