EARN DIRECTORS: Jean-Marie Akeboue, Ivory Coast Pedro Amorim, Portugal Kurt Bauknecht, Switzerland Paul Bryant, U.K., EARN Technical Director Miguel Angel Campos, Spain Avi Cohen, Israel Andreas Eleftheriades, Cyprus Frode Greisen, Denmark Michael Hebgen, Germany, EARN General Secretary Juha Heinanen, Finland Jean-Claude Ippolito, France, EARN Treasurer Dennis Jennings, Ireland, EARN President Arne Laukholm, Norway David Lord, CERN, EARN Vice-President Oguz Manas, Turkey Wilfried Maschtera, Austria Kees Neggers, Netherlands Jean Nuyens, Belgium Stelios Orphanoudakis, Greece Arne Sundstrom, Sweden Stefano Trumpy, Italy EARN STAFF: Alain Auroux, Manager, Paris Office Joe Chester, Executive Assistant, Dublin Office Ann Hovenden, Secretary, Dublin Office OBSERVERS: Athanase Adou, Ivory Coast Jose Barbera, IRIS, Spain Mats Brunell, NORDUNET Herb Budd, IBM (Europe) Harry Clasper, IBM (Europe) Bob Cooper, JANET Rene Florizoone, Belgium Peter Flynn, Ireland Eugenia Graca, Portugal Odd Jorgensen, Digital (Europe) Arne Moi, Norway Boudewijn Nederkoorn, Netherlands Henry Nussbacher, Israel Harri Salminen, FUNET Michael Walsh, HEANET Martin Wilhelm, DFN ABSENT: Algeria, Egypt, Iceland, Luxembourg, Morocco, Tunisia, Yugoslavia.
Items are numbered according to the running order of the agenda and in a unique way to ease later references.
Dennis Jennings, EARN President, opened the meeting and welcomed all participants.
The agenda for the meeting was approved. It was decided that the election of officers would be held in a closed session, with only Board members and deputy directors attending. It was also decided that the finance session would be open, with the possibility of declaring a closed session, if necessary. The draft election procedures with the change "directors and deputies" were ratified by the Board.
The minutes were presented by Michael Hebgen and approved. Michael Hebgen stated that he wishes to speed up the process of approving the Minutes of Board Meetings by electronic distribution or faxed hardcopies to get approval within 4 weeks.
The Action List from the April Board Meeting was reviewed.
88.30.1 Accounts 1988: Alain Auroux presented the Statement of Accounts to end of September 1988 with an increase of travel expenses (Executive meeting every month, new activities like OSI team) and a decrease of the French TAL expense (no VAT in France and a decrease of nominal cost). It was agreed
By mid-November Jean-Claude Ippolito will provide an up-to-date projection of expenditure to end of the year, including a detailed break-down of travel expenses by category.
88.30.2 Transatlantic Line (TAL) non-payments: Alain Auroux presented a report on TAL payments. Jean-Claude Ippolito reminded Board Members of the importance of paying next years contribution early in 1989 as, unlike this year, there will be no money carried over.
Alain Auroux will send out the invoices for countries' contribution to the EARN budget, including the TAL, as early as possible and in any case before January 1st 1989. It was agreed that either the total contribution should be invoiced by January 1, 1989 to be paid by January 31, 1989 or half be paid by January 31, 1989 and the remainder by July 1, 1989.
It was agreed that a country must pay this invoice within six months. The Executive Committee will work on a paper for distribution and consideration by the Board Members on the subject of TAL payments, and the legal basis for disconnection/other penalties resulting from non-payment.
88.30.3 International Line Payments: Alain Auroux reported on these payments. No problems are anticipated for 1989. He reminded the Board on a questionnaire on how these payments are achieved.
88.30.4 Budget 1989: Jean-Claude Ippolito presented the proposed budget for 1989, which includes salary for 4 technical staff, an increased budget for travel and more accurate costings for the Trans-Atlantic line as requested during the last Board meeting in Cesme.
