Z News Dispatches
Monthly news update
November 1998
 
1. TERENA and European NRENs News

1.1. TERENA News

1.1.1. TERENA General News (GA, TA)
1.1.2. TERENA WG and TF News
1.1.3. TERENA Webserver News
1.2. NREN News
1.3. The Works of DANTE (bi-monthly news) 
1.4. Security Services (JANET-CERT, EuroCERT)
1.5. Internet2 and NGI News

2. Internet World News 

2.1. ISOC News
2.2. New IANA (ICANN) News 

3. EC ISPO News 

3.1. FP5/ISPO
3.2. Telematics Program
3.3. Education 

4. Internet Technology News and Standardisation

4.1. IETF News
4.2. Standardisation in Telecommunications and IT (ISO, ITU, CEN/ISSS, EEMA)
4.3. Technology News
4.3.1. Security
4.3.2. Java 

5. Internet and IT Industry News 

5.1. Companies, Telecommunications, Infrastructure
5.2. New Products 
5.3. Internet and IT Market Trends

6. Legal and Social Issues of Internet/IS 

6.1. Legal Issues (Merges, DOJ news, Crypto, Tax)
6.2. Copyright, WIPO news
6.3. Spam and Content Abuse problems 

7. Conferences, Workshops, Meetings 
 
 

 



1. TERENA and European NRENs News

1.1. TERENA News

1.1.1. TERENA General News (GA, TA)
1.1.2. TERENA WG and TF News
1.1.3. TERENA Webserver News

1.2. NREN News

Bandwidth Boost to JANET's Transatlantic Link
http://www.ja.net/press_release/us_supply.html

NORDUnetUpgrades in the Eastern connectivity
Nov 10th 1998
NORDUnet provides internet connectivity for several research networks in the Eastern Europe also. There has been some upgrades and Lithuania is now connected at 1,5 Mbit/s, Estonia at 2 Mbit/s, Ukraine at 384 Kbit/s, Russia (St. Petersburg) at 4Mbit/s and Poland at 7 Mbit/s. Please refer to the Connectivity map and Network Statistics for further information on the state of these connections.

The Research and Academic Network in Poland (NASK) has commissioned a new Warsaw - Stockholm terrestrial 155 Mb/s Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) link.
http://www.nask.pl/
http://www.nask.pl/english/co_nowego_eng.html

NREN’s News pages

UKERNA News
http://www.ja.net/documents/UKERNA_News/index.html

UKERNA Quarterly Reports to the JANET Community
http://www.ja.net/documents/quarterly.html

UKERNA Announcements
http://www.ukerna.ac.uk/announcements/announcements.html

JANET Announcements
http://www.ja.net/press_release/press.html

Neues im DFN-WWW-Server (German)
http://www.dfn.de/neues/

Pressemitteilungen und Publikationen
http://www.dfn.de/presse/

SURFnet Nieuws (SNN)
http://www.surfnet.nl/surfnet-nieuwsdienst.html
http://nieuws.surfnet.nl/nieuws/

NORDUnet News and Announcements
http://www.nordu.net/news/

NASK News
http://www.nask.pl/english/co_nowego_eng.html

Italian National Research Council (CNR) News
http://www.cnr.it/ENG/NEWS/events_eng.html

Difusi?n de Actividades de RedIRIS
http://www.rediris.es/rediris/difusion/

Gaceta RedIRIS
http://www.rediris.es/rediris/difusion/gaceta/index.es.html
Bolet?n de RedIRIS:
http://www.rediris.es/rediris/boletin/index.html

SWITCH Bulletin
http://www.switch.ch/bulletin/

News from DAREnet
http://www.darenet.dk/eng/katalog.cgi?information

News from FSK (Ministry of Research and Information Technology)
http://www.fsk.dk/seneste-uk.html
Dag til Dag Nyheder
http://www.uvm.dk/seneste.htm

Daily News Bulletin BELNET
http://www.belnet.be/new/bulletin.html

CESNet News
http://www.cesnet.cz/allmess.asp

ARNES News and Events
http://www.arnes.si/news-events.html


1.3. The Works of DANTE (bi-monthly news)

1.4. Security Services (JANET-CERT, EuroCERT)

JANET-CERT Monthly Reports
 http://www.ja.net/CERT/JANET-CERT/monthly_reports.html

During the third July-September 1998 JANET-CERT received 580 incident reports; a 74 per cent increase from the previous quarter. This dramatic increase in the number of incidents reported is the result of the release of a tool that makes it trivial to probe thousands of machines for a wide variety of vulnerabilities. This tool, - 'mscan' - has been used to make attacks on numerous systems.
These attacks use well known vulnerabilities all of which have solutions. Further information about the 'mscan' tool and
the associated solutions can be found on the JANET WWW server at:
http://www.ja.net/CERT/JANET-CERT/mscan.html

1.5. Internet2 and NGI News

Fall Joint NLANR/Internet2 Techs Workshop
1-4 November 1998, Pittsburgh, PA
http://www.internet2.edu/html/joint_techs_workshop.html

