Last update at http://inet.nttam.com : Mon May 8 8:32:32 1995 International Science Foundation Telecommunications Program V.Shkarupin, Slava@prs.isf.kiev.ua I.Mafter, Ilya@phri.nyu.edu Abstract The dissolution of the Soviet Union several years ago had left the newly independent states of the CIS without publicly available communications means except for the outdated archaic telephone system. Wide area computer networks, but for dial up UUCP introduced by one or two commercial companies, where unheard of and e-mail was the only means of communication for scientists and interested individuals. And even this service was affordable to only a few organizations due to the high per kilobyte traffic rates charged by the service-providing monopolies. This situation held during the initial economy transition period and started slowly changing about two years ago, when a number of new academic and research networks emerged (not without the support of the world networking community), primarily in Moscow. In mid 1993 the stage was entered by the International Science Foundation (ISF), a charitable organization founded by George Soros and targeted at the support of basic sciences in the FSU. Understanding of the importance of unimpeded communications for scientists led to the set up of the Telecommunications Program (ISF- TP) in the structure of the Foundation. Contents 1. The role of ISF in the promotion of networking in the FSU. 2. ISF-TP mission 3. Ongoing projects of the Telecommunications Program 4. Projects supported by ISF-TP Author Information 1. The role of the ISF in the promotion of networking in the FSU. The opening up of the previously closed countries of the FSU, primarily that of Russia, created a demand for information exchange in different strata of society. The community which suffered most from the lack of information exchange was the scientific community and hence the scientists comprised the most active professional groups striving to obtain communication with the rest of the world. The low quality of PSTN networks and the very prohibitive prices left no alternative but to look for a cheaper and more effective solution. A number of mission- oriented and general purpose academic networks were established in Moscow with support from different foreign organizations and agencies. These include the High Energy Physics Network, the Russian Space Science Internet and several others and one general purpose academic network - the FreeNet. As a result, a number of competing groups emerged, fighting for funds, attention and influence. At the official level all their efforts were regarded as separate activities of no significance, although some funding was provided here and there, mainly based on the connections and persistence of the individuals involved in the activities. The ISF-TP started it's first full scale project - the Moscow Fiber-Optic Backbone - in a situation of sharp rivalry between commercial and academic service providers. The construction of the Backbone, hectic and disorganized at the start in mid 1993 created tensions not only in the Moscow networking community - due to the large scale of operations of the Foundation the commotion reached high circles in Russia and abroad, attracting public attention to the problem of academic and research networking. Further development activities created understanding in governmental circles and the issue of networking reached the Parliamentary Budget Commission, which, for the year of 95, has provided some funding for further development of academic and research networks in Russia. One of the main operating principles of the ISF-TP is to seek cooperation with parties interested in the promotion of networking in the area, as long as such cooperation leads to the development of networking and fits in with the charter of ISF. Agreements and Memorandums of Understanding between the ISF-TP and a number of FSU and international agencies are in existence targeted at strengthening the cause and coordinating efforts in the development of academic and research networks in the FSU. A Joint Funding Agreement was signed between ISF and the Russian Fund for Basic Research (analogue of NSF), a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the UN office in Kiev, Ukraine, a memorandum of Agreement with NASA is in process of consideration at the moment and a number of other documents are being prepared. Thus the activities of ISF in the field of networking have started a landslide of activity in Russia and will hopefully lead to the same results in other countries of the FSU where the Telecommunications program is or will be operating. The main geographical areas of coverage of the ISF-TP are currently Russia, Ukraine and Belorussia. 2. ISF-TP mission Prepared in part by George Sadowsky, New York University. The goal of the International Science Foundation's Telecommunications Program is to build elements of a national information infrastructure for the countries of the former Soviet Union, and to assist the post-communist society to overcome information isolation. With an initial budget of $10,000,000, it is a comprehensive program targeting all not-for-profit communities in the former Soviet Union, including research and education, culture, media and non- governmental organizations. This program concentrates initially on large-scale networking projects and, in cooperation with local and international co-funders, attempts to provide model solutions for its target constituencies, bringing information and services to the desktop. The Internet Revolution that is happening in North America, Europe and other countries needs to be introduced and assisted within Russia and other newly-independent states, such as Ukraine and Belarus, within the next few years, in order to bring along all the benefits and challenges of the information society. The program is focused upon raising the awareness of the targeted communities regarding the possibilities of networking and achieving these benefits, and in the process improving the environment for the support of democratic values and free markets. The ISF Telecommunications Program is well positioned to provide significant support for this process. 