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Modernz 02
Hiya.Alot has been asked about EasyNet...some folks thought it was a new system
that could be used to access outdials,much like SprintNet's PC Pursuit service.
However,yours truly went thru the trouble of actually getting an account on
EasyNet (a Telebase System),and here is a buffered account of what I found.
EasyNet is in fact,a database network,on which you can scan a variety of text
files updated at a variety of intervals,from daily to weekly to whenever.
I have no idea what others have done on this system,but for those who are
interested,it can be accessed via SprintNet(Telenet) at 21549;CompuNet at
HostName:Telebase;and via TymNet at Terminal ID: 'A' and Login:EasyNet.
A Buffered Account of a typical database scan follows:
Please enter the database name as you know it.
(Use B to back up.)
-> netweaver
Searching.........................................
This database is not currently being updated by its producers and is not
searchable through this service at this time.
PRESS TO SELECT * Main Menu *
1 EasyNet-I System helps select the database
2 EasyNet-II You name the database
3 SmartSCAN Scan a group of databases
4 Instructions, Database directory
5 NEW! This Month: FREE Marketing Scan; Database Updates
H for Help, C for Commands
Total charges thus far: $0.25
-> 2
Please enter the database name as you know it.
(Use B to back up.)
-> netline
Searching.......................................
** SUBJECT TERMS SEARCH GUIDE **
NOTE: This is a general search tutorial for NewsNet databases. The examples
given below may not fit the database you have selected; however, the search
guidelines are valid for each NewsNet database.
ENTRY METHOD: Enter subject terms; omit punctuation and words like the, of,
for, on, at, in, to, upon, etc. The minimum length of each subject term is 2
characters; the maximum length is 20 characters.
greenhouse gases
fiber optic cable
TRUNCATION: Use the WILD LETTER slash (/) to search variable word endings, or
to truncate words longer than 20 characters. The minimum length of each
truncated subject term is 3 characters, not counting the WILD LETTER slash.
USE: superconduct/
TO GET: superconductors, superconductive, superconductivity, etc.
COMBINED TERMS: Use AND to search BOTH of two terms; use OR to search EITHER
of two terms.
Harvard AND animal patent
oil shale OR oil sand/
Guidelines.to back up) oil shale OR oil sand/INE/). Type H for Search
Guidelines.
(or type B to back up)
-> easynet/
Is:
EASYNET/
Correct ? (Yes/No) -> y
We have no reason to believe that errors exist in the data or services
furnished. If there are any such errors the parties hereto have no liability
for any consequential, incidental or punitive damages. No warranty, either
expressed or implied, including but not limited to those of merchantability or
fitness for a particular purpose are made. Any liability is limited to the
amount paid by the customer to Telebase.
System is now searching the newsletter you selected, copyrighted 1990 and
available through NewsNet, Inc.
Accessing Network...........Completed.
Accessing Database Host.....Completed.
Logging on..................Completed.
Selecting Database..........Completed.
Submitting Search...........Completed.
Nothing was retrieved. No charge for this search.
If you wish, you may type
SOS for online human assistance
with your search.
PRESS TO SELECT * Main Menu *
1 EasyNet-I System helps select the database
2 EasyNet-II You name the database
3 SmartSCAN Scan a group of databases
4 Instructions, Database directory
5 NEW! This Month: FREE Marketing Scan; Database Updates
H for Help, C for Commands
Total charges thus far: $0.50
-> 2
Please enter the database name as you know it.
(Use B to back up.)
-> netline
Searching........................................
Guidelines.to back up)..........................INE/). Type H for Search
Guidelines.
(or type B to back up)
-> telenet/
Is:
TELENET/
Correct ? (Yes/No) -> y
System is now searching the newsletter you selected, copyrighted 1990 and
available through NewsNet, Inc.
Accessing Network...........Completed.
Accessing Database Host.....Completed.
Logging on..................Completed.
Selecting Database..........Completed.
Submitting Search...........Completed.
Retrieving the only full text article
available on that subject.
Heading # 1 Searched: 08-27-1990 22:23
^S/^Q: stop/start; ^T: Paging ON ; ^C/(esc): interrupt (^ = CTRL/CONTROL key)
Headline #1
Copyright
NETLINE via NewsNet
March 1990
LANS REACH OUT AT COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS '90 -- PART I OF II
Caryn Fox and Beth Bacheldor
Although Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN) was a popular
subject at last month's Communications Networks '90 trade show
in Washington, D.C., the real show-stealers were LAN-to-WAN and
LAN-to-LAN integration and interconnection.
Show attendees were overwhelmingly interested in LANs and LAN
interconnection strategies. Seminar sessions -- even in the early
morning -- were standing-room-only.
At one session, Mary Modahl, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc.
(Cambridge, Mass.), predicted that smart wiring hubs will be an
important growth market in the LAN arena.
Modahl said the hubs -- which provide physical layer network
management, support multiple media, and provide bridging/routing
capabilities -- will serve as the central point of LAN
interconnection.
Although they are available from only a few companies -- such
as SynOptics Communications Inc. (Mountain View, Calif.),
Ungermann-Bass Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.), Cabletron Inc. (East
Rochester, N.H.), Proteon Inc. (Westborough, Mass.), and Chipcom
Corp. (Waltham, Mass.) -- smart wiring hubs will attract large
users because of their low cost and solid migration path to Fiber
Distributed Data Interface, Modahl said.
Smart hubs save users money by supporting a variety of media,
including the upcoming 100 Mbps FDDI standard, Modahl noted.
