Last update at http://inet.nttam.com : Wed Aug 30 8:41:39 1995 Networking Efforts in the Maghreb Region of Northern Africa Khaled Sellami Abstract Information is occupying a central place in our daily life as a vector of prosperity and development that must be accessible to all especially to decision makers, technicians, researchers and academics. Information technologies and data networks are playing an essential role in the phenomenal development of our temporal cultural and social environment. Data access and exchange, information servers and databases, computer processing and automation became the basis of our daily occupations. Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco are three countries situated in the Maghreb region on the Northern part of Africa. These three countries are very close geographically to Europe which accelerated their technological progress. This paper will give an overview of efforts being made by these three countries to establish national networking facilities and international connectivity. Existing telecommunication infrastructure, research and academic networks, infostructure and regional networking activities in each of these countries will be described and discussed. 1 Introduction Computers and telecommunications, information support of the modern era, represent a fundamental factor of social, economic and cultural progress. But their development differ from one country to another and from one region to another depending on disparity of technological levels, financial capacity and human resources. Today, not only humans communicate between each other, but also humans with machines, and machines with each other. This new interaction between man and machine for data access and processing, independently of time and space, marked the arrival of a new era, the information one. This new era started by the appearance of different academic and research networks and took advantage of the new technological advances that lead to what is called today information highways. Information networks were born from interconnecting computers, with the main goal was to allow data transfer between researchers from different universities and share expensive computer resources. These networks gave birth to new communication functions such as Email, file transfer, information access and remote access. Today in technologically developed countries, information networks are set on a national level, integrated in a continental level then connected on intercontinental level. This has created a worldwide dynamism where partners are connected through a more and more dense link. A Global Information Infrastructure is being formed which should establish open information exchange worldwide. Developing countries did not want to stay aside of this revolution and chose to participate in this international activity. Some of them established connections with the most popular networks and took profit and contributed in different degrees to these entities. The three countries of the Maghreb region were aware early enough of the trends being played by this technology and have prepared themselves, like other countries, to enter this new era comfortably. 2 Telecommunication infrastructure The telecommunication infrastructure became a scale to the development of any country. Multinational companies and investors consider this type of facility as an important factor in the selection process of new sites for factories and industrial projects. Corporate networks and office automation systems became the basis of communication and information exchange between companies and their branches or representatives. Number of phone lines per 1000 people, quality and availability of phone lines, existing data networks and services, and mobile phones became a requirement for daily businesses and are no more luxurious or optional facilities. The telecommunication infrastructure in all three countries of the Maghreb region is well developed and include a number of advanced services varying from normal phone lines, to leased Analogical lines, mobile phones and X25. Morocco and Tunisia are even offering numeric and fiber optic leased lines with speeds up to 2Mb/s, internally and with foreign networks, especially after the were hooked-up on popular international Fiber optic cable networks such as SE-ME-WE-2 for Tunisia and EURAFRICA for Morocco. Morocco is even offering ISDN connections and visioconference services. These services are offered in all three countries by government owned monopolies who have the control on any telecommunication activities in any part of the country. The Office National des Postes et Telecommunications named Itissalat Al-Maghrib is the telecommunication authority in Morocco, The Direction Generale des Telecommunication (DGT) in the Minsitry of Telecommunication is the Tunisian telecommunication authority and became lately an office called Tunisie-telecom, The Algerian Ministry of Post and telecommunication is the telecommunication authority in Algeria. All three countries have developed since the early nineties and at the same period of time a National Packet Switched Network X25 based on the French system of Alcatel DPS 2500. The Moroccan X25 Network called MAGHRIPACK is composed of four main switching exchanges installed in Casablanca, Rabat, Fes and Marrakech and connected by 64 kb/s numeric lines. These exchanges allow the