[9954] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
SprintLink Plus Announcement
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Bob Collet)
Sun Jan 30 06:40:01 1994
Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 06:42:23 -0500
From: Bob Collet <rcollet@sprintlink.net>
To: com-priv@psi.com
Cc: rcollet@sprintlink.net
FYI.
Bob Collet
SPRINTLINK PLUS LETS USERS CREATE
VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORKS ON INTERNET
WASHINGTON, Jan. 19, 1994 -- Sprint today introduced
SprintLink PLUS(SM), the first commercial internetwork service
that allows personal computer users to easily create virtual
private data networks with their suppliers and development
partners worldwide using the Internet -- the global network of
more than 12,000 networks and millions of users.
Sprint will demonstrate SprintLink PLUS directory and
security features for the first time at the Communications
Networks industry trade show Jan. 25-27 at the Washington,
D.C., Convention Center.
SprintLink PLUS lets industry-specific applications, such as
collaborative engineering and design, run over the Internet. It
also simultaneously offers directory, security and other
value-added services.
Using the service, for example, a group of specialized
engineers from companies worldwide could form a "virtual
corporation" and work cooperatively over the Internet on a design
for new aircraft.
Through their UNIX workstations, IBM PCs with Windows(TM)
3.1, or Macintosh computers, members would connect to the
engineering network through a sign-on procedure that controls the
level of access based on the user's ID and password. Once on, the
engineers have the capability to simultaneously gain access to
public databases or component libraries, in addition to private
information such as the aircraft design.
SprintLink PLUS is the first product of Sprint's alliance
with the information technologies development consortium
Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp. -- also known as
MCC -- to develop electronic commerce applications on the
Internet. SprintLink PLUS combines Sprint's public data Internet
service -- SprintLink(SM) -- with MCC's Enterprise Integration
Network. EINet(TM) is an advanced communications infrastructure
that helps users locate the information they need and create a
secure environment for conducting transactions while also
providing other key value-added services.
SprintLink PLUS value-added services initially will include:
o Directory Services -- SprintLink PLUS Directory Services
make it possible to "look up" information in an integrated data
network environment as easily as flipping though a phone book. In
the engineering example, component libraries could be sorted by a
number of criteria, such as by manufacturer, type, speed or price.
Using the content-based directory, users can retrieve
information by using simple keywords, phrases or questions. The
service lets users easily canvass thousands of sources of on-line
information such as books, journals, magazines, financial
information and library catalogues.
o Security Services -- SprintLink PLUS Security Services let
users safeguard proprietary directory and other information
against unauthorized access. Users decide on a need-to-know basis
who should be able to browse, access and retrieve the
organization's information.
Security Services protect against Internet security breaches
through a two-step identification process: User Authentication and
Access Control. In the first step, the service verifies the
identities of authorized users on both ends of a transaction
before allowing any user into the system. The second step --
Access Control -- lets the organization pre-define which data are
available and to whom.
In addition to the directory and information services,
SprintLink PLUS will soon offer advanced electronic mail
services for secure text, voice and video, and financial
settlement services for electronic payment for goods and services.
Sprint is the "one-stop-shop" for SprintLink PLUS, providing
around-the-clock network management for all connections,
management of routers and associated communications links, and
customer service support. Additional services include customer
consultation, training and acting as a trusted intermediary to
manage customer access databases.
Sprint is a diversified international telecommunications
company with more than $10 billion in annual revenues and the
United States' only nationwide all-digital, fiber-optic network.
Its divisions provide global long distance voice, data and video
products and services, local telephone services to more than 6
million subscriber lines in 19 states, and cellular operations
that serve 42 metropolitan markets and more than 50 rural service
areas.
* EINet is a trademark of the Microelectronics and Computer
Technology Corporation.
