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Public-Access Computer Systems Review Volume 03 Number 06
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The Public-Access Computer Systems Review
Volume 3, Number 6 (1992) ISSN 1048-6542
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CONTENTS
COMMUNICATIONS
The Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry,
and Education (CANARIE)
By Marcos Silva and Glenn F. Cartwright (pp. 4-14)
To retrieve this file: GET SILVA PRV3N6 F=MAIL
This paper examines the Canadian Network for the Advancement of
Research, Industry, and Education (CANARIE). It explores the
influence of the U.S. National Research and Education Network
(NREN) initiative, and then it discusses the genesis of CANARIE,
its potential impact on the Canadian library and education
communities, and its administration and financing.
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The Public-Access Computer Systems Review
Editor-in-Chief
Charles W. Bailey, Jr.
University Libraries
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Steve Cisler, Apple
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Publication Information
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Silva, Marcos, and Glenn F. Cartwright. "The Canadian Network
for the Advancement of Research, Industry, and Education
(CANARIE)." The Public-Access Computer Systems Review 3, no. 6
(1992): 4-14. To retrieve this article, send the following e-
mail message to LISTSERV@UHUPVM1 or LISTSERV@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU: GET
SILVA PRV3N6 F=MAIL.
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1.0 Introduction
This paper examines the Canadian Network for the Advancement of
Research, Industry, and Education (CANARIE). It explores the
influence of the U.S. National Research and Education Network
(NREN) initiative, and then it discusses the genesis of CANARIE,
its potential impact on the Canadian library and education
communities, and its administration and financing.
2.0 Influence of the U.S. NREN
The convergence of computer and telecommunications technologies
as well as the development of high-speed networks are considered
by many to be the most important factors affecting the ability of
a nation to remain in the technological marketplace. [1]
Indeed, the opportunities offered by advances in computing
and telecommunications technologies are understood to be so vital
to economic development that the U.S Congress has been
considering several bills that ensure that all sectors of the
American research community share in the benefits of these
technologies.
The High-Performance Computing Act of 1991, sponsored by
Albert Gore, Jr. (Democratic Senator from Tennessee and current
Vice Presidential candidate), asserts that the nation's economic
growth, industrial production, scientific advancement, and
security are dependent upon advances in computer science and
telecommunications. [2] It explicitly states that collaboration
among the academic, government (including Federal laboratories),
and industrial sectors is the way to ensure continued American
leadership in high-performance computing. [3] A key feature of
the act is the establishment of a National Research and Education
Network (NREN).
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The High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 was signed by
President Bush in December 1991. Subsequently, the Information
Infrastructure and Technology Act of 1992, likewise sponsored by
Gore, was introduced in the U.S. Senate on July 1, 1992.
Although the bill died with the adjournment of Congress in
October 1992, Gore has stated that he will either reintroduce the
bill if he remains in the Senate or, if he is elected Vice
President, work with Congress to introduce a similar bill.
This bill would build upon and expand the High-Performance
Computing Act of 1991. [4] The legislation is intended to ensure
that the new information technologies created by the NREN are
utilized by factories, libraries, K-12 schools, medical
institutions, and other key sectors of society. Funds would be
authorized to create digital libraries, connect primary and
secondary schools to the network, and provide educational and
training software.
The development of NREN has received close attention from
the Canadian press and the research community. Articles in both
popular and academic journals have debated the project's impact
and possible evolution. This discussion has helped strengthen
the perception that a similar network is needed in Canada.
3.0 CANARIE Background
The Canadian CANARIE network advances essentially the same
paradigm as the NREN. CANARIE will: (1) promote communications
technology in support of Canada's research and development
community; (2) create a test bed for the development of Canadian
electronic products; (3) introduce Canadians to new technologies
and act as a catalyst for exploiting the new services that high-
speed networks permit; (4) offer research centers, government,
and private companies network-based services; and (5) promote the
development of information databases and virtual libraries. [5]
Presently, Canadian universities and research centers are
connected to CA*net, which is part of the worldwide Internet.
Within five years, CANARIE will upgrade the national backbone
from 56 kilobits per second to T-1 speeds (1.544 megabits per
second) and then to T-3 speeds (44.736 megabits per second).
CANARIE will make full use of existing Canadian technology and
the present CA*net infrastructure. Hopefully, this strategy will
minimize duplication of funding, efforts, and resources.
Interconnection of regional networks will be a national priority.
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The catalyst for CANARIE was the Network Organization
Conference (April 1991), sponsored by Industry, Science, and
Technology Canada. At the Conference, an executive committee and
four working groups (Business, Governance, Marketing, and Network
Architecture) were given the mandate to establish plans for the
creation of a high-speed network. The objective of the working
groups was to detail the infrastructure needed to implement the
network by January 1, 1993.