connection of an additional 13 cities covering the most important parts of Morocco with an initial capacity of around 1000 lines. Speed of direct access to MAGHRIPACK vary from 300b/s to 1200b/s for asynchronous and from 2400b/s to 48000b/s for synchronous access. The Casablanca exchange is connected to international networks via four 9.6kb/s X75 lines. The Algerian X25 network called Dz-pack is also composed of four main switching exchanges located in Algiers, Oran, Costantine and Ourgla and serving most urban regions of Algeria. The total capacity of this network is around 4000 lines and is connected to international networks such as Euronet, Telenet and Europac. The Tunisian X25 network called TUNIPAC is composed of 22 switching exchanges with four principal exchanges, two in Tunis, one in Sousse and one in Sfax and two secondary exchanges in Nabeul and Gabes. All X25, X75, X28, X29 and X32 CCITT standard services can be offered in all Tunisian districts and even in rural areas through rural phone exchanges. The speed of the lines vary from 2400b/s to 9600b/s for synchronous lines and 1200b/s for asynchronous lines. The actual national capacity is 1500 lines with only 800 lines being explored. The network is saturated for the 4800b/s and 9600b/s speed lines. It will be expanded during this year and the national capacity should raise to 3500 lines. Lines with speed varying from 64kb/s to 2Mb/s will be offered after the expansion of the network. Despite the existence of PSN networks in these countries, users are more and more reluctant from using them mainly due to the high cost of data transfer on the network and the ever increasing file sizes especially for images and graphics. Moreover, PSN are not convenient to build Information networks due to the fact that traffic requested by users are sometimes charged to the server's X25 lines. The billing procedures applied to this type of network need necessarily to be reviewed so that it can fit the needs of information networks. Telecommunication companies in the Maghreb region are becoming more and more interested in providing database access and electronic services especially INTERNET services to the community. This is mainly due to high demand by the business community for this type of service. The Moroccan ONPT found no competition from others and has already declared itself as a potential INTERNET service provider. A feasibility study has been already lunched and a 64kb/s numeric leased lined with France will be dedicated to offer international connectivity. The Tunisian DGT is also studying technical opportunities to offer in the future INTERNET access especially to the business community. Research centers and universities will be connected through the RNRT project and will be given special privileges such as low communication rates and will be encouraged to develop national information servers and databases. Offering INTERNET access by telecommunication operators should expand this type of network in the Maghreb region and will offer it to new type of commercial users. It will also offer the opportunity to explore more the data networks established by PTT companies such as the X25 and ISDN networks. 3 Network Connectivity Considerable effort has been made by each of the countries of the Maghreb region to get connected to communication networks and build national information infrastructure. These efforts were successful especially in Tunisia and Algeria but not much action was made in Morocco where no permanent international connectivity has been achieved yet. Tunisia is very advanced in this area and considerable efforts were made through the Institut Regional des Sciences Informatiques et des Telecommunications (IRSIT) since 1987 to get connected to these networks and use their services. IRSIT is a research institute established by the government of Tunisia in 1986. One of its main missions is to master networking technologies and help Tunisia bridging the gap created by the phenomenal progress being witnessed in this area of high technology. The first Email connection was established in 1987 though a phone line to Montpelier, France on the BITNET network. In 1989 a permanent connection to Earn-BITNET was established between the Vax6310 of IRSIT using the NJE protocol over DECNET, and the main computer of CNUSC in Montpelier, France. This connection was established through an X25 line and became the first node on BITNET to be connected through an X25 network. Meanwhile IRSIT started to work on the INTERNET and the TCP/IP networks. In 1990, IRSIT declared the .TN top level domain and was mandated by the NIC to manage it. A permanent connection was established between IRSIT and INRIA in Paris through the X25 network connecting a DEC VAX 6310 (spiky.rsinet.tn) using a BULL DPX2000 to route IP/X25. Today Tunisia is connected through a 19.2kb/s leased line between IRSIT and the French INTERNET node in Paris using IP over HDLC protocol. Around 20 hosts and 200 machines are connected to INTERNET through IRSIT allowing around 1000 users to benefit from the services of this network. Five sub-domains have been declared using 14 class c addresses. The traffic has tremendously increased to move from 50Mb/month in 1991 to reach the 1.3 GByte/month at the beginning of 1995 and is currently increasing at the rate of about 100% every six months. This traffic is mainly generated by applications such