Russia (Russian Federation)

Information

ccTLD: RU (the date of ccTLD delegation :1994-04-07)

Population (Year)

146.3 million (2001) 141.9 million (2010) 142.9 million (2011)

http://www.gks.ru

Internet Population (Year)

3,100,000 (2000) 59,700,000 (2010) 70,000,000 (2011)

http://www.ria.ru/technology/20111226/527204414.html

Broadband Population (Year)

19,202,000 (2012)

http://www.acm-consulting.com/data-downloads/cat_view/16-broadband.html

IP Address Allocation (Year):

Number of IPv4 addresses: 39,989,536 (2012)

Number of IPv6/48s: 23,068,701 (2012)

5 Popular Websites[from alexa.com]:

Яндекс : yandex.ru

В Контакте : vk.com

Google : google.ru

Портал Mail.Ru : mai.ru

Odnoklassniki: odnoklassbniki.ru

Bibliography

[Cook 1994] G. Cook. “Russia Is Successfully Building Its Own Internet,” The Cook Report on Internet, vo1.2, no. 4, July 1994.http://www.cookreport.com/backissues/July94newsletter.pdf

[Elutin 1995] Elutin A. et al, Computer Network Development for Science and Education in Russia, 1995.http://emag.iis.ru/arc/infosoc/emag.nsf/BPA/bc177065e3753c63c32575c9004042e9 [In Russia]

[EmNet 2012] EmNet, http://www-sbras.nsc.ru/win/euromath/ [in Russian]

[Federal 2012] Federal State Statistics Service, http://www.gks.ru/wps/wcm/connect/rosstat/rosstatsite.eng/

[Foundation 2012] The Foundation of Internet Development, Collection of interviews: Mendkovich Andrew S., http://www.fid.ru/projects/book/Mendkovich

[Foundation 2012b] The Foundation for Internet Development, Internet and Science: The 15 year way. The leading specialists in Information Technology, about past, present and future of Internet, http://www.fid.ru/projects/book/ [in Russian]

[Foundation 2012c] The Foundation for Internet Development, Hall 3: New Era of Internet and Russian Internetization in Russia (1994-2000) Exposure 3: Internetization, http://www.fid.ru/museum/hall3/03/ [in Russian]

[Foundation 2012d] The Foundation for Internet Development, Collection of interviews: Nazirov Ravil Ravilyevich, , http://www.fid.ru/projects/book/Nazirov/[in Russian]

[Foundation 2012e] The Foundation of Internet Development, Collection of Interviews: Aleksandr Nokolaevich Tikhonov,http://www.fid.ru/projects/book/Tihonov/

[Foundation 2012f] The Foundation for Internet Development, Hall 8. Internet in numbers Exposure 1. Internet World: General Statistic, http://www.fid.ru/museum/hall8/01/. [In Russian]

[FREEnet 2012] FREEnet, http://www.free.net

[Gazprom 2012] Gazprom Space Systems, http://www.gascom.ru

[Goldstein 1994] Steve Goldstein and Spartak Timofeevich Belyaev (Ed.), Proceedings of Advanced NATO Networking Workshop, Moscow, 1994. http://www.friends-partners.org/oldfriends/telecomm/nato/

[Hramcov 1996] Hramcov P., “Internet in Russia,” Open System, No.1, 1996. http://www.osp.ru/os/1996/01/178799/

[IASNET 2012] IASnet, History, http://iasnet.ru/content.php?cid=1/ [in Russia]

[InfoUSA 2012] InfoUSA, Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls, COCOM, http://infousa.state.gov/economy/trade/glossac.html#coord

[ITAR-TASS 2007] ITAR-TASS, Press conference of the Common Space of the Russian language: domain. SU to the 17th anniversary of the day birth, 19 Sep. 2007.