DSI - Distributed Storage Infrastructure.
A goal of Internet2 is to enable and demonstrate enhanced research, education and other services (e.g., health care, environmental monitoring) by taking advantage of "virtual proximity" created by an advanced communications infrastructure. The Distributed Storage Infrastructure (DSI) project led by Micah Beck and Terry Moore of the Innovative Computing Laboratory at the University of Tennessee with help from Bert Dempsey of the the University of North Carolina's School of Information and Library Science is an important component in reaching this goal.
http://www.internet2.edu/dsi/

DVN-Digital Video Network. The Internet2 Digital Video Network (I2-DVN) will establish a national, higher education video network service to provide capabilities to support scalable and easy-to-use applications to deliver live or stored streaming and interactive high-quality digital video.
http://www.internet2.edu/dvn/

Internet2 News Update

Internet2 Press Releases
http://www.internet2.edu/html/i2_press_releases.html

CA*Net 2 News archive
http://www.canet2.net/c2news.htm

Qbone. An Interdomain Testbed for Differentiated Services
http://www.internet2.edu/qos/qbone/
http://www.internet2.edu/qos/

2. Internet World News

2.1. ISOC News

Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
"The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect." -- Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web November 12, 1998: WAI Authoring Tool Guidelines publishes first public WAI AU Working Draft.
http://www.w3.org/WAI/

Internet Scout Project Report
http://www.internic.net/scout-report/

2.2. New IANA (ICANN) News

Released November 25, 1998: Memorandum of Understanding Between the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/icann-memorandum.htm

Information on Management of Internet Names and Addresses (Comment Period is closed).
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/domainhome.htm

November 23th, 1998: "ICANN Announces Changes, Requests DNS Transition Begin"
http://www.icann.org/contents-pr23nov98.html
Transmittal Letter to U.S. Department of Commerce, November 23, 1998
http://www.icann.org/letter-pr23nov98.html
ICANN Bylaws (As Revised)
http://www.icann.org/bylaws-pr23nov98.html
Articles of Incorporation (As Revised)
http://www.icann.org/articles-pr23nov98.html
 

3. EC ISPO News

3.1. FP5/ISPO

The NECTAR Information Update
http://www.nectar.org/update/index.htm

European Journal of Engineering for Information Society Applications
Volume 1, Issue 1, September 1998
http://www.nectar.org/journal/index.htm

FLUIDS Technology Bulletins
http://www.nectar.org/fluids/bulletin/index.htm

AESOPIAN Best Practices Electronic News Report
http://www.nectar.org/aesopian/index.htm

Best Practices in ICT
Volume 1, number 6, October 1998
AESOPIAN has created a WWW repository of best practices for managers of telematics, i.e. ICT based projects and software tools which enable evaluation and improvement of projects’ current practices through benchmarking with similar projects.
http://www.nectar.org/aesopian/journal6.htm

3.2. Telematics Program

3.3. Education

Telematics Applications Programme: Education and Training News
http://www2.echo.lu/telematics/education/en/news/main1.html

6th Telematics for Education and Training Concertation Meeting, held jointly with Educational Multimedia Taskforce in 19-20 November 1998
http://www.concord.cscdc.be/meetings/education+training_6th/index.htm

Web-based training solutions
Education is the key to a motivated and loyal workforce, but it is the first to go in a budget crisis. Rescue your training programs from the chopping block by moving them online. Comparison of six solutions from Allen Communication, Asymetrix, Docent, Macromedia, MicroMedium, WBT Systems.s
http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=38674

Virtual Universities Report Robust Enrollments for Distance-Education Courses
Administrators at some virtual universities, bolstered by their first-semester enrollment figures, are optimistic about the growing popularity of distance education, especially among non-traditional students.
http://chronicle.com/free/98/11/98111901t.htm

Worldwide ACM International Collegiate Computer Contest sponsored by IBM
Nearly 4,000 top computer science and engineering students worldwide have begun competing in the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest. IBM is again sponsoring the contest to attract the best and brightest students to the industry. Regional contests culminate with the World Finals on 8 April 1999 in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
http://www.ibm.com/software/news/sw/a36a/

4. Internet Technology News and Standardisation

4.1. IETF News

New RFCs

RFC 2440: OpenPGP Message Format. J. Callas, L. Donnerhacke, H. Finney, R. Thayer
ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2440.txt

RFC 2445: Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification (iCalendar)
ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2445.txt

RFC 2458: Toward the PSTN/Internet Inter-Networking -- Pre-PINT Implementations
ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2458.txt

RFC 2401: Security Architecture for the Internet Protocol
ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2401.txt

RFC 2411: IP Security Document Roadmap
ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2411.txt

RFC 2408: Internet Security Association and Key Management Protocol (ISAKMP)
ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2408.txt

RFC 2409: The Internet Key Exchange (IKE)
ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2409.txt


The IESG has approved publication of the following Internet-Drafts as Proposed Standards:

Definition of the Differentiated Services Field (DS Field) in the IPv4 and IPv6 Headers <draft-ietf-diffserv-header-04.txt>
SMTP Service Extension for Secure SMTP over TLS <draft-hoffman-smtp-ssl-10.txt>
Gateways and MIME Security Multiparts <draft-freed-gatesec-03.txt>
Message Submission <draft-gellens-submit-13.txt>
IPv6 over Non-Broadcast Multiple Access (NBMA) networks <draft-ietf-ion-ipv6-02.txt>
IPv6 over ATM Networks <draft-ietf-ion-ipv6-atm-03.txt>
HTTP Extensions for Distributed Authoring -- WEBDAV' <draft-ietf-webdav-protocol-10.txt>

The IESG has approved the Internet Drafts as an Informational RFC

Language Tagging in Unicode Plain Text <draft-whistler-plane14-00.txt>
An Architecture for Differentiated Services <draft-ietf-diffserv-arch-02.txt>

New Internet-Drafts is available from the on-line Internet-Drafts directories
(some of 561 submitted to IETF 43 in Orlando).
 

The LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF) - Technical Specification
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-good-ldap-ldif-01.txt

User-based Security Model (USM) for version 3 of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMPv3)
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-snmpv3-usm-v2-02.txt

The TEXT/PLAIN FORMAT Parameter
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-gellens-format-01.txt

Neda's Efficient Mail Submission and Delivery (EMSD)
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-rfced-info-banan-00.txt

Anti-Spam Recommendations for SMTP MTAs
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-lindberg-anti-spam-mta-06.txt

Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP)
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-huitema-MGCP-v0r1-01.txt

Internationalized Uniform Resource Identifiers (IURI)
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-masinter-url-i18n-03.txt

UTF-16, an encoding of ISO 10646
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-hoffman-utf16-00.txt

The Internet and the Millenium Problem (Year 2000)
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-2000-issue-04.txt

IP Multicast Applications: Challenges and Solutions
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-quinn-multicast-apps-00.txt

DAV Searching and Locating
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-reddy-dasl-protocol-03.txt

An Expedited Forwarding PHB
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-diffserv-phb-ef-01.txt

Bylaws for a Protocol Support Organization
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-poisson-pso-bl-01.txt

LDP Specification
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-mpls-ldp-02.txt

HTTP Extensions for Distributed Authoring -- WEBDAV
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-webdav-protocol-10.txt

An API for Service Location
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-svrloc-api-07.txt

Report on the 1998 IAB Routing Workshop
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-iab-rtr-workshop-00.txt

The Case for IPv6
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-iab-case-for-ipv6-03.txt

Service Templates and service: Schemes
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-svrloc-service-scheme-13.txt

Service Location Protocol, Version 2
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-svrloc-protocol-v2-11.txt

On-Demand Multicast Routing Protocol (ODMRP) for Ad-Hoc Networks
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-gerla-manet-odmrp-00.txt

Differentiated Service Management Information Base using SMIv2
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-pan-diffserv-mib-00.txt

MPLS using ATM VC Switching
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-mpls-atm-01.txt

Secure, Remote Access over the Internet using IPSec
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-gupta-ipsec-remote-access-01.txt

Routing of Multimedia Connections when Interworking with PSTN, ATM, and IP Networks
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ash-itu-sg2-qos-routing-00.txt

Internet Telephony Gateway Location Service Protocol
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-agapi-ini-gwloc-00.txt

Border Gateway Multicast Protocol (BGMP): Protocol Specification
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-idmr-gum-04.txt

A Framework for Use of RSVP with Diff-serv Networks
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-diffserv-rsvp-01.txt

Ongoing TCP Research Related to Satellites
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-tcpsat-res-issues-05.txt

COPS Usage for Differentiated Services
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-rap-cops-ds-01.txt

Ad Hoc On Demand Distance Vector (AODV) Routing
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-manet-aodv-02.txt

Supporting Service Level Agreements using Differentiated Services
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-verma-diffserv-ntimplem-00.txt

Cryptographic Message Syntax
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-smime-cms-09.txt

Internet Printing Protocol/1.0: Implementer's Guide
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-ipp-implementers-guide-00.txt

Users' Security Handbook
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-ssh-users-10.txt

Use of Label Switching on Frame Relay Networks Specification
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-mpls-fr-03.txt

Client-Cache Communication
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-melve-clientcache-com-00.txt

Inter Cache Communication Protocols
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-melve-intercache-comproto-00.txt

The Architecture of the Common Indexing Protocol (CIP)
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-find-cip-arch-02.txt

MIME Object Definitions for the Common Indexing Protocol (CIP)
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-find-cip-mime-03.txt

LDAP Replication Architecture
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-merrells-ldup-model-01.txt

The Kerberos Network Authentication Service (V5)
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-cat-kerberos-revisions-03.txt

Using RPSL in Practice
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-rps-appl-rpsl-03.txt

Policy Framework Core Information Model
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-policy-core-schema-00.txt

The COPS (Common Open Policy Service) Protocol
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-rap-cops-03.txt

Mobility Support in IPv6
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-mobileip-ipv6-07.txt

BGP Security Analysis
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-murphy-bgp-secr-02.txt

Internet Message Format Standard
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-drums-msg-fmt-06.txt

SPKI Certificate Theory
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-spki-cert-theory-04.txt

DAV Searching and Locating
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-reddy-dasl-protocol-04.txt

Efficiently transporting ad-carrying web pages
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-gupta-efficient-ad-00.txt

Requirements of Diff-serv Boundary Routers
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-bernet-diffedge-01.txt

Security Mechanisms for the Internet
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-iab-secmech-00.txt

DON'T SPEW - A Set of Guidelines for Mass Unsolicited Mailings and Postings (spam*)
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-run-spew-07.txt

Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-http-v11-spec-rev-06.txt

A Two-Tier Resource Management Model for Differentiated Services Networks
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-rotzy-2-tier-management-00.txt

LDAP Schema for Internet Mail
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-srivastava-ldap-mail-00.txt


4.2. Standardisation in Telecommunications and IT (ISO, ITU, CEN/ISSS, EEMA)

ITU Newsroom
http://www.itu.org/newsroom/index.html

CEN News
http://www.cenorm.be/News/NEWs.htm

CEN/ISSS Newsletter October 1998
Geographic information
Hospital procurement
Electronic commerce – Sanitary ware etc
Other news from CEN/ISSS (Information Society Standardization System)
http://www.cenorm.be/News/Newsletter/Oct98News.htm

CEN Strategy: 2010
http://www.cenorm.be/News/Strategy/Stragegy.htm

TC 304 Information and Communication Technologies - European Localization Requirements.
Last TC Meeting was in Brussels, 23-26 November 1998
http://www.stri.is/TC304/default.html

Testing, Certification and Safety issues in Information & Communications Technologies
10-11 December 1998. Luxembourg, Inter-Continental Hotel
http://www.cenorm.be/isss/ECITC/EUROCONTROL/home.htm

Multimedia over the Internet gets a boost
Record breaking progress in the standardization of multimedia communications over the Internet has been made in recent months by Study Group 16. The work of the ITU in IP-based standards has been recognized by the Plenipotentiary Conference of the ITU which took place in Minneapolis last month.
Ten new Recommendations extending the use of the H.323 standard on IP (Internet Protocol) based networks have been approved in the last few months. The group has also approved two new Recommendations for audiovisual communications over ATM networks.
ITU/98-32, 1 December 1998
http://www.itu.org/newsroom/press/releases/1998/98-32.html

UMTS FORUM RECOGNIZES ITU'S VITAL ROLE IN 3G SUCCESS:
ITU Task Group presents progress on assessing technology proposals for third generation radio interface Issued simultaneously by the ITU and the UMTS Forum St-Helier, Jersey (Channel Islands) – Key players from the mobile industry around the world met in Jersey, Channel Islands, 9-20 November 1998 and attended a two day workshop associated with the 15th meeting of Task Group 8/1 of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The Task Group – responsible for third generation (3G) mobile systems – considered various issues such as the development of key radio specifications and additional spectrum for 3G mobile systems, global circulation of terminals, etc. At the workshop – supported by the UMTS Forum – the ITU's Task Group 8/1 presented its ongoing work in determining the key characteristics of the radio interface(s) for "IMT-2000" (International Mobile Telecommunications 2000).
ITU/98-31, 17 November 1998
http://www.itu.org/newsroom/press/releases/1998/98-31.html

Major step towards the Global Information Society: New Standards for Multi-Megabit/s Network Access adopted including G.Lite. 29 October 1998
http://www.itu.org/newsroom/press/releases/1998/NP-4.html

4.3. Technology News

Overview paper of various QoS strategies
http://www.cse.msu.edu/~xiaoxipe

ITU/98-30, 6 November 1998
Minneapolis Conference Gives Way to Increased Rights for Industry The decisions of the Conference aimed a maintaining a pre-eminent role for the ITU in the world marketplace, in everyone's interest.
http://www.itu.org/newsroom/press/releases/1998/98-30.html

LEVEL 3 AND BELLCORE MERGE VOICE OVER IP PROTOCOL PROPOSALS
Level 3 Communications and Bellcore will merge their Voice over IP proposals into a common specification to be called the Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP). It will be available without a fee to service providers and hardware and software vendors. MGCP is designed for external control and management of "media gateways" (such as voice over IP gateways, voice over ATM gateways, modem banks, cable modems, set-top boxes, soft PBXs and circuit cross connects) using software "call agents" or media gateway controllers. A draft of the MGCP specification has been submitted to the SS7-Internet mailing list of the IETF and to ETSI's Telecommunications & Internet Protocol Harmonization Over Networks (ETSI TIPHON) working group. Previously, Level 3 had led a consortium developing an Internet Protocol Device Control (IPDC) specification; Bellcore and Cisco Systems were developing a Simple Gateway Control Protocol (SGCP). Both efforts are now merged into MGCP.
Level 3, November 16, 1998
http://www.Level3.com/company/nov1698.html

A Clever New Way to Search?
IBM has developed a new search engine process that the company says will blend the speed and comprehension of an automated search engine with the discerning results of a human-generated index.
http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/16494.html

Big names submit XMI standard
A group of software vendors led by IBM, Oracle, and Unisys wants to make it easier for development teams to work together on the Internet. IBM and gang this week presented a proposal to the Object Management Group, an object technology standards body, to make their XML Metadata Interchange Format specification, or XMI, the standard method in which object data is exchanged over the Internet.
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,28682,00.html

Virus Thrives on HTML
A new demonstration virus is the first to exploit the language of Web pages. Observers say it's a new frontier for malicious computer code.
http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/16206.html

Juno wins patent for PC banner ad
A technology from Juno Online Services that can display ads on a user's PC even if it isn't connected to the Internet has been awarded a patent and may be licensed to other online firms.
http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=36442