2.1 Open Societies, Democratic Values and Freedom The ISF Telecommunications Program, one of the Foundation's major programs is aimed to help create and preserve open societies in the countries of the former Soviet Union. The Open Society concept that has been introduced by George Soros stresses the promotion of democratic principles and concepts, and has become the basis for his charitable activities. Full and unimpeded access to information and the ability to generate and distribute it quickly and easily using computer networks will enhance democratic institutions in those parts of the world and make a reversal of the changes that have occurred in the last five years less likely. The program has substantial long run implications for assisting political, social and economic stability in the former Soviet Union. For many years the people living in these countries have not had free access to worldwide information, nor has the West had sufficient access to information about events occurring there. This information barrier has been responsible for ignorance, uncertainty, anxiety and suspicion on both sides. Rapid and unhindered free flow of information between the West and the former Soviet Union will surely assist the development of these countries This flow of information will also provide the West with much better knowledge and understanding of political, social and economic events occurring there. In addition, over time the free flow of information will replace anxiety and mistrust with free market and other beneficial relationships between the two areas. Free and unimpeded flows of information are a major force in ensuring the growth and survival of democratic values. Whereas closed societies exist by suppressing flows of information, open societies prosper by encouraging the free flow of ideas. Electronic data networks strongly facilitate free and immediate interchange of information and ideas. The international Internet currently encompasses almost 100 countries, and allows information to travel between all of them without hindrance. Democratic values prosper in such a rich and unimpeded information environment, as do robust markets in information, goods, and services. In retrospect, the Internet may be regarded as one of the major current forces for world democratization. 2.2 Historical Overview of the Program The ISF Telecommunications Program started in the Spring of 1993, initially as an effort to support basic research in the countries of the former Soviet Union, the community whose survival is deemed vital for the democratic future of these lands. It complements other Foundation programs, such as the Long-Term Grant Assistance, Travel Assistance, and Library Programs, all working for the same goal. At this time, even in Moscow, academics had no access to most of the services of the global Internet, and what little of the basic electronic mail service they did have was sold by a single commercial monopoly at excessive rates. Struggling academic providers and networks could not afford digital external connectivity. Providing a reasonably high-bandwidth link to the West that could be freely used by the research and education (R&E) community was crucial. Thus the first project of the program was to establish, in July of 1993, a 64Kbps satellite link from Moscow to the US By the end of 1993, half a dozen big R&E organizations and networks, such as Moscow State University, Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Presidium and Freenet had connected to it. At the same time, large regional projects in Moscow, Novosibirsk and Kiev were started, with the same focus on the R&E community. Together, St. Petersburg and these three locations represent over 90 per cent of the former Soviet Union research and education community. The Moscow Backbone project, a cooperative effort with the Ministry of Science and the Russian Fund for Basic Research (RFBR) aims to build a 50 mile fiber optic backbone linking all major academic network service providers in Moscow and provide Internet access at its points of presence to hundreds of R&E institutions. The project is nearing its completion. The Novosibirsk and Kiev projects, similar in scope, were meant to provide the Internet connectivity to all major R&E organizations in these cities, by building city backbones, establishing external (satellite) links and actually connecting end-user organizations to the backbones' points of presence. Another major project, in the city of Yaroslavl (150 miles north-east of Moscow) was started in October, 1994. Technically similar to other regional projects, it is much larger in scope and has, from the outset, been conceived as a civic networking project. In Yaroslavl, all local non- profit communities are targeted: research, education, secondary schools, culture, libraries, health, media, non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The emphasis is on user support, training and spreading broadly knowledge about the benefits of connecting to the network. Building on the results and experience gained in Yaroslavl, existing and future regional projects will all have a strong civic networking component. The program has also supported several large- scale educational efforts, funding participation of dozens of networkers from many countries of the former Soviet Union in major international conferences and workshops, such as INET '93, ó94 and ó95 (JENC5,6), and helping to organize conferences and seminars in Russia. Of the smaller-scale grants, the most notable has been the one that provided seed funds to establish a World Wide Web server, called "Friends and Partners," in Puschino, near Moscow. Together with a mirror site at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, this server has developed into a major reference point for non-profit organizations, NGOs and individuals interested in getting and providing information on their activities in the former Soviet Union and in the USA. This project has just received a significant grant from NATO, to enhance connectivity and service. Other small scale grants have paid for access to international scientific databases, such as STN, from RAS research institutes. 