[JSCC 2012] JSCC, RASNET (The corporate network of the Russian Academy of Sciences), http://www.jscc.ru/rasnet.shtml

[Klyosov 2012] Antoly A. Klyosov, Twenty years later, or Internet began as the Soviet Union,http://www.pseudology.org/webmaster/Klyesov_Internet.htm [in Russian]

[Kouznetsov 1996] Kouznetsov A., “Prospects for the Development of the Internet in Russia,” Proc. 1996 INET, Geneva, Switzerland,1996.http://www.isoc.org/inet96/proceedings/h1/h1_2.htm

[MARK 2001] MARK, Network ROSPAK User’s Guide, 2001. http:// http://www.mark-itt.ru/MARK-ITT/rospak/

[Mizin 1996] Mizin I.A., “Status and perspective of development of information and telecommunication technologies for science and education,” The Second International Congress on Education and Informatics, Moscow, July 1996.

[MSK-IX 2012] MSK-IX:Moscow Internet Exchange, http://www.msk-ix.ru/eng/

[NaukaNet 2012] NaukaNet Project, http://www.naukanet.org/

[OGAS 2012] Obchegosudarstvennaya avtomatizirovannaya sistema, http://ogas.kiev.ua/ [in Russian]

[Ogden 1993] Jeff Ogden, Merit Joint Technical Staff, 12 Dec. 1993. http://www.merit.edu/mail.archives/mjts/1993-12/msg00017.html

[Radio 2012] Radio-MSU / RUHEP, http://www.radio-msu.net/about.htm [in Russia]

[RBnet 2012] RBNet, Russian Backbone Network, http://www.rbnet.ru/en/about_en.shtml

[RELARN 1994] RELARN, Newsletter of the Association RELARN, 1994. http://www.relarn.ru/conf/conf94/conf5.txt

[RELARN 2012] RELARN, Russian Electronic Academic and Research Network Association, http://www.relarn.ru/about/index.en.html

[Relcom 2012] Relcom, Relcom History, http://old.relcom.ru/Relcom/History/Full/

[RIPN 2012] RIPN, Russian Institute for Public Networks, http://www.ripn.net/about/en/

[Rostelecom 2012] Rostelecom, Company History, http://old.rt.ru/en/about/history/1995-1993/index.php

[RSSI 1999] RSSI, Russian Space Science Internet, http://www.rssi.ru/rssihi_e.html

[RU 2012] RU:History of the Internet in Russia: People/Certificates, http://ru.arf.ru [in Russian]

[RUHEP 2012] RUHEP, RUHEP Goals, History & Structure, http://www.ruhep.ru/ruhep/history.hep/histor_e.htm

[RUNnet 2012] RUNnet, Federal University Computer Network in Russia, http://www.runnet.ru/

[Semenyuk 1994] Igor V. Semenyuk, “SOVAM TELEPORT: wide range of telecommunication services,” Proc. NATO Advanced Networking Workshop, Moscow, 1994. http://www.friends-partners.org/oldfriends/telecomm/nato/semenyuk.html.

[Sigalov 2001] Sigalov A., “Education and Internet,” Computer-Inform, 2001. http://www.ci.ru/inform23_03/p_06.htm

[Sterba 1993] Milan Sterba, "An overview of East and Central European networking activities," RIPE-86, May 1993. ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/docs/ripe-086.txt

[SUT 2012] St. Petersburg State University of Telecommunications, Participation in the Establishment of EASC (1963-91), http://www.skri.sut.ru/hist02/ [in Russia]

[Tabarovsky 1992] Oleg Tabarovsky, Notes on some TCP/IP WAN activities in xSU, 28 Sep. 1992. http://lists.ripe.net/pipermail/ripe-org-closed/1992/msg00202.html

[TTK 2012] TTK, TransTeleCom, http://www.ttk.ru/rus/59897/59900/61841/

[Vasilyev 1994] Vladimir N.Vasilyev, Valery A.Vasenin, Yuri G.Kirchin, Yuri V.Gugel, Andrei M.Robachevsky, “RUNNET Federal University Network of Russia,” Proc. NATO Advanced Networking Workshop, Moscow, Russia, Sep. 1994.

