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1993: Proposal for the installation of the RTCnet network
after agreement for funding from the Department of Education is reached.
The new network was to be up and running by the following year.
1994: Installation of equipment and
initial training through UCD. Hub of network sited at UCD, with spurs
to Cork, Athlone, Dundalk, Carlow and Tallaght. Additional links from
Cork serving Limerick, Tralee and Waterford, and links from Athlone serving
Galway, Sligo and Letterkenny. Each member college receives a 64kbps line
and (typically) eight class C IP address spaces (over 2000 nodes). Financial
administration provided through RTC Cork (as it was known in 1993), and
services management at RTC Carlow. An operations group is set up, involving
heads of computing departments and other interested parties, reporting
to the college Directors and advised by a technical working group of knowledgeable
experts from each of the colleges. RTCnet operates as a subscriber institution
with the existing HEAnet from which it obtains various services, including
connectivity..
1995: The introduction of a computer
services manager in each college produces the CSM group which is incorporated
into the RTCnet technical working group. Aidan McDonald assumes the role
of RTCnet co-ordinator. The group that help set up RTCnet becomes "Kerna
Communications" and go into business offering professional networking
services. HEAnet enhances its services with the provision of a 512k trans-Atlantic
circuit.
1996: Bandwidth utilisation steadily
increases. At the start of the year, 10% of all HEAnet traffic is RTCnet
related. HEAnet's US circuit doubles to 1024k, providing imporoved connectivity
between RTCnet and the US. Agreement is reached for the upgrade to the
RTCnet circuits. 2Mb to a new hub located at Tallaght, 2Mb to Cork and
to Galway hubs, 512k from the nearest RTCnet hubs to each of the RTCs.
Thus each member of RTCnet will have a 512k circuit. In the last quarter
of the year, the hub of RTCnet is moved from UCD to RTC Tallaght and the
intermediate hub at Athlone is moved to Galway, giving RTCnet its current
topology. Usenet news experiments commence.
1997: Services management moves to
Tallaght when Rotan Hanrahan takes over from Aidan McDonald. Demands for
a news service increase, and an experimental service is installed. RTC
Waterford and RTC Cork are redesignated as Institutes of Technology, and
similar changes are expected for the other RTCs. At this stage, network
usage forms an integral part of all RTC/IT activity and there are regular
requests for new forms of service (distributed news, conferencing, video-cam
etc.). Specialised courses on Internet/Web technology are now being delivered.
Meanwhile, in Ireland the Irish Neutral Exchange (INEX) localises much
of the Irish traffic and improves connectivity for all members.
1998: In January, all the remaining
RTCs became ITs (Institutes of Technology). In February, a decision was
made to form an ITnet Management Group to replace the Tecnical Working
Group. The new group comprises the CSMs of each Institute and a few key
players in the network management. Dun Laoghaire joins ITnet this year,
and connectivity is established in December (over ISDN) to be replaced
later by ATM. The Services Management responsibility was handed over to
LAN Communications Ltd from December.
1999: From January 1999, ITnet uses
an ATM infrastructure operating at (2+2)Mb. Eight sites were scheduled
for ATM in January, with the rest coming on stream in May.
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