The composition of CANARIE's working groups reflects its
mandate to foster greater cooperation between the research and
industrial sectors. Among its members are representatives from
major Canadian universities, industries, and government agencies.
Canadian libraries are represented by Alan MacDonald, Director of
Information Services, University of Calgary and by Alan
Greenberg, Director of Computing and Telecommunications, McGill
University.
4.0 Why CANARIE?
Canadians are motivated to establish CANARIE for the same reasons
that Americans want to establish the NREN. [6] The CANARIE
Business Plan Working Group argues that computing and
telecommunications are perhaps the most important technological
forces shaping the new world economic order. [7] Even more
explicit is the Working Group's warning that ignoring the
potentials of high-speed networks will place Canada at a great
disadvantage in its ability to maintain a high standard of living
and necessary social welfare programs. [8]
CANARIE stipulates that a partnership among all research
sectors of Canadian society is crucial to the successful
development and implementation of the project. [9] This
collaborative initiative is understood as a way to preserve and
promote Canada's technological development in an increasingly
competitive global marketplace.
The CANARIE Marketing Plan Working Group views information
technology as the central resource in advanced communities. [10]
The Marketing Plan Working Group asserts that failure to grasp
the implications of high-speed networks will harm Canada's
ability to supply the world market with its brand of computer-
based networking products and services. In fact, without such a
network, Canada will be unable to compete internationally and
will have to meet domestic needs with foreign products and
expertise. [11]
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It is not surprising, therefore, to find a chapter in the
Marketing Plan Working Group's report entitled "The Threat,"
which outlines the investments that Japan and the United States
are making to upgrade their telecommunications networks. And
even more telling is the inclusion of an electronic mail message
detailing the possibility of a Canadian brain drain to the United
States as a result of the NREN. [12]
The same warning is found in the summary of European
investments in Cooperation for Open System Interconnection
Networking in Europe (COSINE), the American NREN, and other
foreign networks and initiatives that is presented in the
Business Working Group report. One chapter of the report, "Other
Economic and Strategic Benefits," details how the CANARIE program
may motivate highly-skilled workers to remain in Canada and so
contribute to the development of information technologies. [13]
Clearly, competitiveness and a changing world economy are
the key forces pressing Canada to invest in CANARIE. If Canada
is to remain a key player on the industrial and research world
stage, it must embrace these new computer and telecommunications
technologies and integrate them into its research and
manufacturing sectors. The mission of CANARIE is to: "Support
Canada's growth and enhance its international competitiveness
through the promotion, development and use of high-speed
communications network products and services." [14]
5.0 Potential Applications
The convergence of computer and telecommunications technologies
is reshaping the needs of the Canadian industrial and research
infrastructure. Since libraries are an important part of this
infrastructure, it is safe to assume that the impact of these
developments upon traditional library services will be profound.
CANARIE will radically alter the ways that libraries meet their
clients' information needs. These changes will be irreversible
and will require an innovative and proactive response from
libraries.
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It is interesting to note that the report of the Marketing
Plan Working Group views libraries as an important market segment
for CANARIE. Only schools offer a larger potential pool of
users. The Working Group includes libraries as a separate
category of possible users; implicit in this categorization is
the realization that the success of CANARIE requires the full
participation of libraries. This, in turn, provides libraries
with the unique opportunity to be a key player in deciding future
national objectives and policies.
Because of its mandate to define the necessary management
infrastructure and network architecture to support CANARIE, the
Network Architecture Working Group has most clearly described the
possible uses of CANARIE.
CANARIE services are categorized into "embedded" services,
which are further subdivided into primary and supplementary
embedded services, and "enabled" services. Primary embedded
services, such as routing services for the Internet Protocol
(IP), are important and strategic for network operations, and
they are generally expensive. [15] Supplementary embedded
services, such as naming and addressing directory services and
gateway services to other networks are generally needed by the
CANARIE user community. Enabled services permit the user
community to have access to services that are not necessarily an
integral part of CANARIE, but are made possible by its
establishment.
It is the enabled services category that is potentially of
greatest interest to network users and libraries. Some possible
enabled services include: access to citation and full-text
databases, multimedia information, virtual libraries, and other
resources; distance education; electronic mail for organizations
that wish to use their own systems; file transfers; remote
"login" (Telnet) to network computers; and video conferencing.
[16]
Of all the enabled services offered by CANARIE, Telnet is
arguably the utility that will be used most by Canadian
libraries. Using existing Internet connections, librarians and
researchers are able to access hundreds of OPACs and other
databases. Some sites have created special indexes to sections
of their collections that are unavailable elsewhere. Dartmouth's
New Hampshire Newspaper Index and Carnegie Mellon's index to
architectural illustrations are two cases in point.