[Vasilyev 1995] Vladimir N. Vasilyev, Yuri V. Gugel, Yuri G. Kirchin, and Andrei M. Robachevsky, “RUNNet - Federal University Network of Russia, “Proc. 1995 INET, Honolulu, July 1995. http://www.isoc.org/inet95/proceedings/PAPER/027/abst.html,

[VEGA 1994] VEGA, Proceedings of NATO Advanced Networking Workshop, Moscow, 1994, http://www.friends-partners.org/oldfriends/telecomm/nato/

[Wikipedia 2012] Wikipedia, Internet in Russia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_Russia

[X25 2011] Soldier, “Network IASNET Part 1,” x.25 Networks, May 2011. http://x25networks.ru/2011/05/12/set-iasnet-chast-1/

Abstract

Natlia Bulashova, Dmitry Burkov, Alexey Platonov, Alexey Soldatov

At the end of 1991, the Russian Federation was recognized as the state-successor of the USSR in international legal relations. The period of 1990 - 2000 characterizes a radical and difficult change in the social economic situation, and may be considered as the crucial point for the country.

In the first half of the 90's (1990-1994), as a restriction factors for the development of the telecommunication networks in the country were: (1) the existing general-purpose telephone system infrastructure (public telephone system) with low-technical characteristics; (2) the limited number of personal computers; (3) the monopoly position of the state telecommunication operator "Rostelecom" (1993) [Source: http://old.rt.ru/about/history/1995-1993 /], which owned almost all terrestrial inter-regional telephone channels and (4) the number COCOM’s restrictions for the delivery of equipment from abroad (note: the restrictions were canceled after the COCOM organization was closed down in 1994 – COCOM- Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls)

In spite of all complexity in 1990's, the RELCOM company has a specific place in the Russian Internet history, as the company that started the development of Internet in Russia. In the beginning of 1990 the number of personal computers in use was rising; the Russian market economy was rapidly developing with the need timely to have economic, financial, technical and other information, that led to further demand for the services provided by computer networks.

That had evoked the dynamic extension of the RELCOM network on the former Soviet Union territory. In some years of 90's the annual growth of the company exceeded 200% - 300%. By 1993 the Eunet/RELCOM network provided a full packet of IP-services. [Source: RIPE: ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/docs/ripe-086.txt]

The period of 1992-1994 in Russia was a time for a dynamic growth of an independent ISP companies. At that time a number of commercial networks had been created and were in operation: IASnet, Infocom, Interlink, Sovam Teleport, Sprint, Sprint, FidoNet, GlasNet, ROSPAK, SOVAM TELEPORT (most of those were highly concentrated in Moscow and had a limit presence in the regions).

There was significant impact on the Russian Internet development from the Russians Science and Education networks (such as RUNnet, RASnet (EmNet), FREEnet, RSSI, Radio-MSU/RUHEP, RELARN-IP, RBnet, regional networks of Ural and Siberia, etc), universities and research centers, which formed the initial telecommunication infrastructure and created market for Internet services in the major cities and regions.

In 1996-1999 Internet service itself began to influence on the development of a telecommunication infrastructure in Russia.

The modern telecommunication infrastructure in Russia at that time was being developed in three areas in parallel:

- Implementation of large-scale national projects (nationwide network backbone);

- Development and support of regional and interregional telecommunication projects

- Telecommunication activity of a non-governmental organizations (commercial and non-commercial sectors)

The development of the national primary telecommunication infrastructure (nationwide network infrastructure) was carried out under the large-scale Projects, where the most important were Rostelecom’s projects on constructing of a nationwide fiber-optic backbone systems.

An additional impetus for the Internet development in Russia had been the emergence of a new companies, such as "Transtelecom" (1997) , JSV “Enifcom” (1997), "Gascom" (1992) as a large national telecommunication operators with own nationwide infrastructure.