Michael Hebgen stated that the overall budget is acceptable to Germany but NOT the budget distribution because it is based on
GNP and results in an unacceptable level of increase in payments. A share of about 50 KECU computed with the "old" EARN/RARE keys is secured, the remainder is open. For the UK, Bob Cooper also stated that the increase is unacceptably high for a service on which the UK is not totally dependant. Both, Bob Cooper and Michael Hebgen, requested that the service should be based on usage or access capacity, not on GNP.
Frode Greisen noted that the proposal was the mean value between the previous EARN/RARE keys and the GNP. The GNP was considered the best estimate of usage as long as this cannot be measured directly.
In an attempt to solve this problem, it was proposed that no country should pay more than ten percent of the total 1989 figure for central contributions. This would give a reduction in the amount payable to France, Germany, Italy and the UK, while all other countries contributions would remain the same. To accommodate this change, overall expenditure would have to be cut by about ten percent. This proposal was scheduled for further discussion on day two of the Board Meeting.
88.30.5.1 Ideas for new financing model for EARN: David Lord presented a possible new funding model for EARN, as an information item. This was scheduled for discussion later in the meeting or via electronic mail.
Actions:
88.31.1 Country Membership: Joe Chester and Frode Greisen presented the membership report. The electronic votes on membership applications from Morocco and Egypt were unanimously ratified by the Board. India's application for Associate Country Membership was passed by sixteen votes. Kurt Bauknecht abstained from the vote as the question of the contribution by India to the intercontinental line has not been resolved. Kees Neggers reminded Board Members that EARN currently bears the total cost of the trans-Atlantic line to BITNET. Dennis Jennings has already been informed by BITNET that there was no possibility of sharing these costs in 1988, but he will check again the situation regarding the future.
GULFNET was ratified as an Associate Network on BITNET, with two abstentions. Avi Cohen and Arne Laukholm both abstained until the question of free access by all countries to GULFNET is clarified. Frode Greisen will circulate the BITNET Charter for information.
Joe Chester reported on the situation regarding Eastern-bloc countries. It was agreed that no action will be taken until EARN is certain that Eastern-bloc countries can legally connect to the network. Dennis Jennings will:
Eastern Bloc countries will not appear on meeting agendas until there is some progress to report. Odd Jorgensen requested formal checking of all connected DEC machines in case of a connection.
Frode Greisen raised the question of payments by new countries. The Board accepted a proposal that new countries do not make any payments to EARN until they have been connected to the network for six months.
Actions:
88.31.2 Associate Membership: The electronic vote on six new Associate Members was ratified. Harwell Laboratories was also unanimously accepted as an Associate Member.
Following comments by Board Members on the present method of acceptance of Associate Members, the Membership Committee is asked to review the method of admission and report back to the Board.
Action:
88.32.1 NORDUNET: Frode Greisen gave a short overview. The Board approved to proceed along these lines and requested a detailed proposal an the steps for the next BOD meeting.
88.32.2 CEPT: Stefano Trumpy reported on a meeting with the main result of a permission to run the network on the international circuits in 1988.
88.32.3 EUNET: Frode Greisen gave a short report on the status.
88.32.4 COSINE/RARE/CEC and MDNS: Joe Chester reported on the objectives of the organizations and the common statement of direction which includes
JWPA is unable to agree how to proceed with the 2 solutions MDNS and "user managed networks" like EARN or EUNET.
After a lengthy discussion and exchange of information on MDNS the Board agreed with 1 abstention to participate in the definition, planning and testing of the MDNS pilot and authorized the EARN president to negotiate the details.
88.32.5 CCIRN: Dennis Jennings reported on the activities of this committee. Bob Cooper reported on the recent meeting of the committee held in Washington, D.C, where a statement of permitted usage is requested from each network and a list of all gateways is to be produced.
88.32.6 SPAN: Joe Chester reported that the only contact with SPAN has been by telephone. EARN has been invited to the SPAN meeting in Frascati, Italy in mid-November. Joe Chester asked Board Members interested in attending this meeting to make themselves known to him.
88.32.7 EARN Policy on European Networks: Paul Bryant presented a paper to clarify the EARN policy. It has been discussed in the Executive Committee and will be circulated electronically.
Actions:
Joe Chester presented a status report (foils attached) and a description of the implementation plan for transition.
