USENIX Board Studies UUCP

[Barry Shein]

From: snoopy at sopwith (Snoopy)
>bzs at world.std.com (Barry Shein) writes:
>
>| With ISDN coming and cheaper leased line alternatives I suspect most
>| people would be better off moving towards WAN protocols that can later
>| support them on higher-grade connections.
>
>"Most people" are not going to have ISDN or leased lines.  "Most people"
>are going to have POTS.  Any new system must run well on POTS lines.

(I assume by "most people" we both mean "most people who are likely to
use this service at all.)

I was under the impression that ISDN's PRI will be readily available
and relatively inexpensive. Haven't a few states (or perhaps BOCs)
already proposed tariff schedules for PRI service? Does anyone know
what these costs look like?

I also think leased lines are more within reach than most people
realize. Installation, last I checked, is a little expensive (like
$300) but a local 9600b leased line can be in the $100/mo range.
That's quite affordable by private individuals with even modest means
(they do have to want it, of course.) Multi-drop T1 also seems worth
investigating.

Given the current density of UUCP and/or USENET hosts in metropolitan
areas it might be surprisingly inexpensive to set up ad-hoc WANs. My
suspicion is that it's lack of organization that's preventing more of
this from happening rather than opportunity or cost, many are probably
spending more in message units right now than similar leased lines
would cost them. And the software could be better (although Cypress
did demonstrate that this kind of thing can work.)

If anyone would like to get together and take a serious look at the
possibilities for the Boston area get in touch by e-mail or phone. It
could be an interesting case study of what's really possible these
days (I'll be out of town the rest of this week, 12/5-9, but next
week.)

I'd really hate to see these proposals be based on bad information.
-- 
        -Barry Shein

Software Tool & Die, Purveyors to the Trade         | bzs at world.std.com
1330 Beacon St, Brookline, MA 02146, (617) 739-0202 | {xylogics,uunet}world!bzs