Cisco Systems Opens Cisco IOS Web Cache Communication Protocol
November 16, 1998 - Demonstrating its leadership in caching technology and its ongoing commitment to opening protocols for industry-wide adoption, Cisco Systems today announced it will license its Cisco IOS® software Web Cache Communication Protocol (WCCP) specification to other cache vendors.
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/146/november98/17.html

4.3.1. Security

New Security Products was released SHADOW: FREE SOFTWARE FOR INTRUSION DETECTION by SANS (http://www.sans.org/digest/july98.htm#SHADOW) and Adaptive Network Security (ANS) Modules (http://ansa.iss.net/modules.html)

SHADOW: FREE SOFTWARE FOR INTRUSION DETECTION by SANS -
http://www.sans.org/digest/july98.htm#SHADOW
SHADOW stand for SANS's Heuristic Analysis system for Defensive Online Warfare. SHADOW's primary requirement is to detect as many attacks as possible, as easily and efficiently as possible, make it easy to report the attacks to CIRTs, and support analysis of the attacks to tune defenses. Much more info available at http://www.nswc.navy.mil/ISSEC/CID.
You may get the SHADOW documentation by emailing info@sans.org with subject "SHADOW description." You can later download the SHADOW software and provide feedback to the SANS Institute on its operation and any problems you found.

Adaptive Network Security (ANS) Modules
ANS Modules enable the interoperability between ANS products and the traditional network and security infrastructure. ANS Modules are software development kits (SDKs) engineered by ISS to provide ANSA (Adaptive Network Security Alliance) partners with the necessary software and documentation to integrate adaptive security functionality with their products. ANS Modules will allow for updates, reconfigurations, and policy enforcement to network components such as routers and switches, enterprise system management frameworks, as well as security products such as firewalls, virtual private networks (VPNs), anti-virus/malicious code software, and public key infrastructure (PKI).
http://ansa.iss.net/modules.html

ANSA, The Adaptive Network Security Alliance was formed October 21, 1998 at NETWORLD+INTEROP in Atlanta, GA. ANSA is an open, technology-focused partnership program initiated by ISS and over 40 leading partners. The goal of ANSA is to deliver the technology needed to create interoperability between adaptive network security products and traditional security and network infrastructure products.
http://ansa.iss.net/

Complete collection of network Security Tools can be found at
http://www.fedcirc.gov/tools.html
ftp://ftp.cert.org/pub/tech_tips/security_tools

4.3.2. Java

Open-Source Java at Last?
Sun Microsystems is planning to relinquish its stranglehold on the Java programming language. The company will announce a new, more open version of its platform at the Java Internet Commerce Expo on 8 December.
Sun wants to make it easier for developers to improve upon the Java source code, Baratz said, "But at the same time, we need to ensure we maintain cross-platform compatibility." Sun promised to submit Java to the International Organization for Standardization for ratification nearly a year ago, but it has made no progress.
http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/16499.html

New Components Available for VisualAge for Java, Enterprise Edition
http://www.ibm.com/java/news/news147.html

IBM WebSphere Studio V1.0
http://www.ibm.com/java/news/news141.html
A new trial copy of Studio is now available.
http://www.software.ibm.com/webservers/studio/

IBM Java page News
http://www.ibm.com/java/news/

5. Internet and IT Industry News

5.1. Companies, Telecommunications, Infrastructure

White House Unveils E-commerce Plans
The new goals include pushing companies to work with consumer and privacy advocates, developing guidelines that ensure shoppers have the same protections in "virtual malls as they now get in regular malls,"
The president said that the administration will work with other nations to develop laws protecting consumers and also will encourage the e-commerce and Internet industries to continue to self-regulate. The Internet should be largely free of taxes and government regulations, the president and Vice President Al Gore both said in remarks Monday.
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/12/cyber/articles/01magaziner.html
http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=39095

Dept. of Defense to establish network defense task force
The Defense Department next month plans to establish a Joint Task Force for Computer Network Defense to protect DOD's command and control networks from hackers and foreign intelligence services.
http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=36344
 

The European Commission has given its green light to the restructuring plans of Inmarsat, the major international
mobile satellite operator. Inmarsat was established in 1979 as an intergovernmental treaty organisation and has over 80
member countries. The restructuring would transform Inmarsat into a public company in which member countries would
become shareholders. It is envisaged that Inmarsat would launch a public offering of shares (IPO) within two years of
the restructuring.
http://www.ispo.cec.be/ispo/press/press86.html

AOL-Netscape-Sun: What the deal means to you
AOL-NETSCAPE CHANNEL Survey shows deal will make AOL top Web starting point, consumer group targets Netscape-AOL deal, AOL: King of the ISPs?, AOL to maintain browser choice, AOL-Netscape deal seen as Java boost, plus more AOL-Netscape merger news.
http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=39109

Cisco Introduces NetRanger Intrusion Detection Solution
November 10, 1998 - Cisco Systems, Inc., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, announced today the availability of the Cisco NetRanger&trade; intrusion detection system.
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/146/november98/12.html

Microsoft jumps into wireless world
The software giant announced plans with Qualcomm earlier this week to implement a series of wireless services using its own back-end and consumer-oriented software technology in a new venture called Wireless Knowledge.
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0%2C4%2C28771.html?dd.ne.tx.ts3.1113