The period of 1994-1999 is characterized by the rapid/dynamic development of regional networks and spreading of Internet across Russian Federation. In most cases, for the physical basis of the Russian Internet there were three Rostelecom’s inter-regional fiber-optic systems: "Moscow - Novorossiysk", "Moscow - Khabarovsk" and "Moscow - Saint Petersburg."

At the St Petersburg direction and Leningrad Region, Internet networking was based mainly on the telecommunication system of the regional power energy company JSC “Lenenergo” and some time later - over RASCOM (regional telecommunication railway company).

In the mid-1990s, the Russian Internet as a communication system had a multi-ray star topology with the center at Moscow, from which the channels diverged to other cities of Russia. Gradually at the ends of the "rays" (channels) there had been formed the regional centers of the Russian Internet, at the number of large cities as well as in some regions. [Source: http://www.fid.ru/museum/hall3/03/]

The key role for science and education was played by a Interdepartmental State Program "Creation of national computer network for science and higher education" (1996-1999), in scale of which the Russian Backbone Network (RBNet) had been developed to integrate Regional and Specialized networks (such as RUNnet, RASnet, FREEnet, RSSI, Radio-MSU/RUHEP and etc.), to provide for the science, research and education community the main telecommunication infrastructure for a national and global cooperation.

The Interdepartmental State Program was coordinated with State Program "Universities of Russia" (Direction V) supported by Ministry of Education and with the Program "33 Regional Universities” supported by Open Society Institute of the International Soros Foundation. In the framework of these Programs the University Internet Centers has been opened, and connected to RBNet (with terrestrial channels) and RUNNet (with satellite channels).

During the ten years (1990 – 2000) the Russian Internet had exponentially grown. At the end of the 2000 more then 6.6 million users had access to Internet. [Source: exhibit 4, http://www.fid.ru/museum/hall8/01/]

Because of the efforts and essential financial support from the state organizations, private companies, foreign funds for the implementation of a number of the national and international programs, the Internet in Russia has undergone fast growth became the basis for the next stage of Internet in Russia in 2000’s.

The development in the 2000-2012 had provided the way to a new level, what had a major impact on economic development

Internet in Russia(1990~1999) - Full Text

Table of Contents

Internet in Russia ( 1990-1999).................................................................................................................................... 1

1. Abstract................................................................................................................................................................... 1

2. Introduction. Background.................................................................................................................................... 2

2.1. Informatization of USSR .......................................................................................................................... 3

2.2. Communication infrastructure in 1990................................................................................................ 5

3. RELCOM................................................................................................................................................................ 6

4. Commercial networks in 1990s........................................................................................................................... 9

5. The Science and Education network in 1990s. RELARN Association...................................................... 11

6. Development trend of the nationalwide network backbone (1994-1999). Rostelecom........................ 18

7. Resume.................................................................................................................................................................. 20

8. Snapshot of Russian Internet in 2012............................................................................................................. 20

9. Appendix............................................................................................................................................................... 21

Appendix 1. Goskomstat. Population of USSR, RF. Science and education organization....................... 21

Appendiх 2. From MIRnet to GLORIAD (short note).................................................................................. 22

10. Reference and Bibliography.......................................................................................................................... 23

Internet in Russia ( 1990-1999)

Natalia Bulashova, Dmitry Burkov, Alexey Platonov, Alexey Soldatov

1. Abstract

In separated file

2. Introduction. Background

At the end of 1991, the Russian Federation has been recognized as the state-successor of the USSR in international legal relations. The period of 1990 - 2000 years may be called for the country as the difficult one and in many ways as a turning point. The reason for this radical change was the socio-economic situation in the country, characterized by a wide-range reforms including privatization, market and trade liberalization.

On a variety of natural and climatic conditions RF is a unique phenomenon. The area of RF is 17.1 million square kilometers what is about 11.5% of the total land area.

