To List subscribers - I enclose copies of certain communications received by users of the vax maintained by The Computer Centre, University of the South Pacific, Suva.Fiji. I have sent them prior to unsubscribing through the appropriate listserver. Perhaps some member has had experience of similar problems and may be able to provide information of how the problem was solved - and hopefully may know of some source of funding that could be approached. If anyone would wish to reply it may be wise to reply directly to me since communications with the list would probably be shut down by then. -I- INTERNATIONAL COMPUTER COMMUNICATIONS FROM USP 1. INTRODUCTION In mos countries, Universities and research institutes, etc, are linked to national and international networks through permanent, fixed connections. Typically these connections are funded centrally, for example through a consortium of universities, or a national research body. This means that the connection is available free at the time of use, and to a very large extent, the cost is independent of the volume of traffic. At USP the situation is entirely different. The cost of a fixed connection (leased line) to the international networks would be about $FJ 120 000 per year, and it has not been possible to fund this. To provide some form of communication, a dial-up email relay service via the University of Waikato was introduced in June 1990. This means that the service is not free at the time of use, and that the cost is proportional to the volume of traffic. Another important difference to bear in mind is that with a fixed connection, other useful services become practical. Examples are file transfer and on-line access to remote systems and databases. 2. EMAIL AT USP These forms of communication, and especially email, are an essential part of modern academic life and should be considered essential at USP, perhaps even more so because of our isolated geographical location. Their value can be gauged from the way in which the usage of the email service has increased since its introduction. After the initial months where volumes were low, the approximate figures are as follows: Month Mbytes transferred Nov 90 3.2 Dec 90 2.8 Jan 91 5.8 Feb 91 6.4 Mar 91 8.6 Apr 91 17.1 Although it is heartening to see this increase, the associated costs have become unacceptable. The cost for the April traffic was over $FJ 6 000. At the time of writing, the projected cost of the June traffic will be over $FJ 7000. Because of the delay in receipt of bills from P & T, this recent dramatic increase has only recently come to light. The Computer Centre has immediately put in motion steps to investigate the type of traffic, and to monitor usage more closely and currently, recognising the immediate need to reduce costs. The following information related for usage for June up to 26th. (i) A total of 74 staff members have used international email (ii) The top two users account for 40% of the total traffic. (iii) The top ten users account for 84% of the total traffic. This pattern of usage is not surprising. More significant from the cost saving point of view is the following: (iv) At least 90% of the traffic consists of incoming messages from list servers, bulletin boards and similar services. Most of these services are of great value to specific subject areas. For example, the INFO-VAX service is invaluable in distributing information about problems and developments in the VMS community. There are some services however, which cater more for leisure interests, such as Science Fiction and latest film releases. Some are moderated, while others are not and can contain large amounts of 'junk mail'. It was initially thought that considerable savings could be made by avoiding multiple subscriptions to the same service. However, further investigation has indicated that the services themselves detect multiple registrations from the same site, and send a single copy for distribution, so this saving is not available. The above analysis leads reluctantly to the following conclusions and proposals. (i) At present the cost of service is escalating out of control and it cannot be sustained in its present form. (ii) The only way to bring costs under control is to remove the use of list servers and bulletin boards entirely. This would suggest a likely cost of around $FJ 600 per month. The Computer Centre has already cancelled its registration with INFO-VAX. If departments considered access to a service to be essential, a means might be found to cost this so that it could be charged. This is difficult, as it is not possible to predict the amount of traffic which will be received. 3. DIRECT ACCESS TO REMOTE SYSTEMS For direct on-line access to remote systems and data-bases, direct dial-up if often possible, as an alternative to network access which is not available from USP. This could be done in a controlled way via a modem connected to the VAX cluster, or from individual modems connected to PC's, using ISD telephone lines located in departments. This service has not been considered by the Computer Centre due again to its likely very high and uncontrolled costs. Consideration should also be given to the cost implications and control of individual, direct use of such services. 4. FUTURE PRIORITIES The above sections discuss immediate solutions to serious problem but should only be regarded as temporary measures. If USP us to function fully as a top rank University, it is essential to restore and improve the international communications facilities. Various avenues are currently being pursued, with the objective of being able to provide the type of fixed connection described in section 1. This is the only option which will provide the facilities which USP requires. Such connectivity has also to be seen in the context of the internal regional communication needs of the university. -II- Log in message appearing 5th July,1991 Due to the cost of the service and the unavailability of funds, the Computer Services Committee has reluctantly decided that subscriptions to e-mail journals, bulletin boards etc cannot be currently supported. Will anyone who has registered with any such services please cancel their registration immediately. It is hoped that this move will be temporary, while alternative arrangements are sought. Computing Centre Director. We are indeed blessed in our Computer Services Committee Alan Rosten [log in to unmask]