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PA2AGA > TCPDIG 19.09.96 03:55l 117 Lines 5228 Bytes #-10882 (0) @ EU
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Subj: TCP-Group Digest 96/192B
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Date: Mon, 16 Sep 96 21:42:33 MET
Message-Id: <tcp_96_192B>
From: pa2aga
To: tcp_broadcast@pa2aga-10
Subject: TCP-Group Digest 96/192B
X-BBS-Msg-Type: B
speed
>>network in place will take longer to do (unless they have money to burn)
than
>>if you have 20 people pumping in money for the project.
>>
>
>There should be no need for agreements ... standards already exist
>(you're using them as you read this ... TCP/IP, SMTP, POP, NNTP, etc.
>etc. No need to re-invent the wheel ... interoperability is also
>important ... otherwise the ampr.org domain is DOOMED to perpetual
>isloation ... the place where there's LOTs of room for improvement and
>experimentation and advancement by hams is in Layer 1 and Layer 2 and in
>the Application Layer ...
You don't understand, Carl. Jim has touched on a very real problem.
Data networks are 90% people and organization, and 10% technology.
We have the technology in hand, that's not the problem. The problem
is to have the people and organizational structures in place to erect,
operate, and maintain the network. This is expensive, time consuming,
and requires an enormous amount of planning, coordination, and politicking.
This is where critical mass becomes vital.
It is necessary to develop a consensus among a large enough group to
form a critical mass in order for a network to be successful. In essence,
a club has to be formed in much the same way that clubs are formed around
regular voice repeaters. We call them LANs (though technically they should
be called MANs). And there needs to be an umbrella structure erected to
encompass multiple LANs, tying them into one coherent network. Generically,
that's a WAN, in Georgia, we call this GRAPES. It is structured as a club
of clubs, IE its members are the actual LANs it encompasses, not individuals.
Forging the consensus is the hardest part. As Jim notes, when you get
a group of hams in a room, it gets mighty cramped due to all the big
egos involved. It requires a deft political touch to get all these
people to agree on what to have for lunch, much less on how to structure
and build a network. We were fortunate to have a few people with just
such political skills. This still didn't happen overnight. It took years
of work, and still takes work to hold it together.
As with most voluntary organizations, the main problem is that 100%
of the members have opinions, but only 2% are willing to actually
do any work. Those 2% can be easily burnt out if you're not careful.
There's no way that a small core networking group can maintain a
statewide network by themselves. In Georgia, the mileage alone is
daunting. So each LAN is charged with maintaining its own equipment,
and contributing to the maintenence of the interties. That way the
workers don't have to chase all over the state all the time.
It takes money and people to build a network. The money isn't
that much, but the people are absolutely critical. Ongoing
recruitment and training are required to replace workers
as they burn out, or ideally to rest them before they burn out.
A network with lots of downtime quickly ceases being a network.
The net has to function, and it has to function reliably. Outages
have to be corrected promptly. That takes dedicated and trained
people. There are never enough of them.
We've had problems from time to time in this area. We've burned
people out, we've had prolonged outages, and we've had problems
holding the network together as a result. The job isn't over
when the last piece of hardware is installed. It's just beginning.
The problem is that the network developers get bored when the
network is completed. They want to go on to other things. So
a different group has to be recruited and trained whose main
focus is maintaining and operating the network. This wasn't
obvious to us in the beginning. It is painfully clear now.
People, people, people, that's what networking is about. The
more people you have, the better job you can do. And to get
those people to work together requires politics, politics,
politics. It isn't always pretty, but that's the way it is.
Gary
--
Gary Coffman KE4ZV | You make it, | Due to provider problems
Destructive Testing Systems | we break it. | with previous uucp
addresses
534 Shannon Way | Guaranteed! | Email to ke4zv@radio.org
Lawrenceville, GA 30244 | |
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End of TCP-Group Digest V96 #192
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