Answering the question if EARN is in line with the published documentation of COSINE and RARE, Paul Bryant assured that EARN wants to be technically as close as possible. EARN is ready to readjust/modify the plans to take into account the MDNS pilot.
The Board of Directors endorsed the actions of the Executive Committee to date to implement this plan and agreed to continue with Pilot Phase 1. The Board instructs the Executive Committee to reply to the letter of COSINE with all information requested and to work out a detailed plan for pilot phase 2 considering MDNS and OSI applications.
Action:
Kurt Bauknecht is disappointed that at 8.30 am only 5 persons were present and most of the EXEC members were not present and he asked the question how the Executive Committee can run an association not being able to run a meeting in time.
This was a closed session for Board Members or their deputy directors only.
Stelios Orphanoudakis presented the current planning for EARN89 and surrounding EARN meetings which was agreed by the Board with 1 abstention:
The proposed programme for EARN89 is to have tutorials on the 1st day and plenary sessions on EARN and other networks in the morning and parallel sessions on technical aspects and user support in the afternoon of the 2nd and 3rd day. Stelios Orphanoudakis asked the Board members to participate in the EARN89 Programme Committee.
88.36.1 Report of the EARN-NOG: Alain Auroux gave a report of the meeting of the EARN NOG (network operations group) which consists of all NCCs (network country coordinator) and Ullrich Giese (BITEARN NODES), Berthold Pasch (NETSERV), Eric Thomas (LISTSERV), Udo Meyer (Traffic statistics) and Paul Bryant - see minutes of the EARN-NOG meeting already distributed.
88.36.2 Topology:
88.36.2.1 New Topology: The topology decided in Paris and assured in Cesme is running. Budget items for increased capacity and a 2nd TAL are included in 1989.
88.36.2.2 Connection of new countries: Alain Auroux presented a paper on the current status and planning. Dennis Jennings stated that there should only be 1 international node in a country.
88.36.2.3 Montpellier: Alain Auroux reported on a meeting to improve the quality of service of the most critical node of EARN with many international lines.
88.37.1 Report of Israel Technical Group meeting: Hank Nussbacher gave a short report - see minutes of the EARNTECH meeting already distributed - and focused on the key points:
88.37.2 "Improving the Quality of EARN Services": Hank Nussbacher described the discussion in EARNTECH including the invitation for 2 members of EARN-NOG to participate in the recent Executive meeting. A small majority of EARNTECH is happy with the Executive proposal to adopt 2 non-voting members of EARNTECH.
The Board decided
Hank Nussbacher, asked for his impression, answered that he is disappointed and during the next Board meeting in 6 months a check for real improvement should be done.
88.37.3 NAD proposal: - deferred to next meeting
88.37.4 Technical Staff proposal: Alain Auroux presented the proposal for one EARN office with a manager, a secretary and 4 people technical staffing ( 2 fulltime people and the equivalent of 2 for project people - see appendix). He also pointed out that all the people do not need to be at the same physical location, to some extent the office can be decentralized.
Odd Jorgensen re-stated the DEC offer for 3 full time people under the direction of EARN which is conditional on equivalent EARN commitment.
Martin Wilhelm, seconded by Michael Hebgen, requested that the projects are to maintain and improve current service and to work towards the OSI direction.
The Board decided to accept this proposal subject to the budget decision (with 1 abstention). The Board instructs the Executive to develop a proper staff management plan and to bring the projects (see appendix) to the Board for decision.
88.37.5 Traffic Statistics: Alain Auroux distributed a first result of September 1988 and stated that for the next Board meeting good data on the past 6 months will be available.
Actions:
88.30.4 Budget 1989 - continued: In the discussion on the EARN office Kurt Bauknecht mentioned that the proposed 150 KECU may be not enough for the 4 technical staff people. Dennis Jennings clarified the location question, either the existing EARN office in Paris or the DEC offer for Amsterdam.