Microsoft hits embedded market
Microsoft has long hinted it might jump into embedded systems software, but that flirtation has now become more of a reality, potentially shaking up a market largely comprising small and unknown players.
At an embedded systems trade show today in San Jose, Microsoft announced Windows NT Embedded 4.0, and will detail its strategy to adapt its corporate-use Windows NT operating system for "embedded" settings such as point-of-sale devices, office and industrial automation, and even as the underlying software for networking equipment. The embedded version of NT is slated to enter beta testing in the first quarter of next year, according to Microsoft.
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0%2C4%2C28180%2C00.html?dd.ne.tx.fs10.1102

In more Comdex-related news, one hot topic of conversation was Microsoft and Sun battling it out in the embedded OS market. What was said about expectations for Java and WinCE in this regard?
http://www.sunworld.com/swol-11-1998/swol-11-comdex.html?1120a

Excite Connects with British Telecom
British Telecommunication's Internet unit will purchase 50 percent of Excite Inc.'s United Kingdom subsidiary for $10 million. BT's Net service is about two years old (http://guest.btinternet.com). Excite has similar working arrangements with partners in Australia, Japan and Italy.
The Internet Daily: Internet Industry News [Wednesday - 11/25/98]

MCI WorldCom CEO sees 'silicon cockroaches'
People think they're wired now, but they haven't seen anything yet. Just wait until the world is populated with "silicon cockroaches," wireless devices that can communicate with one another and the Internet, said John Sidgmore, vice chairman and CEO of MCI WorldCom Inc.
http://www.idg.net/idg_frames/english/content.cgi?special_id=1&allowFeedback=false&return=%2fcgi%2dbin%2fspecial2%2epl%3fspecial_id%3d1&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ecomputerworld%2ecom%2fhome%2fnews%2ensf%2fall%2f9811194sidgm

Netscape Pioneer to Invest in Smart VCR
Will Take Stake in Replay Networks, a Custom TV Start-Up Marc Andreessen, who founded Netscape along with Jim Clark in 1995, will announce that he is investing in Replay Networks Inc., a small Silicon Valley start-up company and will join its board. "ReplayTV will do for TV what the browser did for the Internet," said Andreessen, who was a part of the team at the University of Illinois that developed the technology on which Netscape was founded. "It's the browser for TV." While WebTV tries to integrate the Internet with television, Replay, he said, "is an effort to enhance the TV experience first and foremost."
http://www.replaytv.com/inThePress.html

Mozilla.org: We Are Not Netscape
Tuesday One of the coordinators of the Mozilla open-source browser project sounds off on the AOL-Netscape merger. By Chris Oakes.
http://www.wired.com/news/news/business/story/16477.html

Yahoo opened a huge online mall with offerings from more than 2,700 independent stores, while a market research study predicted that e-commerce will soon outstrip portal sites' advertising revenues.
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0%2C4%2C28895%2C00.html?dd.ne.tx.wr

Mecklermedia Acquires Three Web Sites
Mecklermedia Corp. (MECK) expanded its stable of Web sites by announcing three new members of its network: shareware distributor Jumbo (http://www.jumbo.com), streaming media news site JustSmil, (http://www.justsmil.com), and news link aggregator NewsLinx (http://www.newslinx.com).

Netscape Buys Community Directory
http://www.thestandard.com/articles/display/0,1449,2577,00.html?04

The Japanese telecoms giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) said it has launched a nation-wide corporate
Internet service in the USA, Arcstar Internet. The service is provided by ntta.com, a subsidiary of NTT America.
Arcstar has about 200 access points and serves a majority of the main metropolitan areas in the USA. Internet and
e-mail roaming between the USA and Japan is to be proposed in the near future.
http://www.ispo.cec.be/ispo/press/press86.html

5.2. New Products

Cisco News Releases
http://www.cisco.com/public/Corp_root.shtml
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/146/

IBM* e-business and Software News Alert on the Web
http://www.ibm.com/software/news-alert/

HP Press Releases
http://www.hp.com/pressrel/

ISP TEAM: Cisco, maker of roughly 80 percent of the hardware carrying Internet traffic, is teaming up with Hewlett-Packard on a new breed of open Internet platforms to enable ISPs to build next-generation Internet telephony applications. The companies would not comment on specific products, but plan to introduce a spate of new offerings in the first quarter of 1999. Cisco and HP estimate the market for IP services to be $25 billion today, a figure that will grow two to three times by the millennium.