as mail, FTP and Gopher. The WWW has been constrained to only few sites due to the low speed of the international leased line. The upgrade of the line to 64kb/s is being planned for the third quarter 1995. This upgrade can even go up to 2Mb/s especially with the increasing high demand for connection from the private sector, national companies and the research community. Many companies are proposing to become an INTERNET service provider and some have even been trying to build their own leased line with Europe and sell this service to the public. Algeria is also connected to the INTERNET through the Centre d'Etude et de Recherche d'Information Scientifique et Technique (CERIST). This center is a national research institution working on projects to promote the use of scientific and technical information. Efforts were first made four years ago to get connected to the EARN-BITNET network however these efforts were not successful due to difficulties to establish an international leased line. Two years ago CERIST became connected to INTERNET through a dialup line and since January 1994 through a 9600b/s leased line with the CNUCE in Pisa, Italy. This line was not very stable at the beginning however it has improved and became stable lately. The top level domain of Algeria is .DZ and only one sub-domain was declared CERIST.DZ. Around 15 machines are connected to the network mainly inside the CERIST and about 70 users have access to the network. Two class C addresses are used and the primary DNS has lately been moved to Algeria. External users have only UUCP access mainly due to the limited speed of the international line (9600b/s). The speed of this line need to be increased in order to be able to offer access to Gopher and WWW servers. Morocco is not connected to INTERNET through a permanent line. A number of users have UUCP access to EUNET France. The .MA top level domain has already been declared and the primary DNS is located in France. No sub-domain is declared and Email addresses are logically mapped through MX records. However, efforts are being made extensively by the ONPT and the Mohamadia School of Engineering to establish a permanent connection to INTERNET. The ONPT is setting up a 64kb/s leased line to France and is planning to offer INTERNET access by the end of this year. The university El-AKHAWAYN has also requested a 64kb/s leased line and is planning to get connected to INTERNET for its own use. By the end of this year Morocco will dipose of an excellent connectivity with international networks. 4 National Academic and Research Networks Academic and research networks have been given high priorities by countries in this region. Each country has established a national program to set up a national research and academic network connecting the different universities and research and technical centers. These networks should offer three types of services : - communication services such us Email, discussion groups, Electronic conferring and News. - remote login services to access distant powerful computers for calculations - Information access to consult databases and information servers. The Moroccan Academic and Research network called CHAMA (Chabaka du Maghrib) which means Moroccan Network, is being set up by a group of institutions lead by the Mohamadia Engineering School (EMI). The project has been initiated only few months ago and a national seminar was organized in October 1994 to promote this project and introduce the research community to the possible services of this network. CHAMA today is in an experimental stage connecting six institutions through phone lines and offering only E-mail as a service. The Algerian Academic and Research Network (ARN) is a national project financed by the government of Algeria. The project has been initiated two years ago and is in its phase of buying equipment and establishing communication lines. The network is being set up by the CERIST on three phases : - selection and connection of regional nodes : this phase consists in defining POPs (point of Presence) in each region of the country, connecting these points through communication lines, buying and installing routing and server equipment. - connection of regional centers and universities to the POPs : this phase consists in selecting research and academic institutions in each region and connecting them to the regional node - connection of the regional nodes to the main central node which is connected to international networks and development of services and information servers. The Tunisian Academic and Research Network called RNRT (Reseau National de la Recherche et de la Technologie) was initiated since 1992 by the Tunisian Secretariat of State for Scientific Research and technology (SERST) and was set-up by IRSIT ( Institut Regional des Sciences Informatiques et des Telecommunication). The first phase of this network consisted in connecting six research centers to the SERST. These centers are : - The Biotechnology Center in Sfax (CBS) - The Regional Institute For Informatics and Telecommunication (IRSIT) - The National University Center for Scientific and Technical Documentation (CNUDST) - The Center for Economic and Social Research and Studies (CERES) - The National Scientific and Technical Institute for Oceanography and Fishing (INSTOP) - The Arid Regions Institute in Mednine (IRA) All these centers are connected through permanent