Russian Federation

Source: http://www.russiamap.org/

As of January 1, 2010 RF consists of the 83 Russian Federation units : 21 republics, 9 territories (krai) , 46 provinces (oblast) 2 federal cities (Moscow and St.Petersburg) , 1 autonomous region, and 4 autonomous districts (okrug)

The population of the Russian Federation on January 1, 1990 was 147.7 million. Оn January 1, 2010 it was 141.9 million, of which 103.7 million (73%) - the urban residents, and 38.2 million (27%) - rural residents. About 80% of the population of the Russian Federation are Russian. According to the State Statistics Committee in the beginning of 1990 Russia had the largest scientific and educational potential, which included 69,700 schools, more than 2,603 colleges and about 514 institutions of higher education, more than 4059 scientific organizations engaged in research work. (Appendix 1. Goskomstat.The Russian population. Educational and scientific institutions of Russia.)

2.1. Informatization of USSR

The research work in the field of the informatization in USSR had started around the 1950s. In the 60’s and 70’s years research and applied development in this area (information theory, еconomical cybernetics, theory of controlling systems, modern computer, microelectronics and etc. ) was under way in the country to support all levels of the management structures of the national economic and executive power. For the many decades, the communication infrastructure in the USSR was being developed primarily for support of state agencies and defense organizations

EASS, GSVTs, OGAS, OGSPD

Beginning from 1962 and until the end of the 1980s there was a development related to the creation of large-scale project of the Integrated Automated Network of Communication, (EASS in Russian abbreviation) which played a major role in the development of telecommunications and information technologies in the country. On its basis (with the integration of public and special networks) the complex problems of transmission and distribution of various types of information in the national economy, defense and science were being solved. On the basis of EASS and the State Network of Computer Centers (GSVTs in Russian abbreviation - the program initiated in the early 1960s) the National System of Collecting and Processing information for accounting, planning, and management of the economy of the USSR (OGAS in Russian abbreviation) has been formed in 1971. OGAS comprised industry and territorial automated control systems of the main federal ministries, state departments and administrative bodies of the Soviet Union’s Republics. Based on the EASS for those purposes the Nationwide Data Transmission System (OGSPD) had been established. In respect of the project scale and allocated funds the OGAS was compared with the space projects of USSR. With the end of the Soviet Union, the work on developing of the EASC network had not been completed. [Source: http://www.skri.sut.ru/hist02/, http://ogas.kiev.ua/]

The development of telecommunication technologies, being started in the middle of 1970, had marked the great practical interest to the remote access to information resources located in USSR as well as abroad. For solving this problem, the major all-Union science technical information centers, such as VINITI were involved. (“VINITI” stands for all-Union Institute of Scientific and Technical Information, later renamed to Russian Institute of Scientific and Technical Information) - [Source: http://www2.viniti.ru/index.php], All-Russian Scientific and Technical Information Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences - Vserossiisky Institut Nauchnoi i Tekhnicheskoi Informatsii (VINITI)).

The All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Applied Automated Systems (VNIIPAS; Director - Oleg Leonidovich Smirnov) had been designated as the national center for the automated information exchange with foreign networks, computers and databases. [Source: http://iasnet.ru/content.php?cid=1].

In the USSR the world network resources (e-mail, database, remote computer calculations) were available in 1983-1985 with the network, created by VNIIPAS in collaboration with IIASA (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austria). The “Akademset” and "IASnet" networks of the Institute of Automated Systems (IAS) of the Russian Academy of Sciences were the oldest ones in Russia, based on packet switching X.25 protocol, and connected to the international networks via X.75 gateway through the node of Austrian RADAUS network.

Akademsethad been designed to serve the Academy of Sciences of USSR to provide such services as: the access to bibliographical and research databases, email, file transfer.

