EDUCATION AND RESEARCH NETWORK (ERNET)

 

ANIL SINGH

Professional Assistant

Division of Library, Documentation & Information

National Council of Educational Research & Training

Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110 016

 

ABSTRACT

 

Discusses the genesis of ERNET. Presents achievements of ERNET, stating extension activities and its future programmes. Refers to the participating members of ERNET. Stress has also been laid on the use of modern technologies. Also discusses about administrative setup of ERNET.

 

0. INTRODUCTION

 

In the present age of information explosion, the libraries and information centres are generally ill-equipped to handle and retrieve information efficiently. Due to increasing cost of reading materials and limited financial resources of the libraries, It is very difficult to fulfill the requirements of the users. The option left with us is to promote the sharing of resources by networking to bridge the gap between the user and information provider.

 

ERNET (Education and Research Network) has made a signifi­cant contribution to the emergence of networking in the country. It has brought the INTERNET to India and has built up national capabilities in the area of networking, especially in protocol software engineering. ERNET is a facilitating network established to enhance the quality of instructional and research computing and to expand the resource sharing among various institutions of higher education and research. ERNET is directed towards estab­lishment of a mechanism for information transfer and access to support scholarship and academic work.

 

1. NEED AND ESTABLISHMENT OF ERNET

 

Information is a vital resource for every research scholars. Its effective dissemination among the society is very important for development of nation. The support of information centres is essential for any work in the field of education and research. In the age of competition, all academics, researchers and scholars should be brought into an environment where all the latest thoughts and developments are made available to them precisely and speedily. It is neither feasible nor possible to equip all the information centres with the latest information. Therefore, it is necessary to evolve a mechanism for sharing of resources and adopt methods offered by modern information technology for the provision of services. Recognising these aspects Department of Electronics (DoE), initiated ERNET in 1986 with funding support from the Government of India and (UNDP) United Nations Development Programs. At that time, ERNET involved eight premier institutions as participating agencies. These were :-

 

- National Centre for Software Technology (NCST), Mumbai

- Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Banglore

- Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) at Delhi, Mumbai, Kan­pur, Kharagpur and Chennai

- Department of Electronics (DoE), New Delhi

 

2. OBJECTIVES OF ERNET

 

ERNET has become an autonomous society under the Department of Electronics (DoE). This society have the following objectives:-

 

2.1 Providing state-of-the-art communication infrastructure and services to academic institutions, research institutions, government organisation, NGOs, private sector, R&D organisations and various other non-commercial organisations;

 

2.2 To set up a nationwide computer network for the academic and research community in the country and to improve capability in information handling and services;

 

2.3 To carry out continuing education, training and consultancy programmes to generate critical manpower needed by the industry and users in this field;

 

2.4 To undertake design, development and advanced research in the emerging concepts of networking and related technologies;

 

2.5 To enable the users from all over the country, to access the bibliographic information sources and international databases.

 

3. ADMINISTRATIVE SETUP OF ERNET

 

ERNET as an autonomous society was setup to provide the much needed autonomy to ERNET to handle challenges of infrastructure, R&D, customer support, and the pace of development in the field. This society is governed by a Governing Council. The Governing

Council of the ERNET shall consist of following members:-

 

Chairman          -           Minister of State for Electronics

(In his absence, the Minister of State for Science & Technology)

Vice Chairman-            Secretary of the DoE

 

Other members of the Council include:-

- Secretary, Department of Science & Technology

- Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development

- Secretary, Department of Scientific & Industrial Research

- Secretary, Department of Space

- Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy

- Secretary, Department of Education, Ministry of HRD

- Finance Secretary

- Chairman of Telecom Commission

- One of the Directors of IITs and IISc

- Executive Director of ERNET India society

 

In addition, two experts in the area of Computer networking and two persons from the industry/user community will also be a part of the Council. To assist the Governing Council in the administration and management of the society at the operational level, an executive committee has been set up which includes Secretary, DoE as its Chairman, and a number of experts besides the Joint Secretary and Financial Adviser, DoE; the Executive Director, ERNET; and persons nominated from amongst participating agencies or users.

 

4. PRESENT POSITION

 

The services of ERNET are being used by 80,000 users from 700 organisations representing various universities, academic institutions, R&D Labs etc. The services being provided by ERNET include:-

 

- Electronic Mail (E-mail)

- File transfer

- Remote log-in (Terminal Access)

- Database access

- Gopher

- World Wide Web (WWW)

 

5. NETWORK ARCHITECTURE

 

ERNET backbone is a judicious mix of terrestrial and satel­lite-based wide area networks(WAN). The satellite WAN, using VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminals) technology, has facilitated reliable and quick access from remote areas. International con­

nectivity is achieved through gateways having total capacity of 10.32 Mbps at New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai and Calcutta.

 

ERNET architecture is based on industry standard TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) protocol, ensuring connectivity from heterogeneous computer systems and local area networks (LAN) at user sites. All applications conforming to international standards such as UUCP (Unix to Unix Copy Program), SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol), Telnet, FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and network information retrieval tool like Archie, Gopher, WAIS (Wide Area Information Server) and WWW are supported at the application level by ERNET. UNDP has praised ERNET because this is one of the most successful programme funded by it. After including in the 9th plan, Indian Government has

committed itself to further strengthen the project with the allocation of funds and giving approval by creating a new organi­sational set up in the form of a society. ERNET's contribution for infrastructure services as well as for R&D has also been recognised by the science community of the country. The Science Advisory Committee (SAC) to the Cabinet has adopted ERNET as the platform for launching an Science & Technology network in the country.