leased lines except the CBS which is connected through the X25 network and IRA through a phone line. All leased lines are analogical with a maximum speed of 9.6kb/s. The network was conceived as a continuation of the INTERNET network and TCP/IP was adopted as the main communication protocol for the network. It is used on top of X25 when the PSN is used as a communication channel. It is used on top of HDLC when using leased lines. In the first phase of the project, a Local Area Network was installed in each center. This LAN connected all existing machines to a Windows NT AS server and a small router. An MS mail server was installed on the WNT Advanced Server allowing users working under windows or Mac environments to access their MS Mail boxes on the LAN. An MS Mail external station was installed at IRSIT allowing mail exchange between these different institutions. In addition, and in order to provide a single mail box for local and international use, an MS Mail to SMTP gateway was established allowing Ms mail users to exchange mail with other INTERNET users using the same mail account. Users were also able to access other INTERNET services such as Tenet, FTP and Gopher. The WWW was not permitted due mainly to the low speed of the communication lines (9600b/s). All international traffic was routed to IRSIT and transmitted through the existing international leased line established between IRSIT and Fnet. A special program was setup to introduce users to all RNRT services and assist them to start using the network. The second phase of the network was lunched at the beginning of 1994 and consisted in connecting other research and academic institutions. These centers were connected in two ways : The first is through a permanent connection ( X25 or a leased line) and is called communication node. For this type, the institution need to dispose of a router and a UNIX or any other multi-user or LAN server supporting the TCP/IP protocol and SMTP mail. Users connected on communication nodes can use all INTERNET services. The second is through a phone line without a router and is called access station. It is mainly a remote windows or Mac station connected via dialup IP over PPP protocol using V32 modems. Users of access stations use POP mail, Telnet, FTP and Gopher. Twenty two university and research centers are connected today to the RNRT network. Twelve of them are connected as permanent communication nodes. The others communicate through access stations. More than 700 researchers and university professors explore this network. Email addresses on the RNRT are in INTERNET format and can be easily guessed : user@center.RNRT.tn. An electronic directory of all users of the RNRT was developed. A Gopher server offering information about research, university and technology institutions was developed and declared. It can be consulted on the gopher.rnrt.tn. A WWW server was also setup, however it was removed from the INTERNET due to the limits of the international line (19200b/s). The RNRT project receives major support from the Tunisian government and should be developed further during the next years. A national steering committee was established to pilot this network and centers have been encouraged to develop their own databases and information servers. Plans exist to connect the three research networks CHAMA, ARN and RNRT. Many actions have been identified and will be mutually developed especially a common Electronic directory and discussion groups. Users will be able to share information available on each network and communicate easily with other colleagues and fellow researchers. 5 The Sustainable Development Network The sustainable Development Network is a project of the United Nation Development Program to assist developing countries in setting up sustainable communication and information networks. This network is mainly oriented to people involved in the sustainable Development Programs such as Non Government Organization (NGO), Academic and Research institutions, Environment and pollution control agencies, Women organizations and the private sector. Services of SDN networks include electronic mail, electronic conferences, access to information resources such as commercial databases, and communication with other networks such as INTERNET. More than 25 developing countries from Africa, Asia and South America benefited from this program and have established or are in the process of establishing their own SDN . Countries of the Maghreb region have applied for this program. Tunisian and Moroccan proposals were approved and obtained support from UNDP to develop this network in their corresponding countries. The Tunisian SDN project was signed by the Secretary of State for Scientific Research and Technology and the UNDP resident representative in Tunis in November 1994. IRSIT was chosen by both parties to setup this network and a national steering committee was formed to define the general policy of this network. The committee is chaired by IRSIT and include 2 members from the Ministry of Environment, 2 members from research institutions, 2 members from the private sector and 2 members from the NGOs. The Tunisian SDN will complement the RNRT and will use the same technology used by this network which is the INTERNET technology. In its first phase, a main communication node will be installed at UNDP Tunis. This node will mainly be a UNIX machine with