The first “Akademset” subnetworks were operating in 1984. Academset was interconnected set of nine regional computers subnets (RVPS), each with its parent organization: the "Center" (Moscow, VNIIPAS), "North West" (Leningrad, RSCC of USSR Academy of Sciences), "The Baltics" (Riga, IEVT Latvian Academy of Sciences), "Southwest" (Kiev, IC of Ukrainian Academy of Sciences), "Ural" (Sverdlovsk, IMM of USSR Academy of Sciences), "Siberia" (Novosibirsk, GPVC of Siberian Division of USSR Academy of Sciences), "Central Asia" (Tashkent, NPO Cybernetics of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences)," Kazakhstan "(Alma-Ata, IC, Kazakh Academy of Sciences)," Far East "(Khabarovsk, CC, USSR Academy of Sciences - Computing Center, Far East). [Source: http://housea.ru/index.php/computer/50790]

Since 1984, access to the international networks was provided through a VNIIPAS’s network (IASnet). The "IASnet” had been registered in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and received a 2502 code. The data channel with a throughput of 9600 bits per second between the Institute of Automated Systems (IAS) (IAS 1992 year, the former VNIIPAS; Applied automated systems), and sites in Vienna (Austria Radio, RADAUS), Helsinki (Datapak, a national network of Finland), USA (San Francisco / Moscow Teleport / (SFMT)) was established on a contract basis.

Network "IASNET" served governmental organizations and research institutions. The access to the network was limited. [Source:VNIIPAS. http://iasnet.ru/]

2.2. Communication infrastructure in 1990

The development of computer networks depends on the internal communication infrastructure of the country (availability of reliable communication channels), possibility of access to international channels, tariffs for their use (the existence of a monopoly), the availability of a necessary communication equipment.

At the beginning of 1990 there were two kinds of telephone systems that could serve as a basis for building the computer network – the telephone system of a general use, known as the Network of the Ministry of Communications (with low technical parameters), and the telephone system "Iskra-2", previously used by a government agencies (with higher performance and reliability)

According to the State Statistics Committee in the middle of 1995 in Russian Federation the telephone density was equal to 18 numbers per 100 people. For comparison, the average telephone density in France was 56, and in U.S. – 63.

Таблице 1. The State Statistics Committee. The number of a telephones connected to the public switched telephone network and cellular mobile subscribers (at the end of 1990-1999, per100 people)

Source: http://www.gks.ru/bgd/regl/B02_39/IssWWW.exe/Stg/d010/i011920r.htm

http://www.gks.ru/bgd/regl/B02_39/IssWWW.exe/Stg/d010/i011930r.htm

For the international communications only channels with very small throughput were available , what restricted the capabilities of the computer networks (e-mail, file transfer, launching a package of computer tasks). Another problem was related to limitations established by the COCOM (Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls), which prevented delivery of telecommunication equipment to Russia [Source:http://infousa.state.gov/economy/trade/glossac.html#coord].

Thus, the restraining factors for the development of a telecommunication networks in the country in the first half of the 90’s (1990-1994) had been (1) the existing general - purpose telephone system infrastructure (public telephone system) with low-technical parameters; (2) the limited number of personal computers; (3) the Rostelecom’s monopoly (1993), [Sources: http://old.rt.ru/about/history/1995-1993/ ] which owned almost all terrestrial inter-regional communication channels, and (4) restrictions for the delivery of equipment from abroad by Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls(COCOM). Note that the restrictions were canceled after the COCOM organization was closed down in 1994.

3. RELCOM

The situation in the field of computer networks changed in 1990-1991. In the 1990s a company named RELCOM (RELiable COMmunications) had given a start to the wide development of Internet in Russia. RELCOM’s network was founded on August 1, 1990 in the RRC "Kurchatov Institute". In the work on the creation of the network there were involved computer software developers from the Demos co-operative (now known as the Demos Company).

At the beginning of 1990 the number of personal computers in use was growing; the Russian market economy was rapidly developing with the need timely to have economic, financial, technical and other information, that led to further demand for the services provided by computer networks.

It had evoked the dynamic extension of the RELCOM network on the post-Soviet Union area and had stimulated the creation of a number of a regional commercial networks using the RELCOM’s infrastructure (called EUnet / RELCOM after establishing close contacts with Europeen networks).

For example, in February 1991 Relcom had 95 nodes [Source: http://ru.arf.ru]; in September 1992 the number of nodes was about 3000, which were located in 70 regional centers throughout the former Soviet Union and supported UUCP connection [Source:http://lists.ripe.net/pipermail/ripe-org-closed/1992/msg00202.html]. In May of 1993 RELCOM had about 6000 nodes controlled by the regional companies located in more than 100 regional centers, and by 1993, the network EUnet / RELCOM provided a complete package of IP-based services. Annual growth of the company in some years of 90’s exceeded 200% -300% . [Source: RIPE: ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/docs/ripe-086.txt].

Most of the newly established networks were based on the existing telephone infrastructure (analog), which allowed for many users to get basic network services such as: access to e-mail, news, and later a complete set of IP-based services.

Historical information about the company RELCOM presented by Dmitry Burkov based on http://ru.arf.ru/ and http://sites.google.com/site/internethistoryasia/book-proposal/ru sources .

Dmitry Burkov. [http://sites.google.com/site/internethistoryasia/book-proposal/ru]

Snapshot of Internet in Russia (Draft)

Handbook of Relcom (Fall 91)

General Information

A. History of creation

RELCOM was formed in 1990 as a small network of developers and users of the Soviet UNIX-compatible systems. Initially, it united computers of Computer Center of Kurchatov Nuclear Energy Institute (KIAE or CC IAE) and MNIOPK DEMOS. In August 1990, it was established connection with EUnet.

In the first months of its existence Relcom was the professional network which served members of the Soviet Association of UNIX (SUUG -Soviet Unix User's Group). Soon it became obvious that RELCOM provided its customers not just a rare opportunity for Soviets to communicate with each other - for many it was virtually the only viable channel of communication with foreign partners.

It was followed by rapid increase in the number of subscribers. As a reaction to these events, the initiators of the network (MNIOPK DEMOS and CC IAE. Kurchatov) splitted network development the problem as separate activity, organized the group of network planning, enhanced network technical base network and began to connect all the interested users. During the first half of 1991, the network has expanded mainly due to the connection of scientific and research organizations. " At this point, users are often regarded RELCOM, as a tool of communication with foreign users. As the network matured, the critical mass for internal (national) communications was achieved. In the spring of 1991 the volume of the internal traffic exceeded the accepted / received across the border of the country.

In regard to significant changes in legislation related to the liberalization of business the organizations represented the "alternative" economy related to the network. So, RELCOM gradually became the communication network for stock exchange structures, joint ventures and private companies. This led, in turn, to the need to establish network connection to state agencies related to the regulation of new economic structures (Ministries of Economy, Finance, State Bank). Work began on the creation of specialized conferences, intended for a preliminary discussion of bills drafts related to the formation of new economic relations.

It was followed by connection to the network sites of independent news agencies (Interfax, the Agency's economic news, the Russian news agency Baltic News Agency, Postfactum), correspondents of foreign agencies.

B. Development Trends

The main objective of RELCOM was not the goal to provide access to computer resources but to develop communications of different professional groups, scattered over a large area. This trend can be explained by RELCOM having been appeared during the collapse of super-centralized state, where alternative structures were still to be formed. In the unstable economic structures and rapidly changing legislation it was impossible to create specialized networks and their subsequent association (as happened in the West).

