By the Year 2000, 100 % of Swedish University Students will be Connected
to Internet
by Lars Bergman
SUNET is the organization responsible
for developing and running the Swedish University Network. The goals for
the next three years include increased capacity, covering most of the small
and medium sized universities all over the country as well as the bigger
universities. This includes capacity for 240,000 students communicating
from home. Nordic and European cooperation are the other parts of SUNET's
responsibilities. The success of SUNET is to be considered as a major factor
in Sweden remaining in the frontline in Internet usage and progress. As
the university side is naturally ahead of the commercial side from the
technical viewpoint, SUNET is an important technological frontrunner for
Swedish industry.
Expectations are always surpassed!
The growth of the university network needs has always been faster than
forecasted. The current budget for the period 97-99 is as follows (at an
exchange of 8.6 Swedish crowns for 1 ECU):
- 1997: 9.2 MECU
- 1998: 12.5 MECU
- 1999: 15.3 MECU
This budget is based on the prediction of a usage which is expected
to grow not only as a result of an increase in the number of users but
also due to changes in the manners of usage. Information services such
as web-based information searches are expected to grow rapidly. New services
will be added. SUNET is testing videoconferencing (multicast) as one example.
SUNET has been successfully pushing the MIME-standard. This means a
considerable reduction is difficulty and frustration in handling the Swedish
alphabet for Swedish Internet users - both on the academic side and the
commercial side.A catalogue service for email addresses on a national level
is an ongoing activity of SUNET.
Nowadays, a 34 Mbit/s-network of 1993-94 is fairly stable but new techniques
like ATM are being tested. In 1995 a 34 Mbit/s-connection was established
to North America in cooperation with the operator. This has meant that
a 24 Mbit/s capacity is ensured, meaning a big improvement if compared
to the former 2 Mbit/s capacity. SUNET is engaged in EBONE, follows DANTE
and take a serious interest in the ongoing EuroCairn discussions as well
as the provision of the European TEN-34 net.
Please contact:
Lennart Forsberg - SUNET/UMDAC
Tel: +46 90 786 69 69
E-mail: Lennart.Forsberg@umdac.umu.se
