Will there be X.25 in Russia?

10 June 1998

From February 6 to February 9
, a seminar "Modern technologies" was held in Moscow
    Telecommunications-96", organized by Race
    Communications (Moscow). The seminar gathered about two hundred
    students - specialists in the field of
    telecommunications from all over Russia. Very successful
    it seemed that in addition to presenting
the products of its main partners (Eicon Technology,
    Motorola ISG, Novell, Microsoft) leading Race Communications specialists
    read the review reports on the analysis
    the areas in which the firm specializes are
territorial networks based on X.25 and their further
    development.



    The speeches emphasized that the popularity of
    the word "Internet" does not mean that any
    the territorial network should be built on the basis of
    this global network. The Internet is interesting in the first place
    queue as a way to access the boundless
    information riches of our planet.
    Therefore, when building a corporate
territorial network, the Internet should be considered
    as an information base, and to create the network itself
    as a virtual one. Of the two virtual options
    networks - circuit-switched and
packet-switched networks (frames) - Race Communications made
    the choice in favor of the second option, to which
    These technologies include X.25, frame relay and ATM.
    "The main reason for the refusal to use
channel switching technology in their work (to it
    these include regular telephone communication, digital
    E-1, T-1, ISDN lines), - Mikhail Shestakov explained,
    the leading specialist of the company, "lies in the fact that
in this case
, the entire channel and the entire bandwidth (and
fixed) are allocated for one connection."



    Race Communications is not alone in its choice: by
    according to experts (see PC Week/RE, No. 2/96), at the end of 1995
    d. the share of territorial networks built by
    technology X.25, accounted for 60% in the world. Expected,
    that in the future this share will decrease due to
    increasing the share of ISDN and frame relay networks. However, X.25 and
    frame relay, generally speaking, are not competitors.
    The fact is that, to paraphrase a well-known
expression, the advantages of frame relay are
a continuation of the disadvantages of this technology: networks
    frame relay is faster than X.25, but due to the absence of
    error correction in network nodes. Thus,
the frame relay technology turns out to be very
    an attractive solution when creating so
    so-called reference networks, i.e. those over
which information is transmitted via other
protocols. So, over X.25 networks, you can organize
    transmission of digitized voice.



    One could object: ISDN lines also allow
    organize voice and data transmission
    simultaneously on several channels (up to 32).
    The problem is that there are no ISDN networks in
Russia, but there are only access points to them and
firms providing access services to the ISDN network
(for example, Comstar). To really talk about the service
    ISDN in Russia, it is necessary to create "from scratch"
    the appropriate infrastructure, and this is already a question
    "ISDN-alizations of the whole country". As for the frame
    relay, i.e. access services via frame relay channels
    the Infotel public network will begin to provide, and
Sprint is going to start a similar one
    the service is already in March.



    The main suppliers of equipment for Race solutions
    Communications - Eicon Technology and Motorola ISG firms, the main
    The software partners are
Microsoft and Novell.



    Andrew Belcher, Technical Specialist at Eicon Technology,
    he told about the latest developments in the company's business.
    So, Russian consumers can get
    the latest board models announced in the fall of 1995
    G. (from S60 to S93). New Eicon Technology - WAN Services for Windows software
    NT, the first implementation of the mechanism
    multiprotocol Routing (MPR - MultiProtocol
    Routing) of Microsoft Corporation for global networks. This
    The software extends the scope of the MPR of the LAN scale to
    the level of global networks due to
    server-integrated IP routing. As a
result, Windows NT servers can be used
    to access IBM mainframes, remote branches
    and online information services. Questions
    A lot has been devoted to SNA architecture in general
    questions discussed at the seminar. Note that
    at a similar seminar a year ago, SNA architecture
    and not mentioned! Another event is related
    again with the SNA architecture: a new release of the package
    SNA Connect for Unix allows you to connect standalone PCs with
    Unix OS or local networks with SNA systems. Product
    Eicon Card X.25 Connect for Unix (Release 3) now presents
    is a single Unix server access environment
    directly to the global X.25 network.

Race Communications specializes in
    system integration in the field of corporate and
telecommunication systems. Company
    offers solutions based on products and
technologies of the world's leading manufacturers
    network and computer equipment and software
    Software: Motorola ING, PairGain, Cisco, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, RAD Data,
    MultiTech, Eicon, APC, Novell, Citrix, Patton Electronics, etc. More
    For more information about Race Communications, please
    to find out by phone (495) 785-0770, on the Web server www.race.ru or by email corp@race.ru .