For a copy of the Network Training Workshop announcement, including a blank application, send e-mail to: <workshop-apply@isoc.org>.

Professionals from around the world will be taught the design, operation, maintenance and management of Internetworks when they attend the Internet Society's (ISOC) 6th Network Training Workshop for Countries in the Early Stages of Internetworking, 11-19 July 1998. More than 900 previous graduates have performed a vital role in setting up the Internet connections and networks in virtually every country that has connected to the Internet during the past five years. A new cadre of networking professionals will again be taught the technical and operational aspects of establishing and managing their national network infrastructure.

For the first time ever, in 1998, there will be Workshops given in four different languages and held in two locations, simultaneously:

• Geneva, Switzerland (English & French)
• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Spanish and Portuguese)

The focus of the workshop is to assist countries that are either not yet connected to the Internet or are in the process of developing and enhancing an initial national Internet. For all Geneva attendees, and some Rio de Janeiro attendees, attendance at the workshop includes attendance at INET'98. Those workshop participants attending the INET'98 Conference will also receive significant discounts to the Pre-Conference Technical tutorials, K-12 Workshop, and to the Developing Countries Networking Symposium, scheduled 20-21 July 1998 in Geneva.

The workshops are an outgrowth of and build upon the experiences of five similar workshops held during 1993-1997 at Stanford University, U.S.A., Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic, University of Hawaii, U.S.A., McGill University, Montreal, Canada, and Petronas Training Center, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

GOALS

The goals of the workshops are:

1.  To train a critical mass of trainer/ professionals in network infrastructure, transport, services, and management to be able to support an extension of meaningful Internet-related activities within the countries represented.

2.  To identify and share individual and institutional contacts as well as information sources that will assist the process of national development, using international Internet connections.

3.  To build robust professional linkages between all participants in the programs so that the mentor-student and colleague-colleague relationships formed during the workshop and conferences will remain strong and of continuing usefulness well beyond the workshop and conference.

4.  To increase the level of cooperation among existing projects and activities for establishing public data networks in developing countries.

5.  To train people and groups of people who will return to their country and region and who will teach others what they have learned at the workshop.  

PROGRAM

The following section describes the English workshop to be held in Geneva.

Click here for information on the French workshop

Click here for information on the Spanish or Portuguese workshop

or write to the address at the end of this announcement. An intensive program of instruction is planned for the workshop, composed of four instructional tracks, plus a supplementary pre-workshop session for some specifically invited participants. Participants attend only one of the four tracks, since the tracks run concurrently.

All participants (except those in the National Network Management track) will engage in extensive hands-on training, either setting up a prototype network or using actual Internet resources or both, as appropriate, using the Workshop facilities .

The course descriptions below include for each instructional track:

Track Leader: Leader's Name, Organization, Country

1. Who should attend the workshop.

2. What you need to know to enter the workshop and benefit from it (prerequisites.)

3. What you will learn in the workshop.

4. What you should be able to do after completing the workshop (goals.)  

TRACK 1: Host-based Internetworking Technology   

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: Technical staff who are operating or installing a TCP/IP based network and providing TCP/IP based services (such as mail, file, web) to end-users. Those are involved in the establishment and/or operation of an Internet presence, possibly initiating the deployment of a basic national network infrastructure in the country.

PREREQUISITES: UNIX use and preferably some UNIX system administration. Some knowledge of, and experience with, computer networks.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN: Techniques for design, set up and operation of a TCP/IP network. Knowledge of routing, network troubleshooting, interior routing protocols, domain name system, providing dial-up connectivity, and TCP/IP application servers such as mail and web.

GOALS: To be able to design, set up, and operate a TCP/IP network with a permanent connection to the international Internet, and to provide TCP/IP services to end-users, using primarily PC hardware and Unix.

Based upon the applications received, Track 1 and Track 2 may be combined into a single, Internet Connectivity track.  

TRACK 2: Backbone Internetworking Technology

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: Technical staff who are now or soon will be building or operating a wide area TCP/IP backbone network, likely with international and/or multi-provider connectivity.