After a lengthy discussion on the items "Manufacturers contribution" and "Funding required" Dennis Jennings presented the following details for clarification:
Expenditure (KECU) | Income (KECU)
---------------------------------------
Development (1) 300 | EARN 300
OSI Transition 300 | DEC/OSI 150
| N.N. (2) 150
--- ---
600 600
Harry Clasper stated, that the IBM ESINET is an initiative to interconnect IBM supercomputers and is a separate but related network and usage of these lines for EARN traffic (which may result in cost saving - see note (2) above) needs discussion with IBM. Jan Nuyens informed the Board that the IBM ESINET contribution has resulted in less funding for the normal Belgian EARN link because of bypassing the EARN country director and he asked IBM to negotiate link funding very carefully.
The Board accepted the proposed budget for 1989 with the changes mentioned above with 1 vote against from Austria. Wilfried Maschtera explained the Austrian vote: The uncovered amount of 150 KECU is most likely to be spent which may result in an increase of the members contribution and Austria does not accept such a possible increase.
During the discussion of the EARNTECH meeting (item 88.37.1) Dennis Jennings has asked the question "Do we devote resources to SNA or OSI" which resulted in some confusion and discussion over lunch. The result of the discussion within the Board meeting was the following statement with a vote of 18 in favour and 1 abstention:
Coming back to the budget issue Paul Bryant gave the UK position: UK can not commit to the requested 1989 contribution at this meeting but can commit to funding at the 1988 level. UK wants to see economics from rationalization of UK/Europe connections in 1989 that becomes possible from the EARN OSI transition. UK needs more information on the funding requirements (case, plans etc.) to make strong bid to funding bodies. UK needs a realistic forward look for 1990 and following years including any new scheme for calculation of the national contribution if a new scheme is anticipated.
Michael Hebgen repeated that like UK, Germany can not commit to the requested 1989 contribution but can commit to funding with the 1988 distribution model applied, i.e. the "old" EARN/RARE keys. He proposed to limit to contribution to ten percent of the total 1989 figure for central contributions and to accept the budget with the direction to the EXEC to run the budget within the limits which may have to be reduced due to a reduced share from Germany and UK.
Frode Greisen disagreed and requested voting on the proposed budget and distribution model as on page 26 of the briefing book. The result of the voting was 14 in favour, 1 against (Germany), 2 abstentions and 1 no-vote (CERN).
88.30.5 Budget 1990-1992: Alain Auroux explained the budget proposal based on the following assumptions:
Arne Moi suggested to reflect the policy decision on cooperation with MDNS to be shown by reduced line costs.
Actions:
Alain Auroux informed the Board that due to legal reasons the registered office (in French: siege) of the association has been returned to the lawyer's office.
Frode Greisen asked for voting on several items where a decision is needed during this Board meeting:
This is a summary of the decisions taken by the EARN Board of Directors at their meeting. For the reference of the exact wording the related chapter of the minutes is included in parentheses.
Draft Implementation Plan
Overview
Phase 1: pilot X.25 service
complete software development
(NJE/OSI) and implement software in
pilot sites
begin switch interoperation project
develop management procedures
Phase 2: extend X.25 to complete square backbone
introduce X.400 and gateways
begin country connections
Phase 3: hand over X.25 square to Operations Group
introduce FTAM
complete country connections
This proposal has been presented during the EARN BoD meeting in April 1988 and adopted by the Board subject to the budget decision.
The Technical Group propose that two fulltime staff should be provide to manage the network. The Group do not believe that volunteer staff should be expected to provide the service. Volunteer staff cannot dedicate their time to the tasks and it is unreasonable to expect their sites to provide the effort free of charge.
The tasks to be carried out by the staff are:
2 full time staff are needed to carry out these tasks. The attributes for the posts are:-
In addition, funding should be provided for work of 2 people for projects/tasks forces. These people should be familiar with the network, and have substantial network experience. Possible task forces - subgroups:
OBJECTIVE: the purpose of this proposal is to define a procedure to be adopted by EARN for the management of changes which effect the services to users of the international infrastructure.
PREAMBLE: It is assumed:
PROCEDURE: given the above assumptions, it is agreed that proposed changes, significant to the network, in the hardware or software used at an international node will be notified in good time to the Executive Committee by the Board Member of the Country concerned.
All aspects of such proposals will be reviewed by the Executive Committee at its next meeting, as a matter of urgency. If necessary, further technical evaluation will be requested by the Executive Committee to achieve consensus.
It is agreed that pending the agreement of the Executive Committee to the proposed changes: