Editorial: Full Steam Ahead in 1996 !

The New Paths of Knowledge are proliferating more than ever in front of us ... Autumn 95 has seen the start of a very interesting new activity for our group, when the City of Brussels asked us to conduct a project aiming essentially at connecting all their schools to the Internet; called BRUNETTE (Brussels Network for Telematics in Education), this project is described more at length inside this Newsletter.
We were also very happy to sign a new long-term contract with ERICSSON, while 1996 will see the continuation of a number of other long-standing relationships between our group and ALCATEL, ASCOM, ATT-GIS, BANKSYS, BBL, BELGACOM, BELNET, COMTECH, ETRI, ETSI, EWOS, the EUREKA Secretariat and the EUROPEAN COMMISSION.

More new activities are planned, more contacts with other partners are taking place, and we will of course keep you informed of our activities as 1996 goes on. Among others, we are participating in two new projects with the federal Ministry of Scientific Policy (OSTC) under their telematics programme.

We wish you all the best in the New Year, and may you join us on the New Paths of Knowledge...

Study of data link protocols for BANKSYS

In the context of the collaboration between BANKSYS and ULB-STC, Service Télématique et Communication has been providing technical and theoretical expertise to this leading banking network provider in Belgium.
During the course of 1995, for the development of a new banking service, STC conducted a survey on the possible data link protocols that could match the requirements of this service and objectives defined by BANKSYS.
The impact of each data link protocol in the development and future deployment of the service was discussed. In addition, the survey included an evaluation of the appropriate network and transport layers as well as the possible usage of session and presentation layers based on the selected data link protocol.
This study was conducted by both the Upper Layers and the Lower Layers groups of Service Telematique et Communication.

For more than two years, ULB/STC has been providing an Internet e-mail/X.400 gateway (based on RFC-1327) to the EC X.400 e-mail users. The EC is now considering to run its own gateway.
To possibly achieve this, the « Direction Informatique » has acquired the RFC-1327 gateway product of SoftSwitch, since they are already using the SoftSwitch EMX product for X.400 communications between EC users and their external partners.
ULB/STC has been contracted by the EC to make a thorough testing of the SoftSwitch gateway product before it can be put in production. The work has consisted in specifying a complete suite of tests to assess the gateway product, then in actually running those tests at the EC premises.

Beltug (the Belgian Telecommunications Users group) is a non for profit organization with nearly 300 members representing some 200 companies, organizations and governmental institutions from various sectors of activity. ULB is represented by Professor Paul Van Binst in the Board of Directors of Beltug.
This organization aims to provide its professional members with high quality information taking into account
- the rapid changes in the telecom field, including within the Belgian main operator, BELGACOM
- the advent of information highways,
- the extension of international activities as Belgium is taking a growing importance on the European telecom scenery,
- the establishment of the IBPT regulatory agency which is in charge of defining the legal rules to be adopted in the future Belgian communications landscape.

The « Brussels Network for Telematics in Education » is a new project, initiated by the City of Brussels' Education Department, headed by Mrs. Monique VERREPT. The final aim of the project is to connect all the City's schools to the Internet, while at the same time developing some elements of a telematics infrastructure within the schools' environment.
Indeed, professors as well as students can benefit from some level of access to the Internet within the schools, while the development of a telematics infrastructure, as well as applications and services, will also potentially benefit the administrative and operational tasks, particularly in view of the planned merge of some of the present schools.
Service Télématique et Communication has accepted the task to study, define and conduct this new project, in close cooperation with the City's Department of Education. A small team has been set up to tackle this new activity, in collaboration with our VUB partners, and a new member has joined the group under a contract with the City of Brussels.
During the present academic year, it is planned that a first group of nine schools will be connected to the Internet, while an infrastructure linking these schools in a private network (or virtual private network) architecture will be studied, defined and developed.
Nathalie MESSORI has joined Service Télématique et Communication under a contract with the City of Brussels, in the scope of the BRUNETTE project.

STEP (Standardization in Telecommunications with Eastern Partners) is a 100% European Commission funded project launched in February 1995, in the framework of the COPERNICUS programme (Cooperation in Science and Technology with Central & Eastern European Countries), for a duration of 18 months.
The objective is to enhance the involvement of Central & Eastern European countries in the IT&T standardization process by actions aiming at improving:
- the co-operation between West European and Central & Eastern European standards makers;
- the circulation of standardization related information at national level, within standardization communities, with enterprises and with research organizations;
- the co-operation between standardization and research communities.
STEP brings together 14 partners (4 from Western Europe and 10 from Central & Eastern Europe) and is coordinated by ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute).
Patricia Speltincx supports ETSI in these matters while Paul Van Binst is involved in the STEP activity aiming at improving the co-operation between standardization and research communities, through his representation of TERENA, the Trans European Research and Education Networking Association

Until recently SME's doing business with several banks had to use a proprietary interface for electronic communication with each bank.
ISABEL is a new service in the Belgian banking world that will enable SME's to interact with different banks via a unique interface.
The first banks involved in ISABEL are: BACOB, BBL, CERA, CGER/ASLK, Crédit Communal/Gemeentekrediet, Générale de Banque/Generale Bank and Kredietbank.
The communication between ISABEL and the banks is based on X.400. Control Data Belgium has contracted Service Télématique et Communication to develop a gateway between the X.400 messages of ISABEL and the transaction processing system for the on-line customer services of Générale de Banque/Generale Bank.

Service Telematique et Communication has a new long-term contract with Ericsson Belgium, since October'95.
STC will help them integrate their proprietary mail system with standard messaging. This will allow them to exchange messages with other parts of ERICSSON worldwide, and with the rest of the world (Internet, ...)
SMTP/RFC-822/MIME and X.400 are the two messaging systems, that we will set up in the ERICSSON environment. As they are already running a proprietary mail system, this will be done through gateway software.
Although an operational messaging environment is the final goal, the contract also includes studies about e-mail (Internet, X.400, etc) in order to share experience in management, user support, trouble shooting, etc.

The aim of the ACE 2000 Forum (Advanced Communications in Europe) is to facilitate the transition to the Global Information Society which is seen as an economical and cultural challenge for Europe.
ACE 2000 was initially launched in 1994 and is supported by six European telecommunications operators: Belgacom, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, STET, Telefonica and PTT Telecom Nederland.
The objective of the partners is to promote the further development of the Information Society according to market trends and needs, in parallel with the evolution of technology.
During its first formal General Assembly, held in Rome on November 21, 1995, the ACE 2000 Forum has elected a Steering Committee of 14 members composed of its 6 founding operators, an equipment manufacturer, a service provider and 6 users (including ULB represented by Professor Paul Van Binst). These partners cover various sectors of activity such as education, health care, public administration, SME's, banking and finance.

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