IBM WebSphere Studio Acquires New Technology for Team Collaboration
Wallop Software's Build-IT** product will be in the next release of IBM WebSphere Studio*, a set of Web site development and management tools for the WebSphere* Application Server family. With this new technology, teams can collaborate to assemble and manage content in new ways when creating powerful Web sites for e-business.
http://www.ibm.com/software/news/sw/3fab/

NEC makes IPv6 translator freely available
TOKYO - NEC is offering free of charge the source code for software that enables existing hardware to connect to networks running a future version of IP.
http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=38984

Microsoft tries to counter Sun enterprise integration with Jini
Microsoft is working on technology to challenge Jini, Sun's distributed computing technology designed to tie together the upcoming generation of smart devices ranging from smart phones to video cameras to printers.
http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=38930

Sun ports JDK 1.2 to Linux in push for ubiquitous Java
http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?98112.ecsunjava2.htm

Top secret chip less secret now
Transmeta, the highly secretive, well-funded Silicon Valley chip start-up, may be offering the first glimpses of its well-guarded microprocessor design.
The company recently received a patent for certain portions of the chip design and in the process may be revealing a broader picture of what the chip does. In short, it is a novel design that appears to be extremely fast and can potentially run all Windows software as well as other technologies including Java.
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0%2C4%2C28737.html?dd.ne.tx.ts1.1113

The ultra-secret Silicon Valley start-up, Transmeta, is inadvertently clearing some of the mystery surrounding its new chip. The patent is revealing a chip that runs Intel and Windows, only much faster than anything prior. Experts speculate that the microprocessor is reverse engineered from alien technology.
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0%2C4%2C28737.html?dd.ne.tx.ts1.1113

Aplio/Phone plugs into your phone line and lets you talk over the Internet for about 95 percent less than normal phone costs.
Assuming that you have an Internet service provider, the only thing that separates you from making long-distance phone calls over the Internet for free is the $199 price tag on the Aplio/Phone. Note: You don't need a PC. The Aplio/Phone is a small black box about 5-by-5-by 2.5 inches that's somewhat stylish. Inside is a modem, a DSP for voice compression/decompression, and a full-duplex speaker--which comes in handy whether or not you're using the Internet.
http://www.pcworld.com/pcwtoday/article/0,1510,8665,00.html

IBM expands file sharing tool
IBM will begin selling a version of a program that lets Unix computers share files for the Linux and Windows NT platforms beginning December 1.
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0%2C4%2C29273%2C00.html?dd.ne.tx.fs10.1125

IBM readies file system software for Linux
Seeing a rise in demand for Linux among corporate customers, IBM's Transarc subsidiary is preparing to release versions of its enterprise file system software for the open-source Unix variant.
http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=38492

HP, Oracle to link management tools
Hewlett-Packard and Oracle are working together to build a bridge that will provide some interoperability between its respective management environments, HP OpenView and Oracle Enterprise Manager.
http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=38494

Samsung announces high-capacity floppy
Samsung has announced a 123MB floppy drive format that it says will be cheaper than Imation's SuperDisk drive and faster than any competing high-capacity floppy drive on the market.
http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=37531

Inktomi: Searching for AOL
Online monolith America Online signs up Inktomi to provide search capabilities to ICQ, the instant messaging service that AOL purchased in June.

MCI rolls out DSL services
MCI WorldCom will begin offering Internet access in select U.S. cities based on DSL technology by the end of the year, the company announced. Free registration required to access this site
http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=37362

Iridium Beeps Around the World
The first of a new breed of low-earth-orbit satellite phone companies offers global paging and messaging.
http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/16316.html

LUCENT INTRODUCES SONET/SDH CHIPS FOR SIMPLIFIED DATA LINK (SDL)
Lucent Technologies' Microelectronics Group introduced new SONET/SDH ICs that transmit data using multiple network protocols, including ATM, packet-over-SONET, point-to-point protocol (PPP), high-level data link control (HDLC) and simplified data link (SDL), which provides direct data-over-fiber operation. The DETROIT devices operate at OC3, OC12 and OC48. Lucent said the new chips would provide a true packet-over-fiber solution via SDL. The chips would also simplify equipment design by enabling a single switch/router line card to support multiple protocols.
Lucent Technologies, November 10, 1998
http://www.lucent.com/press/1198/981109.mea.html

Lucent Invests in Wireless Chips
Spying sizeable revenue in digital wireless voice and data, Lucent invests in a manufacturer of wireless communications chips and software.
http://www.wired.com/news/news/business/story/16233.html

Hewlett-Packard plans to integrate a set of its voice services software with Lucent's carrier tools. The agreement does not extend as far as HP's recent agreement with Cisco, but does echo previously announced alliances with other communications firms: Nortel Networks, Ericsson, and Nokia.
http://www.hp.com/pressrel/nov98/17nov98.htm
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0%2C4%2C28891%2C00.html?dd.ne.tx.wr

Linux prepares for the intellectual-property offensive
Patents may be the ground on which the open source battle is won or lost.
http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=36494

Microbrowser Battle Brewing
Wednesday Microsoft and an industry group are developing wireless communication technologies for mobile devices that are -- for the moment -- complementary. But the groups could very soon butt heads.
http://www.wired.com/news/news/business/story/16196.html

5.3. Internet and IT Market Trends

Amazon.com Adds Videos, Gifts
Confirming expectations it would range beyond bookselling, Amazon.com expanded its e-commerce offerings Tuesday to include a wide selection of videos and DVDs, as well as gifts. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/gifts/gifts.html/002-2977398-5559641
Personal electronics, video games, games, and puzzles and toys are among the items offered on the site. Consistent with Amazon's (AMZN) personalization strategy, the site also offers a feature called Gift Matcher, which makes recommendations from among 60 categories of special interest. The video and DVD e-tailing section offers best sellers at 30 percent off suggested retail pricing.
http://www5.mercurycenter.com/business/top/002253.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/11/biztech/articles/17amazon.html

