EARN REPRESENTATIVES: Alain Auroux, EARN Office, Paris Paul Bryant, United Kingdom Joe Chester, EARN Office, Dublin Jean-Loic Delhaye, France Michael Hebgen, Germany Dennis Jennings, Ireland Olivier Martin, CERN
The Minutes of the last EARN EXEC meeting were approved and signed and will be distributed to EARN BoD by Michael Hebgen. Joe Chester will send a signed copy to Alain Auroux for the book.
MATTERS ARISING: Dennis Jennings together with the EARN EXEC checked the EARN EXEC action list which will be updated and distributed by Joe Chester. Jean-Loic Delhaye agreed to provide a statement from Montpellier on actions taken to deal with congestion on the network. The running order was approved with the addition of an item on reorganisation of working groups. The question of EARN membership and Russian status were included with Membership.
Dennis Jennings reported on the third meeting of the Programme Committee (Amsterdam). Joe Chester summarised the report of the OSI Technical Team and a lengthy discussion took place.
The Executive noted and welcomed the DEC and IBM offers and agreed to further discussions and clarification of the offers. Dennis Jennings' letter to IBM was agreed as the basis for further discussion. It was agreed to recommend acceptance of the DEC, IBM and NT offers to the Board.
The Executive agreed on a set of recommendations to be presented to the Board of Directors, which is contained in Appendix A. The Executive noted that further funds will be needed to continue the programme after 1990.
The budget proposal for the Board of Directors was agreed and it was decided to present all funding models to the Board.
The Executive Committee agreed to impress on Board Members the urgency of forwarding outstanding contributions for the international line.
Agreed Technology: Paul Bryant, Joe Chester and Michael Hebgen will work on new wording for this proposal and the results will be presented for agreement to the Executive Committee.
ERFC's: These documents will now be known as Technical EARN Documents (TED's). Paul Bryant stated that a sub-group of the EARN Technical Group has been set up to decide what documents come under this heading and what level of confidentiality should be maintained. The Executive Committee approved the idea of TED's but wishes to see them issued in draft form first. Paul Bryant will sort out a registration mechanism.
It was decided to present this amended proposal to the Board for comments. Joe Chester and Alain Auroux will work on the Code of Conduct and Membership Regulations to determine the usage to which the network may be put and the people who are allowed to connect to it.
Michael Hebgen will redraft this proposal in the light of events which have occurred since the original proposal was issued.
Alain Auroux outlined the amended version of the Country Coordinators proposal which it was decided to present to the Board for approval. Alain Auroux will establish a list of Country Coordinators.
Alain Auroux presented a proposal for setting up an EARN Operations Group, to be called the Network Operations Group (NOG). The principle of this group was agreed by the Executive and will be circulated to the Executive list for an electronic vote, before a vote by the Board.
Alain Auroux presented a proposal on Node Administrators which was agreed and will be presented to NOG and to EARN Tech.
It was agreed that the principle of a back-up line to the US would be presented to the Board of Directors, together with possible implementation mechanisms and the possibility of seeking funding from suppliers for the line.
The agenda for the Board Meeting was checked and accepted by the Executive Committee.
Alain Auroux presented a proposal for two additional full-time Technical Staff. The Executive decided to bring this proposal to the Board as background paper for the Budget proposal.
CEPT: Stefano Trumpy updated the report on the meeting held with CEPT in December. He will write back to the CEPT requesting for travel funding to participate in the PSPDN studies - Paul Bryant was elected to represent EARN in this studies.
EUNET: Joe Chester reported on cooperation with EUNET and stated his intention to initiate discussion on the EUNEARN@MCVAX list. It was agreed to pick a Board Member to represent EARN in formal discussions with EUNET.
COSINE: Dennis Jennings and Joe Chester outlined the background to the COSINE/EARN/EUNET/RARE Statement of Direction and on Cooperation. Joe Chester was mandated by the Executive Committee to formally request information from RARE on Working Groups and meetings.
The Executive Committee warmly welcomed this Statement and requested Dennis Jennings to continue discussions with COSINE, EUNET and RARE. It was agreed to recommend adoption of this document by the Board of Directors as EARN's Statement of Direction and on Cooperation. It was also recommended that EARN should participate in the RARE Working Groups.
Dennis Jennings is requested to make absolutely clear the EARN position and that EARN shall go ahead but shall modify its plans in light of the outcome of the RARE Working Groups.
SPAN: Joe Chester reported on contact with SPAN. A meeting is planned for Dublin in May. Dennis Jennings invited Executive Committee members to nominate themselves to act as official SPAN liaison.
A letter from the USSR requesting membership of EARN was distributed to the Executive Committee. Dennis Jennings is to write to the relevant agency (Foreign Affairs Dept.) and to the President of the CEC for information on Eastern Bloc countries. Michael Hebgen will raise the question on techniques for connections of Eastern Bloc countries electronically.
Olivier Martin reported on the Izmir Meeting of the Technical Group. It was agreed at the meeting that Berthold Pasch will present EARN's views at BITNET Technical Meetings; Peter Sylvester will attend the next BITNET meeting to make a presentation on X.500.
The Executive endorsed the report of the Technical Group on the use of VM code for traffic statistics and agreed to recommend the use of this code to all Country Directors at the following Board Meeting. Thanks were expressed to Udo Meyer for his work in developing this code.
It was decided that while EARN are involved in discussions with suppliers, representatives from the supplier company will be invited to attend EARN Technical Meetings. Dennis Jennings is to write to Digital regarding the Izmir Technical Meeting.
Alain Auroux will clarify the situation with regard to EARN software licences and make a report at the next Executive Committee Meeting. Joe Chester will continue work on a paper on the reconstitution of EARN Tech.
The next Executive Committee meeting will be held in Paris on Monday, 9 May. Alain Auroux will check on rooms in Roissy. Items to be included on the agenda for the next meeting are Corporate Membership and Attendance at BITNET meetings. It was agreed that, for future meetings, items not dealt with in Executive Committee meetings will be carried forward to the beginning of the next meeting.
The EARN Executive Committee recommends:
The EARN Executive Committee recommends:
Assuming NJE/OSI/X.25 available as detailed by the Technical Team (Draft Transition Plan document) and supported for the main types of host, and that NJE/OSI/X.25 is accepted as the agreed path by the Board, then:
This does not necessarily preclude the use of other protocols, the use of which over the infrastructure, will be investigated during the pilot phase. There is a commitment to run NJE/OSI/X.25 as soon as these products are available and as soon as the X.25 infrastructure is available. The objectives for the pilot phase implementation:
The EARN Executive Committee recommends:
The EARN Executive Committee recommends:
The EARN Executive Committee recommends adoption of the draft Transition Plan as the basis for the implementation of EARN's agreed OSI strategy (EARN Policy Document No3/87).