 

6. ACHIEVEMENTS OF ERNET

 

 

6.1 Foundation of national capability building in the area of computer networking laid through:-

 

- Setting up of a chain of core groups at the participating agencies with a minimal set of lab facilities and creation of skilled manpower to carry out R&D;

 

- Generation of manpower at different levels;

 

- Making the world of standards like TCP/IP, OSI (Open System Interconnect) etc. well understood;

 

- Providing an insight into emerging issues such as ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) networks, networked multimedia, and information infrastructure.

 

6.2 Setting up of Network infrastructure and services, in­cluding:-

 

- Installation, maintenance and operation of large campus LANs;

 

- Deployment of VSAT network, consisting of central hub and remote user-end VSATs;

 

- Seamless interconnection of LAN-WAN segments, and multi protocol capability provided;

 

- Provision of the whole range of Internet services;

 

- Deployment of terrestrial network and  international gateways.

 

6.3 Research and Development (R&D) in the area of computer networking has been the forte of ERNET. Some of the current areas of interest of ERNET's are high - speed networking, network manage­ment, ATM, digital libraries, electronic publishing and multime­dia. The R&D efforts taken by ERNET core groups have resulted in product development and technology transfer to the industry. Some of the remarkable products are bridges, routers, full suit of OSI software (OSI-NET), Packet Assembler Dissembler (PAD), packet radio controller, X-Mail package, X.25 switch, radio modem, DQDB controller card, ISDN protocol tester, multimedia tele-teaching package, low cost PC LAN card and library automation software package.

 

6.4 Network literacy has been achieved through:-

 

- Providing access to various information resources;

 

- Training programs for students, users, and professionals.

 

6.5 Consultancy & support programs undertaken, e.g.

 

- Support for library networks like DELNET, BONET and INFLIBNET;

 

- Assistance in setting up campus LANs provided to Indian Agri­culture Research Institute, New Delhi;  Jawaharlal Nehru Univer­sity, New Delhi; Delhi University, Delhi.

 

- ERNET teams have been working in association with industry and various user groups and providing know - how, transfer of tech­nology for some of the products developed, and consultancy in the areas of feasibility study, design and implementation, applica­tion support etc. for campus LANs and interconnection of sites through WANs.

 

7. FUTURE PLANS OF ERNET

 

Areas in which ERNET intends to expand in the future include convenient and efficient means for file transfer between host computers to support general purpose remote batch and interactive application, electronic mail between both large and small computers and enhanced microcomputer communication capability. ERNET's main emphasis will be on widening the reach of the network and upgrading the infrastructure by upgrading the terrestrial links, increasing VSAT installations, adding more transponder capacity and adding more servers, the associated network engineering issues and R&D efforts would continue to match the network growth and user's expectations in terms of quality of services and the support of new applications.

 

Some of the future plans of ERNET are:-

 

7.1 Strengthening the infrastructure

- Backbone : 2Mbps links national and 34 Mbps links international;

 

- Access links : A variety of options including leased lines, dial-up, radio links, VSATs, ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), XDSI, cable modem will be used.

 

7.2 For improving the content on Internet, Internet Content Generation (ICG) Center is to be set up in near future.

 

7.3 In Research & Development the capabilities built will be further consolidated and

deployed for:-

 

- Setting up an ATM test-bed;

- Set up of digital library project;

- Networked multimedia;

- Alternate infrastructure options;

- High speed (8 Mbps) satellite backbone;

- Receive only VSAT for wider data distribution;

- A trial electronic commerce project jointly with the industry, involving a focus on security issues.

 

8.CONCLUSION

 

By 1994, the pressure for Internet Services was reaching an all time high. With the effort made by the Department of Elec­tronics, Government of India, a country - wide network for aca­demic and research institutions was established. The intention was to bring the Internet to India. The Education and Research Network (ERNET) was set up with eight centres in India. ERNET had taken off well and was providing service to a closed community. The ERNET backbone is a mix of terrestrial and satellite - based wide area networks, facilitating reliable and quick access from remote areas.

 

ERNET programme is for academic excellence, and saving resources. It will be beneficial to the academic and research community by providing large national resources of information; precise retrieval and speedier dissemination of information; and access to gateways to international information systems..ls1

 

REFERENCES

 

1. Project ERNET. (NISSAT Newsletter, Vol.9(3), Oct-Dec 1990, p6-10).

 

2.ERNET India: Sambandh Newsletter. Vol.1(1), April 1998, p1-16.

 

3.KAUSIK, BOSE :Information Networks in India: Problems and Prospects. New Delhi; Ess Ess Publications, 1994, p.289.

 

4. VASHISHTH, C.P.: NICNET Information Highway (Library Herald, 32(1-2), April-Sept 1994, p30-42).

 

5. KAUL, H.K.: Delhi Library Network (International Information, Communication and Education, 11(2), Sept 1992, p209-231).

 

6. OBERST, DANIEL. J: EDUNET (In: Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, edited by Allen Kent, Vol.38, New York, Marcel Dekker, 1985, p137-145).

 

7. KAUL, H.K.: Library Networks - An Indian Experiences. New Delhi; Virgo Publications, 1992, p.264.

 

8. UNIVERSITY GRANT COMMISSION (India): INFORMATION AND LIBRARY

NETWORK (INFLIBNET): A Summary of the report of the Inter Agency Working Group. (International Information, Communication and Education, 9(1), March 1990, p.68-90)

 

9. TEJOMURTY, A and BOSE, KAUSIK: Software, Protocols and Manage­ment Support in Information Networks in India (International Information, Communication and Education, 13(1), March 1994, p56-66).