2.3 Program Policy and Implementation Strategy The program faces significant obstacles in implementing broad network connectivity in the former Soviet Union that would not exist in a western country. The three major ones are: (1) almost total lack of telecommunications infrastructure; (2) almost total lack of awareness of networking culture; and (3) Latin as the primary character set of computing and networking and English as the primary language of technical communication and publication. The strategy chosen consists primarily of using the scientific and technical community in countries in the former Soviet Union as initial implementers and then leveraging their knowledge to spread networking knowledge and connectivity broadly elsewhere. This approach parallels the successful (and unplanned) growth of the Internet in the West. Started by computer scientists and engineers, in the West networking first spread through the R&E community and then diffused into the population at large. The strategy has the advantage of targeting initially a technical group likely to: (1) have international contacts; (2) require international connectivity; (3) have some networking knowledge and know about networks abroad; and (4) have a better than average command of English. No other strategy seems technically or financially as viable as this. While the goal of the program is to maximize the number of effective users and uses of networks, investment in infrastructure will be necessary, not for its own sake, but to provide the basic electronic data transport necessary to connect end user institutions, local networks, and metropolitan area networks to the international Internet. Unlike the West, there are no private providers of Internet (TCP/IP) connectivity in the former Soviet Union; to obtain any connectivity, a minimum infrastructure must be provided where one does not exist. The program provides for this in order to meet its primary goal of connecting many users effectively. Western experience is that knowledge of network capabilities generally leads to enthusiasm and to introducing others to the technology and its uses. Provided that the basic connectivity for data transport can be supplied, similar results can be expected in the former Soviet Union. 2.4 Areas of Support and Target Communities and Organizations The program supports three fundamental general objectives: (1) providing support to users of network services; (2) empowering networked information and information service providers; and (3) providing the connectivity needed to create and extend large and vigorous markets in information produced and delivered electronically. More specifically, the program provides: Access to international and development of local information resources of broad interest, including WWW servers; Support, training and education, including education and training centers, distribution and translation of publications, workshops and conferences; Investments in major infrastructure development where needed, including international connectivity and regional backbones; and Assistance in developing user organization infrastructure, including local connectivity and organizational LANs. The program supports all non-profit communities in the countries of the former Soviet Union, including: Research and education Secondary schools Museums and cultural organizations Media groups Governmental and non-governmental organizations Religious organizations 2.5 Management of Program Funding Within the program, funding is done on a project basis. Projects are selected both competitively, from the pool of proposals submitted to the program, and on a discretionary basis. Proposals for funding are selected by the program staff which makes recommendations to the ISF Telecommunications Advisory Board. Members of the Board are appointed by the Trustees and serve at their pleasure. The Board has the authority to recommend award and cancellation of grants. In special cases, and for small proposals, grants may be awarded by the Executive Committee which includes senior officers of the Foundation. Discretionary grants mostly pay for subscriptions, publications, training, conferences etc. The award procedure is similar to competitive grants. The program encourages co-funding and other forms of close cooperation with third-party organizations and funding agencies, using matching funds or jointly (in cooperation) with different domestic and international organizations. Current agreements for cooperation and joint efforts include: The project in Kiev is being implemented jointly with UNDP and the Ukrainian National Space Agency. Additional co-operation with NASA is being explored. The Moscow Backbone is being set up in cooperation with the Russian Fund For Basic Research (RFBR), and connectivity provided by funding from DFN and NASA will be utilized once the backbone is functional. The Novosibirsk project is interleaved with networking initiatives of the Siberian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Nuclear Physics. 