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With the advent of CANARIE, a greater number of users will
have access to larger and more diverse databases. Once sites
adhere to the Z39.50 protocol, users will be able to search and
retrieve data from remote computers using their own familiar
system interface. This is likely to spur greater use of the
network.
But perhaps the greatest impact of CANARIE will be in its
ability to encourage greater resource sharing among libraries.
Once access to data is made seamless and transparent, centralized
access to databases that are now duplicated at many sites becomes
feasible. For example, the Canadian Census tapes from Statistics
Canada could be shared easily.
The creation of regional online catalogs offers another
resource sharing possibility. In Canada, NOVANET is a good
example of a regional catalog that succeeds in bringing together
the online resources of many libraries in Nova Scotia. By
contrast, in Quebec, it is necessary to use a commercial
database, at considerable cost, to find the holdings of most
university libraries in the province.
Employing the network to create regional or national catalogs
would allow for greater coordination of collection and
acquisition policies, while simultaneously fulfilling the CANARIE
objective of increasing public access to information whenever
possible.
It is interesting to note that at a recent seminar on the
Internet, held at Laval University in Quebec, discussion on the
possibility of creating a Quebec-wide online catalog grew into a
fascinating debate on how electronic networks might be used to
promote and safeguard regional cultures. By exploiting the power
and flexibility of future high-speed networks, libraries could
play a central role in creating unique regional or national
databases. In this manner, libraries would be able to fully
exercise their mandates to disseminate and preserve information.
CANARIE plans to offer access to anyone having legitimate
use for the services found in the network. [17] If CANARIE
administrators and policy makers adhere to this strategy, it is
plausible that use of CANARIE will filter down to the general
public through the use of Free-Nets.
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Free-Nets are public community networks that do not charge
user fees. They are an outgrowth of the National Public
Telecomputing Network (NPTN), a research project conducted at
Case Western University. The NPTN is a nonprofit organization
that works to ensure the provision of free computerized
information and communication services to the general public.
All members of the community are able to access and exploit the
resources available on the network. And, most importantly, the
system is under the administration and care of the community.
Perhaps the best known Free-Net is the Cleveland Free-Net.
By exploiting the Internet, the Cleveland Free-Net makes publicly
available a myriad of resources and services, such as newspaper
headlines, medical and health information, recent U.S. Supreme
Court rulings, and instructions on how to contact government
representatives. Logging in and navigating through the Free-Net
is simple. School librarians and K-12 educators find the Free-
Net particularly valuable because of its flexibility in
introducing students to electronic resources and databases.
Overall, the Free-Net now boasts of over 22,000 registered users
and averages over 5,000 logins a day. Free-Nets are a good
example of how CANARIE could serve the Canadian population.
Support for educational initiatives is another major CANARIE
objective. Indeed, the benefits of CANARIE to all levels of
education are stressed throughout CANARIE reports. Plans include
integrating intelligent computer-assisted instruction software,
multimedia databases, teleconferencing, and virtual libraries
into classroom instruction, from the kindergarten to the
university levels.
Because of Canada's geography, investment in distance
education programs has always found strong governmental support.
Consequently, it is not surprising to find that one of the
primary initial uses of CANARIE will be distance education.
Libraries, in their support of distance education, have the
unique opportunity to expand the provision of services by making
accessible regional or national collections, full-text databases,
and multimedia information. This type of networking and resource
sharing is considered urgent for remote Canadian communities in
the Northwest Territories and the Yukon.
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CANARIE will also support the research and development
efforts of the information technology industry. The CANARIE
Business Plan Working Group states that one of the major benefits
from ultra high-speed networks is the development of new products
and applications. [18] In addition, the Working Group stresses
that CANARIE will profit Canadian information technology
researchers by creating a test bed for new products and services.
[19] Indeed, the development of a test bed for Canadian network
products, applications and services is understood to be an
integral part of CANARIE's goals and objectives.
6.0 Administration
CANARIE is to be a nonprofit company; all revenues are to be used
to cover operating costs. Different shareholders will be
represented on its Board of Directors, who will have
responsibility for budget planning, management, and policy.
The government will continue to participate in the evolution
of CANARIE by collaborating in the formulation of future plans
and policies. CANARIE's budget has been set at $60 million
(Canadian) for the first five years. It is believed the company
can become self-supporting after that initial period.
It is imperative that Canadian libraries have representation
in CANARIE policy formulation and that they invest in the
development of CANARIE.