The interconnection theme also came across on the show floor,
where a number of vendors launched new products and partnerships
for linking disparate networks.
* US Sprint (Reston, Va.) unveiled the LAN Reach product family,
which links LANs via Sprint's SprintNet (formerly Telenet)
nationwide public data network. Sprint said it plans to develop
an array of LAN connectivity products based on several different
technologies and standards.
LAN Reach provides X.25 connectivity and supports the Open Systems
Interconnect (OSI) X.400 protocol for electronic mail, Sprint
said. The X.400 interface allows LAN users to access the
SprintMail E-mail messaging service, which is interconnected with
many other domestic and international e-mail services.
Sprint also signed an agreement to resell Eicon Technology Corp.'s
(Montreal, Canada) X.25/LAN gateway and bridge products. Sprint
said it is developing an integrated network management system to
control the SprintNet-Eicon gateway interconnection.
* Under an agreement with CrossComm Corp. (Marlborough, Mass.),
General DataComm Industries Inc. (Middlebury, Conn.) will add a
family of LAN bridges to its current T1 WAN product line.
* BBN Communications Corp. (Cambridge, Mass.), traditionally a WAN
vendor, said it will offer LAN interconnection products and
services as part of its "total network offering."
* NCR Comten (St. Paul, Minn.), an IBM-oriented networking vendor,
announced a new Network Integration Service for users to integrate
their LANs and WANs.
All in all, the conference showed that the lines between local
and wide area networking are fading fast. Next on the agenda?
High-speed LAN/WAN interconnectivity.
Many major vendors touted FDDI-compliant products at the show.
On the WAN side, Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) -- an
upcoming industry standard for high-speed fiber optic wide
area networking -- may be loosely viewed as FDDI's WAN equivalent.
As WANS and LANs integrate with each other, keep an eye out for
FDDI-to-SONET products.
LAN STANDARDS COME OF AGE
FDDI
After much debate the Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) is
finally close to completion. According to Floyd Ross, chairman of
the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Station
Management (SMT) working group, the SMT document of the emerging
standard should be ready for approval within a few months.
Ross predicted that by April, the SMT committee will have a
document that will essentially be the SMT standard. "There are
only details to work out" in the next few months, he said.
However, because of the red tape still ahead, Ross said the
standard will not be officially completed until early 1991.
The SMT document of the 100 megabit per second, FDDI LAN
specification has been a major stumbling block in completing the
standard. Of the four documents -- Physical (PHY), Physical Media
Dependent (PMD), Media Access Control (MAC), and SMT -- the SMT
had been the center of hot debate at ANSI (see NETLINE, November
'89, p. 2).
According to Ross, the station manager is the focal point of
network interoperability. "The station manager acts as the
interface between management entities, monitors station activity,
monitors station configuration and capabilities, and reconfigures
the stations if there is a failure on the network," he explained.
The debate was between vendors who wanted to define high-level
management specifications (mostly high-end vendors) and those
who wanted to keep the management capabilities basic (mostly
low-end vendors). The argument from the low-end vendors was that
including the high-level functionality specifications would stall
the standard's passage.
The final decision was to include the higher-level capabilities.
The low-end vendors "realized it would be quicker to put [the
higher-level procedures] in than to try and keep them out," Ross
said.
So, what does all this mean to the user? Right now, not much.
The passage of the FDDI standard, in fact, may bring on a classic
case of post-hype letdown. The approval will not create an
"instant market" for products, because the fiber medium still
faces several important implementation stumbling blocks.
Over time, a more stable standard may help the FDDI market. This
year, users will see FDDI offerings from vendors that are not
"FDDI shops," such as Digital Equipment Corp. (Maynard, Mass.) and
Unisys Corp. (Blue Bell, Pa.). This support from large vendors
will further open the FDDI market and give users a broader vendor
choice.
Although stable standards may spur some companies to begin
offering FDDI solutions, these companies will probably be more
influenced by DEC and Unisys than by ANSI. In a sense, then, the
FDDI boom will coincide with -- not result from -- the passage of
the standard.
With the standards in place, FDDI must now face two critical
obstacles to its implementation: price and interoperability.
Price is, perhaps, the more important issue, as users must first
be able to afford the FDDI network before dealing with
interoperability problems. And the only thing that will drive
FDDI prices down is demand.
A "Catch-22," you say? Yes, but not forever. As networking
advances, there will be more customers who "must have" FDDI. And,
as more of these users move toward an FDDI backbone, vendors will
price their products more competitively. However, such price wars
may be several years in coming.
nteroperability may not be as far away. As networking moves
toward multivendor interoperability and interconnectivity, vendors
are moving toward interoperability. In addition, industry groups
such as the SMT Development Forum will set up testing laboratories
where vendors can test their wares along with those of their
competitors.
The approval of the FDDI standard will affect neither price nor
interoperability. So, bottom line: Don't expect fireworks when
the standard is passed. All the standard really means is that you
won't have to change floppies any more to implement the latest
version of the SMT document. However, keep an eye on your primary
vendors -- chances are they're planning to pull FDDI rabbits out
of their hats in the very near future.
PRESS TO SELECT
1 Review results again
5 Start a new search
6 Leave System
Total charges thus far: $11.00
-> 6
Charges:
System Access: $1.25
Database Charges:
1 Searches: $10.00
Total Charges: $11.25
Logoff 0670657 27Aug90 22:25 EST
Thank you for using EasyNet
This has been File #2 of Modernz 1....by Neuromancer._Modernz Boards are:
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The Sages Hut: (908)269-7042
Look for more as soon as we find a new topic....
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