2.6 Project Management Regional projects are managed by project teams. Usually these are groups that have submitted a grant request. Project team leaders have broad discretion in managing their projects, hiring staff, selecting subcontractors, and choosing vendors of equipment and services. The program staff oversees project implementation and provides technical and logistical support. Staff ensure that projects are technically viable, drawing, when appropriate, upon expertise of international experts. The purchasing of items of significant value is done by ISF on behalf of projects. The program sets up a Project Managers Board which convenes on a regular basis to develop technical guidelines for the program in general. The program office maintains a closed e-mail forum for project participants. 2.7 Plans for the Future Based on the needs assessment and the experience gained since Spring 1993, when the program was started, it is suggested that the program might further develop in several distinct directions, including among others: 1. assisting information providers; 2. assisting technical support and training centers; 3. providing effective worldwide network use in Cyrillic; 4. supplementing user support, training and education; and 5. investing in large-scale regional projects. 2.7.1 Assisting Information Providers The global value of the former Soviet Union countries participating in the Internet is strengthened by increasing flows of information both in and out of these countries, as well as by increasing the availability and consumption of information produced internally. While the West has a long tradition of regarding information as a commodity and making markets in many types of information, commercial markets for information are a relatively new concept in the former Soviet Union. The program will therefore seek out and assist promising providers of networked information services so that these countries will become active information providers, both for domestic and international markets, as well as for internal consumption. Priority will be given to information providers whose services directly relate to the strengthening of an open society, e.g. services oriented to education, library resources, government information, health, and worldwide market information. 2.7.2 High Level Local Technical Support and Training The program will seek out ways to encourage the formation of technical service and training groups of excellence. One or more network training centers will be established to train over time a critical mass of users who can become trainers and experts in their local city or region. Training centers will be equipped with hardware, software, and have access to adequate training literature and brochures. The program will further identify training materials that will be translated and made available through the training centers. Staff of the training centers will become highly experienced network technologists over time, providing an initial basis for self-sufficiency in advanced network support. 2.7.3 Effective Use of Cyrillic on the Worldwide Internet The program will identify methods of adapting existing modern and effective network tools to use the Cyrillic character set. Such methods will take into account the existence of standardization activities for representing and processing Cyrillic and other characters, but will not necessarily wait for such activities to come to closure before proceeding. Rather, the thrust will be to adapt existing tools so that they can be used effectively in either Cyrillic or multiple character set environments and be made available to the growing body of network users in the former Soviet Union that this program will empower. 2.7.4 User Support, Training and Education A very important aspect of regional projects, Internet training and education should also be pursued as a separate but complementary project direction. User support and training is essential first to assist people to understand and feel comfortable in a network culture and then to empower them to exploit the network environment in a manner that will assist him or her best. Vehicles for delivering this assistance are seminars, workshops, publications distribution and translation, permanent education and information centers, and any other mechanism that can raise the level of public awareness of and stimulate demand for electronic information exchange and services. These ideas are expanded below. Small-scale and mission-oriented grants aimed to help an organization (e.g. a museum) or a community (e.g. a number of high schools involved in the same program such as Junior Achievement) also fall in this category. The program could also support and expand projects initiated by other donor organizations. This applies particularly to grants to content-based institutions such as museums, libraries, hospitals, and environmental services. There exists a powerful thrust for information exchange between these organizations. Libraries have a particular advantage in this group since they are an excellent place for the installation of training facilities for end users and for locating help centers for an existing user population. High schools present a fertile environment for the introduction of the networking concept and mentality for several reasons: enthusiasm of young people toward new ideas and concepts, especially computers ; the dramatic speed with which new ideas spread and the pressure for change; the inevitable movement of computer literate high school graduates into universities and the professions; and the possibility of use of computing and networking techniques for distance learning. In response to