an IP router connected to the RNRT through a 9600b/s leased line with IRSIT. Users will be connected as remote stations through phone lines. These remote stations will mainly be connected using the IP over PPP and will offer INTERNET services such as E-mail, FTP and Gopher. This phase will mainly be oriented to introduce the different potential users of this network to the services of communication networks. Training and demonstration sessions will be conducted for these users. The second phase of the network will consist in expanding the network and installing communication nodes in other institutions involved in the Sustainable development process such as the National Agency for Environmental Protection or any NGOs. These nodes will mainly be connected through leased lines or through the TUNIPAC. Special attention will be given to regions with no connectivity such as the south and west of Tunisia. Environmental and economic information servers and databases will be developed along with discussion groups and electronic conferences. The Moroccan SDN project was initiated a year ago and UNDP experts visited Morocco and made the feasibility study. The project will mainly be conducted by the Under Secretariat of State for Environmental Protection. 6 Services and Infostructure Services offered by different networks in the Maghreb region are mainly concentrated around E- mail. All users dispose of this tool in all three countries of the region. Tunisia and Algeria dispose also of other services such as remote access (TELNET) and file transfer (FTP), and information retrieval tools such as Gopher. Only Tunisia dispose of an access to the WWW servers and has developed a number of local Gopher servers offering information about research and technology, trade and business and other tourist data on Tunisia. A directory of Tunisian researchers and academics inside and outside Tunisia is accessible over the Gopher server gopher.rnrt.tn. A WWW server has also been developed and declared however it was quickly removed from the network mainly due to the limitations of the international leased line between Tunis and France. Information servers and databases are lacking tremendously in this region of northern Africa. It is necessary that efforts be multiplied within these countries to develop such servers especially that information sources exist and dispose of all types of data. Today it is not possible to get connected to any database in any of the countries of the Maghreb region except few isolated efforts in the area of trade and economic exchange or through the viodeotex terminals. Few efforts have been made especially in the area of agriculture and economy to develop professional databases such as the databases of the National Institute for Agricultural Research (AGRIDOC, RETRODOC) and the Islamic Center for Development of Trade in Morocco and the National Center for Agricultural Documentation and the Export Promotion Center (TASDIRNET) in Tunisia. A number of documentary databases have also been developed such as the database of the National Center for Documentation (MAALAMA, MUTUN, RACID) in Morocco, the National Center for Scientific and Technical Documentation (TUNSIDOC, TUNIPER) in Tunisia, and the Center of Scientific and Technical Information and Technology Transfer and the Institute of Bibliotheconomie and Documentary Sciences in Algeria. None of these databases is connected on a network however some of them offer access through a phone line or by a videotex terminal. Most of these centers dispose of an access to professional databases in Europe and USA through dialup. Some projects are being conducted to test the latest services on networks especially those based on multimedia document exchange such as the project being conducted at IRSIT in Tunisia and dealing with telemedecine. 7 Conclusion It became clear that Information highways are the gateway to the future and that countries falling behind will have considerable difficulties catching up. In spite of the considerable efforts made by the countries of the Maghreb region to benefit from the services of information and communication networks, North Africa is still far behind in a technology that is growing very rapidly. Efforts need to be multiplied so that the whole region will catch up and play a major role in the transfer of this technology to the African continent. References [1] Benhamadi M., "The Research and Scientific and Technical Information Network in Algeria", TCDC Workshop on Regional Information Highway, Nov. 1994 [2] Alaoui A., "Moroccan Networks", TCDC Workshop on Regional Information Highway, Nov. 1994 [3] "Algerie: DZ-PAC enfin operational", l'Ordinateur Africain, N(I<(B12, P20, Sep. 1992 [4] Vantroys M., "Telecomunications et developpement", l'Ordinateur Africain, N(I<(B30, PP. 10-12, Oct. 1994 Author Information Khaled Sellami is a senior Project Manager at IRSIT. He holds a B.S. degree in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University and a M.S. degree in Computer Information and Control Engineering from the University of Michigan. He joined IRSIT in 1987 and was in charge of setting up IRSIT main computer center. He is currently the project manager of the RNRT and working on the Arabization of INTERNET applications and tools. He is interested by value added services of high speed computer networks. ====================== end =======================