7.0 Conclusion
Canadian policy makers view CANARIE as a way to support and
augment the education, research, and industrial sectors. Indeed,
CANARIE is understood to be an essential component of the
emerging national information-based economy. Like the North
American interstate highways that were created decades ago,
CANARIE and NREN will provide high-speed "data highways" that
will permit new technological resources to be exploited. CANARIE
will help lead Canada into the twenty-first century.
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CANARIE also presents unique opportunities for libraries:
the creation of virtual libraries, faster document delivery
services, increased access to larger and more diverse databases
and OPACs, interconnections among research centers, and the
preservation of regional and national cultures. Most important,
however, is that CANARIE may be the way for libraries to respond
to the many profound changes in society stemming from the
convergence of computer and telecommunications technologies.
CANARIE gives libraries the means to meet the new challenges
associated with the changing nature of scholarly communication
and the growing importance of electronic publishing.
It is inconceivable that a first-world economy would not
invest in new telecommunications technologies. American,
European, and Japanese investments in networking leave Canada
little choice. NREN has shown the possibilities and promise of
high-speed networks, and CANARIE will allow Canada to share in
this vision. The CANARIE working groups realize that now is the
time for action--to postpone implementation would seriously harm
Canada's ability to remain strong among the privileged nations of
the world.
References
1. Charles R. McClure et al., The National Research and
Education Network (NREN): Research and Policy Perspectives
(Syracuse, NY: Ablex Publishing Corp., 1991); and Glenn F.
Cartwright, "Computers, Mind, and Cosmos" (Paper presented at the
First Annual McGill Computers in Education Conference, Montreal,
Quebec, December 1983).
2. U.S. Congress, Senate, High-Performance Computing Act of
1991, 102nd Cong., 1st sess., S. 272, Sec. 2, (1). (Computer
file: /nren/hpca.1991/nrenbill.txt, available via anonymous FTP
from NIC.MERIT.EDU.)
3. Ibid., Sec. 3, (I).
4. Albert Gore, Jr., "The Information Infrastructure and
Technology Act," EDUCOM Review 27, no. 5 (1992): 26-29; and News
From U.S. Senator Al Gore, 1 July 1992. (Computer file:
/nren/iita.1992/gorebill.1992.txt, available via anonymous FTP
from NIC.MERIT.EDU.)
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5. C. Patrick Sampson, "Forging a National Network: The Canadian
Experience" (Paper presented at IASSIST '92, Madison, Wisconsin,
May 1992).
6. Hickling and Comgate Engineering Associates, Ltd.,
"Feasibility Study of a National High Speed Communications
Network for Research, Development and Education" (n.p., 1990), 5.
7. Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry
and Education, Business Plan Working Group, "Report of the
Business Plan Working Group" (n.p., 1992), 1.
8. Ibid., 2.
9. Ibid., 22.
10. Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry
and Education, Marketing Plan Working Group, "Report of the
Marketing Plan Working Group, Draft 2.0" (n.p., 1992), 1, 3.
11. Ibid., 6.
12. Ibid., 5.
13. Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry
and Education, Business Plan Working Group, "Report of the
Business Plan Working Group" (n.p., 1992), 8.
14. Ibid., i-ii.
15. Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry
and Education, Network Architecture Working Group, "Network
Architecture, Draft 3.1" (n.p., 1992), 18.
16. Ibid., 34-35.
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17. Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry
and Education, Business Plan Working Group, "Report of the
Business Plan Working Group" (n.p., 1992), 10.
18. Ibid., 6.
19. Ibid.
About the Authors
Marcos Silva, Computer Services Librarian, McLennan-Redpath
Library, McGill University. Internet: CZD2@MUSICA.MCGILL.CA.
Glenn F. Cartwright, Associate Professor, Department of
Educational Psychology and Counseling, McGill University.
Internet: IN00@MUSICB.MCGILL.CA.
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The Public-Access Computer Systems Review is an electronic
journal that is distributed on BITNET, Internet, and other
computer networks. There is no subscription fee.
To subscribe, send an e-mail message to LISTSERV@UHUPVM1
(BITNET) or LISTSERV@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU (Internet) that says:
SUBSCRIBE PACS-P First Name Last Name. PACS-P subscribers also
receive two electronic newsletters: Current Cites and Public-
Access Computer Systems News.
This article is Copyright (C) 1992 by Marcos Silva and Glenn
F. Cartwright. All Rights Reserved.
The Public-Access Computer Systems Review is Copyright (C)
1992 by the University Libraries, University of Houston. All
Rights Reserved.
Copying is permitted for noncommercial use by academic
computer centers, computer conferences, individual scholars, and
libraries. Libraries are authorized to add the journal to their
collection, in electronic or printed form, at no charge. This
message must appear on all copied material. All commercial use
requires permission.
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