these opportunities, the program will provide the most progressive schools in project neighborhoods with equipment for connectivity to the project. In addition, training courses will be organized for receptive teachers; some will be provided with advanced training in the US Publications. Almost no networking literature published in the West reaches the former Soviet Union. This lack of information, both general and specialized, is devastating. It is almost impossible to purchase journals and books on networking. In response, the program has ordered bulk subscriptions to several core journals that will be disseminated among libraries. Subscription activity will be extended to CD-ROMs soon. Similarly, networking books within the former Soviet Union are very scarce. In response, the program will distribute several thousand copies of a set of core works. Conferences and Workshops. The program will make extensive use of training opportunities to raise the level of networking skills in the former Soviet Union, by: supporting participation of former Soviet Union specialists in major international networking conferences, such as INET, JENC, and NSC; supporting networking conferences, workshops and seminars held within the former Soviet Union; training networking specialists and engineers in special hands-on workshops and seminars at their home locations using foreign specialists as trainers. 2.7.5 Large-scale Regional Projects These projects emphasize comprehensive development in geographically defined areas, often up from the ground up, providing a turn-key Internet access solution for a region. An alternative would be to spread funds more evenly geographically and implement smaller-scale projects benefiting particular institutions and groups. Both approaches have merit, but we feel that in Russia and other former Soviet Union countries a regional focus is more efficient and cost-effective, primarily due to the lack of an adequate telecommunications infrastructure and a service provider market. Today, outside of Moscow, providing funds for Internet connectivity to a single school or museum results in them having to subscribe to an antiquated monopolistic e-mail service focused on selling basic e-mail feed and commercial news bulletins to businesses, at very high usage tariffs. A regional approach, on the other hand, spreads the cost of common network infrastructure among dozens of customer organizations. All other common elements of the project, such as a training center, support facilities will also be shared. Probably no other funding agency, other than ISF, will ever be able to support a project of this nature and generality. Most of the time funders are interested in a particular mission or a well-defined community or organization. 3. Ongoing projects of the Telecommunications Program Four initial projects, located in Moscow, Novosibirsk, Yaroslavl and Kiev, form the nucleus of initial project activities. 3.1 The Moscow Backbone The Moscow backbone project has installed a fiber optic data transmission ring connecting locations from the RAS Presidium high-rise to the Institute of Space Research. It: links all existing academic service providers in Moscow in what can be described as an Internet exchange; provides them and their customer organizations with an access to common connectivity to the global Internet; and installs geographically a dozen backbone network access points so that hundreds of new user organizations can get high-speed connectivity The backbone will also be a connecting point for numerous terrestrial and satellite links from other Russian locations, like Novosibirsk, Yaroslavl, St. Petersburg and also international sites within the former Soviet Union, such as Kiev, Minsk, Tbilisi, Bishkek (links from the listed cities are either under construction or have funds from various sources allocated for them). The project is likely to expand in two ways: 1. helping to connect additional network user organizations; and 2. by including the provision of a high- bandwidth terrestrial link to the West. 3.1.1 Connecting user organizations. There are probably about two hundred research and education organizations in Moscow interested in connecting to the backbone, and many hundreds of potential users within other non-profit constituencies. Even in its present configuration, the backbone network access points are capable of serving, at various speed, a few hundred customers, and these capabilities can be easily expanded. The major challenge is on the customer side, in terms of funding connections, on-site equipment and, most important, user support and education. To that end, existing and new service providers will have to grow and expand, which is happening now. 3.1.2 High bandwidth terrestrial link. At the present time, organizations and providers connected to the backbone can use two satellite links funded and managed, respectively, by the NASA's NSI division and the German's DESY (high energy physics organization). Both are mission-specific links meant primarily to connect the scientific agencies funding the link with their counterpart institutes in Moscow. A neutral open-access terrestrial link with a capacity approaching 2 megabits per second and serving the needs of all backbone customers is needed. To this end two terrestrial links to the Moscow Backbone funded by Russian organizations are currently being set up. One is being implemented as a network access point of Ebone, the other as an independent link to Paris propelled by an agreement between the Moscow State University and the French Academic and Research Network. 