Activity Report 1994  
Appendix D - ROEARN/EuropaNET

D.1. The ROEARN Node for Getting Access to BITNET, EARN & INTERNET

 

The ROEARN network, which provides access of research and academic users to EARN/BITNET and INTERNET, is the offspring of a research work on "Public databases networks for transborder technical-scientific data exchange, based on EARN".

The ROEARN Gateway Node is located at ICI, being connected via satellite to the University of Vienna. Other nodes connected to ROEARN via leased lines, are located at:

    Institute for Atomic Physics
    "Politehnica" University of Bucharest
    Institute of Mathematics of the Romanian Academy
    Institute of Microtechnology, Bucharest
    The University of Ploiesti
    The University of Galati
    The Academy for Economic Studies, Bucharest
    European Centre for Higher Education-UNESCO. Other institutions and bodies ( National Centre for Information and Documentation, the National Library, the Senate,etc.) are going to be connected to ROEARN.
Besides, other 120 institutions may access the ROEARN network via a switched line. A Bucharest-Kishinev leased line will connect users in the Republic of Moldova.
The e-mail network service is being used by more than 3,000 users.
Data traffic amounts to 2.5 Gbytes/month.
The network services include:
  • electronic mail: it covers person-to-person communication and let the archives and
  • databases in the network be accessed;
  • computer conferencing on topics of interest in science, technics, economics,
  • medicine, sociology, music, sports, art;
  • file transfer;
  • interactive messages;
  • access to program archives;
  • access to scientific reports and archives, library catalogues;
  • access to data banks;
  • access to network information services (archie, gopher, wais);
  • access to X500 data banks.
A statistical survey shows that research units represent 66% , and the academic institutions represent 22% of those interested in the network facilities. .
At national level, discrepancies in users' percentage fade out. Nevertheless, the users in Bucharest make 50% of them.
The major objectives include offering of best network services by practicing higher speeds on international lines, and by developing national servers for lower data traffic.
Statistics produced in 1994 by Internet Society NEWS gets Romania on the same position as the Argentine, Cyprus and Kuwait, but in a better position than Bulgaria, Ukraine and Lithuania.
The Research Institute for Informatics, National Commission of Informatics, Ministry for Research and Technology, and Ministry for Communications are co-operating in licencing network facilities to various domestic groups of users.
The ROEARN network gives the Romanian specialists the possibility of communicating with scientists in foreign countries in their area of interest, covering large academic groups and various subjects: science, technology, human science, medical science, economics, and wide scope information.

D.2. EuropaNET- A Computer Network for Technical-Scientific Data Exchange (COSINE Project)

 

The EC-launched co-operation programme called EUREKA, including 18 European countries, was meant to create a pan-European infrastructure for advanced researches. This sustained the COSINE (Co-operation for OSI Networking in Europe) Project, of which main objective is EMPB-a private virtual network service supported by a pan-European multiprotocol network. It enables the on-line data transmission between various European bodies and networks.Once the national gateway node for accessing European networks in operation, a contract was concluded between National Commission of Informatics and TTP Telecom Holland for offering technical and organisational facilities to Romanian users so that they can benefit EMPB service. The Research Institute for Informatics was technically responsible for the node operation and for the users' access to it. ICI nomination can be accounted for by its large experience in computer networks and in developing special-purpose software.
EMPB network node, put into operation in July 1993, is a specialized machine (RC 5000) realized under "European transputers" technology. Configuring, program loading and operation disturbance analysis are all performed by the Network Management Centre in the Hague, via a "remote console" mechanism, which uses a long-distance telephone line.The network node has two X 25 like user access gateways. Last October the Communication Centre of "Politehnica" University of Bucharest , which manages the research network of the Ministry for Education (covering more than 24 academic and research institutions in the country), was connected to one of the gateways. Average traffic in the network is greater than 2 Gbytes/month. The other gateway served for testing during early operation of the node, and was to let other scientific community users get access, as National Computer Network developed.Given the node architecture (X 25 interface, bit-synchronous communication protocols, ISO-OSI standards based network services), appropriate hardware and software for accessing the network had to be locally developed. Ministry for Research and Technology allocated funds for the development of the prototype of an X.25 package assembler-disassembler on an IBM -PC compatible computer (having implemented the CCITT X.3, X.25, X.28, X.29, X.121 standards). Simple asynchronous terminals , PC with asynchronous terminal emulators, VIDEOTEX terminals emulators will thereby access the network and potentially, the server of databases developed in Romania.
The EuropaNET includes ,among others, the following services:

  1. access to the European Union
    documentation databases
    research, technology, energy, environment (CORDIS,ESPRIT, EUROCONTACT, AGREP, SESAME, BIOREP,etc.)
    public markets (TED,ECU)
    employment and social security (CELEX,ABEL, CATEL, EPOQUE,SCAD)
    catalogues, studies, press (ECLAS,EURISTOTE,RAPID)
    information pools (CCL-TRAIN, I'M GUIDE, ECHO NEWS, XIII MAGAZINE)
    abbreviations, checklists, terminologies, thesauri (EURODICAUTOM, THESAURI,etc.)
    access to the European Union statistical databases (EUROCRON, CRONOS, BACH, FSSRS,etc.)
  2. electronic mail (X400 and RFC 822)
  3. look-up in yearbook like directories (X 500)
  4. virtual terminal
  5. Internet gateway
Connectability to EuropaNET, which the ICI-based node enables, gets more attractive for academic and research institutions as well as for SME in Romania, as it makes the European Union experience tangible and the international scientific contacts more profitable.
Back to menu