PREREQUISITES: UNIX use and preferably some system administration. Some knowledge of, and experience with, computer networks, preferably TCP/IP-based.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN: Techniques for design, setup, and operation of a metropolitan, regional, or national TCP/IP dedicated backbone network. Detailed knowledge of routing, network troubleshooting, backbone engineering, interior and exterior routing protocols, domain name system, NIC name and address coordination. The emphasis will be on use of dedicated routing hardware.

GOALS: To be able to design, set up, and operate a metropolitan, regional, or national TCP/IP dedicated backbone network, with a permanent connection to the international Internet.

Based upon the applications received, Track 1 and Track 2 may be combined into a single, Internet Connectivity track.  

TRACK 3: Network Navigation and Services

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: would-be providers of Internet-based information services; also those supporting and training potential information providers on the non-commercial Internet.

PREREQUISITES: A good user-level knowledge of the various Internet services such as email and the World Wide Web is highly desirable. No programming skills are required.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN: How to set up and design quality Internet Information services with emphasis on the World Wide Web. Since an important reason for your attendance will be to enable you to pass on your knowledge to others, there will be sessions on how to support and train users and providers of information.

Note that this is NOT a programming course.

The main topics covered will include:

• A brief introduction to the Internet and Internet tools
• Setting up and maintaining quality information services
• World Wide Web servers
• World Wide Web clients
• Search services
• Caching strategies
• HTML authoring
• How to support and train users and providers of information

The following will be discussed:

• Security issues
• Legal and ethical issues
• National infrastructure issues

An awareness of topics such as the following will be given

• CGI scripts
• JAVA
• JavaScript

The course is a mixture of presentations and demonstrations with emphasis on hands-on practical experience. You will work in small teams to design and set up web services during the workshop.

GOALS: Ability to set up and design quality Internet Information services; ability to support and train users and providers of information.

TRACK 4: National Network Management

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: Individuals who will have the responsibility for management of a network. The topic of "management" covers technical, operational and business management of national Internet services.

PREREQUISITES: Rudimentary familiarity with the Internet, and familiarity with management of information technology at a technical level.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN: Exposure to the aspects of management of a public Internet network on a national scale, including areas of operational and policy management commonly found with Internet development. No technical or hands-on component is included, although the managerial aspects of various technical topics is covered.

GOALS: Capability to manage the development of a national public Internet, guiding its development into the role of a cost effective and useful communications resource.

Location

The workshop activities will be held in Geneva, Switzerland. Participants will be housed at the training facilities during the Workshop and the INET'98 Conference. Working Language The working languages of the workshop will be English, good comprehension of spoken and written English will be required of each participant. Some members of the instructional staff will have some degree of proficiency in languages other than English. For information on the Internet Society French and Spanish workshops, see our web site or contact us at the address shown at the end of this announcement.

Dates

Participants should plan to arrive at their workshop location on or before 1800 hours on Saturday 11 July, and leave Geneva after 1300 hours on Friday 24 July . Exact arrival requirements may depend on the Track selected. We will notify you of your travel requirements when you are accepted.

INET'98 begins at 1800 hours, Tuesday 21 July and ends at 1230 hours on Friday 24 July.

ELIGIBILITY  

The workshop is specifically directed toward the needs of people from developing countries who are playing or will play an important part in introducing and extending public internetworking in their countries and regions. Attendees should be involved in planning to establish or in establishing the Internet's presence in their countries and regions, in institutionalizing its operation, and/or in assisting the country's schools and universities, governmental agencies, local firms, and residents in learning about and exploiting the range of services available through the net.

Staff members of international and bilateral technical co-operation agencies, as well as professionals having substantial involvement in international technical assistance activities, are also eligible for admission as space allows.

Participants who have attended one or more previous Internet Technology Network Training Workshops (formerly Developing Countries Workshop) will be considered eligible to attend the 1998 workshop; however, these former participants must apply for a course of study other than subjects studied previously. Their request must be consistent with their responsibilities in a national and/or regional context, and a convincing argument for repeated attendance must accompany the application. This should include a statement of the activities carried out as a result of the previous workshop. Less financial aid will be available for repeat attendees than for first-time applicants.

Application for Admission