3.2 Novosibirsk Research and Education Networking Project In Novosibirsk, the research and education community is concentrated in a relatively small enclave, a few dozen miles from the city, called Akademgorodok. It is the second most important concentration of the RAS institutes and research universities after Moscow. The grant will pay for full Internet connectivity and support for all major research institutions in the area. The project is closely coordinated with a smaller effort funded by RFBR, to the extent that they can be viewed as a joint project. The scientific research community is relatively unique in having a good understanding of computers and networking, and is likely to be more self-sufficient than others in making use of the connectivity that is being supplied. However, the project may expand to acquire a stronger civic component, along the Yaroslavl lines, connecting high schools and other non-profit organizations and reaching from Akademgorodok into the city of Novosibirsk. When this occurs, significant attention will need to be given to aspects of user support, as is being done in Yaroslavl. 3.3 Yaroslavl Civic Networking Project This is currently the biggest and the most challenging project of the program. It is meant to serve as a model for future regional projects and to show what is possible. In a mid-size city like Yaroslavl (about 750,000 people) with a very poor telecommunications infrastructure the impact of a civic, or community, network can be huge. The deficiencies in the infrastructure was one of the reasons for selection of Yaroslavl as a test-bed for the program's civic networking direction. The challenges of building a major piece of telecommunications infrastructure in a large former Soviet Union city like Novosibirsk are multiplied many times in a provincial town like Yaroslavl. Every element of the connectivity solution has had to be designed from scratch using non-traditional technical and organizational approaches (like forging an agreement with a local public telephone company to locate city backbone network access points at their switches). Even more challenging is a task of connecting and educating all major city non-profit organizations including, for example, high schools and the city council. In all, 140 such organizations will become connected. This can not be accomplished without public support and participation. A public committee overseeing the project and including city luminaries is being formed, as well as a major network training center. An expansion into rural areas is possible in a later phase of the project, together with upgrading the link to Moscow. It is hoped that, given availability of funds, the technical, logistical and managerial solutions developed in Yaroslavl will be applied in similar projects in dozens of provincial cities across the former Soviet Union. 3.4 Kiev Research and Education Networking Project This project, similar to but broader in scope than Novosibirsk, is different in two respects: 1. the user population is much broader than just the sciences; and 2. there is no existing infrastructure that could be utilized for the backbone (as is the case in Novosibirsk). Both user support and connectivity will need to be supplied. User support requires cooperation with the initial R&E community that will obtain initial use. Project efforts will be leveraged through investments in training in the technical units of the institutions. In order to ensure breadth of use and access within the institutions connected, adequate user training and support will be essential for success. To provide the essential connectivity needed, a star topology backbone based on microwave technology is being built from scratch, and the geographic spread of the network is much bigger. In Kiev, each of the five backbone network access points will serve a cluster of a few dozen R&E institutions, with a possibility of connecting many additional user sites to these network access points. The project is implemented in close coordination with a local office of the United Nations Organization (UNO is funding a smaller effort targeting mainly governmental institutions). There is also a preliminary commitment from the NASA's NSI division to provide a satellite link to the U.S., similar to the one that NSI maintains out of Moscow. Similarly to other ISF regional projects, in Kiev, there are plans to connect more than a hundred non-academic institutions. Another possible area for expansion would be to apply experience and expertise of the Kiev team to several smaller-scale projects in other important cities of Ukraine, such as Kharkiv and Lviv. 4. Projects, supported by ISF-TP List of Grants Awarded by the Program Regional Projects: 1. Moscow Backbone 2. Novosibirsk R&E 3. Kiev R&E 4. Yaroslavl Civic 5. Moscow - U.S. Satellite Link User Support, Training, Education 1. Conference Participation and Sponsorship: INET'93, San-Francisco INET'94, Prague INET'95, Honolulu NSC'94, London JENC6-95, Tel-Aviv NATO Advanced Networking Workshop, Moscow, 1994 DEC/IOCh Seminar on Regional Networking, Moscow, 1994 2. User Support, Access to and Development of Information Sources: Modem Pool for Glasnet Service Provider STN Database Usage Fees "Friends And Partners" WWW Server Sun Sparc 1 Workstations for Academic Service Providers in Moscow Russia's EARN Membership Fees Publication of "The whole Internet" in Russian Author Information: Viacheslav "Slava" V. Shkarupin Director of the Telecommunications Program of the International Science Foundation, Member of the Executive Committee of the Telecommunications Program of ISF, Ukrainian member of the EC Copernicus TeleServ and ESATT projects Steering Group. Graduated and received a Ph.D. from the Kiev Polytechnic Institute in Instrumentation and Measurement. Served as an expert on the Copernicus Networking section evaluation Board. Ilya Mafter Deputy Director, Telecom. Program Development. ISF Telecom Program