Home users want faster Net
When it comes to Internet access, a growing number of home PC users are feeling the need for speed, but are having a difficult time getting their fix.
According to a study released today by the Yankee Group, nearly two-thirds of PC-owning households in the United States are interested in faster Internet access. However, with few consumers having access to such a service today, cable and telephone companies are challenged to take this opportunity to grow business.
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0%2C4%2C28448%2C00.html?dd.ne.tx.fs5.1106

BT's profits up, but says U.K. economy is slowing
British Telecommunications announced strong profits and increased revenue in the second quarter of its fiscal year, despite what it says is evidence of a slowing U.K. economy.
http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=36496

Internet Retail Will Be Worth $13 Billion
The Boston Consulting Group estimated Wednesday online retailers' revenue in 1998 will be greater than $13 billion, as much as twice previous projections. He said the $13 billion figure, from an analysis of 127 online retailers, is about one percent of total retail sales for North America. "The sector turned out to be much bigger than we expected," agreed BCG senior vice president David Pecaut, who oversaw the study. "Secondly, I think a lot of traditional retailers had been pretending this was a small niche phenomenon or would go away and not be that important. I think they are recognizing it is happening now," he told CBS.Marketwatch.com. The study was a joint project between BCG and Shop.org, the online retailers association based in Silver Spring, Md.

6. Legal and Social Issues of Internet/IS

6.1. Legal Issues (Merges, DOJ news, Crypto, Tax)

New White House Tech Chief Named
Commerce Department lawyer Elliot Maxwell will become a key Internet advisor to the Clinton administration, succeeding Ira Magaziner who will resign by the end of the year. As special advisor to the Secretary of Commerce, Maxwell will coordinate the White House's position on areas such as privacy, export controls, domain names, Internet taxes, standards, and digital signatures.
When Magaziner is gone, the NTIA will no doubt play a bigger role in hammering out an agreement over online privacy and overseeing the hand-off of the domain name system. If they stick to their posts through the year 2000, Commerce Secretary William Daley, Irving, and Becky Burr, associate administrator of the NTIA, all will continue to be point people on the nation's e-commerce polices.
http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/16340.html

The European Commission has announced that the European Union Directive on the protection of personal data
(95/46/EC) entered force on 25 October 1998. The Directive establishes a clear and stable Europe-wide regulatory
framework ensuring both a high level of privacy protection for individuals as well as the free movement of personal data
in the Internal Market. The Directive ensures that personal data are only transferred to third countries where continued
protection is guaranteed.
http://www.ispo.cec.be/ispo/press/press86.html

During the past 12 months, AOEMA has been sponsoring the creation of a legal database with information on the legal status of electronic commerce within each economy in Asia-Pasific region. It also includes some comments on the European laws. This database is now on the open Internet for all to see. It is located at
http://www.bakerinfo.com/apec

The Finnish government decided on "Guidelines concerning the national cryptography policy and statements on the use of cryptographic products". (October 12,1998)
http://www.vn.fi/lm/telecom/sisallys.htm

European Cryptography Resources webpage
http://www.modeemi.cs.tut.fi/~avs/eu-crypto.html
http://www.iki.fi/avs/eu-crypto.html

World Cryptography Survey is available at
http://www.gilc.org/crypto/crypto-survey.html

Crypto Law Survey by Bert-Jaap Koops
Updated by December 2, 1998
http://cwis.kub.nl/~frw/people/koops/lawsurvy.htm

China May End Telecom Monopoly
Beijing is accelerating a plan to break up state-owned China Telecom to boost competition, the China Daily Business Weekly reported Sunday. The report hinted the move may eventually open the door to foreign companies.
http://www.wired.com/news/news/business/story/16522.html

DOD lends Russia a hand with nukes.
Working closely with the Russian Federation Ministry of Defense, the U.S. Defense Department recently completed work on an IT-powered facility that is designed to help predict and assess the impact of nuclear disasters.
http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=38970

Report says Europe must boost IT skills
If Europe is to benefit from the job-creating capacity of electronic commerce, it must improve the skills and technical literacy of its population, the European Commission warned in a report.
http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=38936

Overview of Canadian Government's Information Highway strategy
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/iip/HIIP-Seminar.html

6.2. Copyright, WIPO news

WIPO and Electronic Commerce
WIPO Internet domain name process
Regional consultation meetings and international conference on intellectual property and electronic commerce
WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty
http://www.wipo.org/eng/internet/ecommerc/index.htm
 

6.3. Spam and Content Abuse problems
 

7. Conferences, Workshops, Meetings

December 1 & 2, 1998 the MIT Industrial Liaison Program will present the first conference in it's 1998-1999 Series on Technology and the Corporation.
The Internet: Next Generation & Beyond
1998 Information Technology Conference
http://ilp.mit.edu/ilp/non_member/conferences/ITagenda.html

Law in the Information Society. Fifth International Conference organized by the Institute for Legal Documentation of CNR, 2-5 December 1998, CNR-IDG, Firenze
http://www.idg.fi.cnr.it/convegno98/announce.htm

The Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will host a two-day conference titled "1998 Networks for People: Society and Information Infrastructure – The Next Generation" on December 8-9, 1998 in Washington, DC.
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/netpeop111098.htm



Compiled by Yuri Demchenko. 12.1998.