From January of 1990 in the USSR, the UUCP-based network of non-profit association of Unix users of the USSR started its development, coveraging several cities: Moscow, Dubna, Novosibirsk, Leningrad, etc. DNS address scheme was used from the beginning of network construction, which later made the connection to the Internet transparent to users. In early May 1990 the Soviet network established exchange with the Finnish host of EUnet, and as a consequence with the global network. In September, 1990 SU domain was officially delegated. In the period of the Soviet Union disintegration, resources of public networks were used for the network construction, in particular channels of USSR Academset (UUCP over X.25 links in case of Moscow-Dubna, Moscow-Novosibirsk or clear channels were used as Moscow-Leningrad). Relatively weak development of communications in the USSR, oddly enough, helped to develop a computer network. So a sharp increase in customer base was due to nonalternative nature of computer communications - for many regions it was impossible even to receive a fax from abroad.

Relcom development tendencies in 1990s.

On August 28, 1990 Relcom network had established the first network connection to the Internet, namely to its part - FUUGNET, the former part of the EUNET. Thus the first gateway had been opened to the European consortium of networks - EUnet. It made available USENET’s services for the Russian Internet users. The exchange of emails and news with the foreign networks had began.

On September 19, 1990 the top-level domain “.SU” had been registered in the InterNIC database for use in the USSR. The first machine, that connected the USSR with the rest of the world, was the 486 IBM PC, working at 25 Mhz and located at MNIOPK "Demos". The organizations that were responsible for the domain “.SU” were: SUUG (Soviet Unix User Group - The Soviet Association of a Unix Users), Information Technology and Computer Complex of the Institute of Atomic Energy, named after Kurchatov I.V., and MNIOPK "Demos". As a result of the registration and launch of the domain “.SU” USSR and later Russia has had the representation in the Internet community. The September 19, 1990 is considered as a birthday of Internet in Soviet Union.

In the March of 1992 the joint-stock company RELCOM had been established. On June 1, 1992 RELCOM network, named as EUnet / RELCOM, had been officially registered in the pan-European network (EUnet). [Source: Press-conference “Common Space of the Russian language: domain “.SU”, 17th anniversary of the birth , PRESS PACK, September 19, 2007, ITAR-TASS)]

In the late of 1993 the EUnet / Relcom had been registered in NSFNET – the U.S. backbone network, what should be considered as the beginning of the official presence of Russia in global Internet. Since that time Internet has been available in Russia in its entirety. [Source: Routing of FSU traffic on NSFNET Backbone Service http://www.merit.edu/mail.archives/mjts/1993-12/msg00017.html]

The RELCOM network map in 1994

Figure 1.The RELCOM network map in 1994. Sources: The Cook Report on Internet, Volume III, No. 4, July 1994,p.5

The second half of the 1990s is characterized by a rapid growth. In 1996 Relcom provided the Internet access over the Relcom-ISDN channels (64, 128 Kbit / s). At the end of the year RELSAT – a satellite communication system was started, connecting the Relcom’s node at Moscow to Vladivostok, Novokuznetsk, New Urengoy, Orenburg, Syktyvkar, Tashkent and Togliatti (the cities in Russia). In 1998, a high speed fiber-optic channel (34 Mbit /s) to a foreign networks from Moscow, through St. Petersburg and Stockholm (UUNET) was established. (Source: http://www.fid.ru/museum/hall3/03/)

4. Commercial networks in 1990s

Beginning from 1992, commercial computer networks had started their dynamic development in Russia.

By the mid-90's (1995), with the efforts of a private organizations, in Russia there were established and operated a number of networks such as: IASnet, Infocom, Interlink, Sovam Teleport, Sprint, FidoNet, GlasNet, ROSPAK , SOVAM TELEPORT . The most of those networks were purely commercial ones that provided services to their users on a base of relatively high tariffs. The most popular and widespread network was Relcom, that provided its services for a rather modest payment.

Sovam Teleport (www.sovam.com)

Since 1992, the Sovam Teleport provided for banks of Russia and the former USSR states the access to a global telecommunication system of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). Sovam Teleport also provided a link between the State Custom Committee of Russia and authorized banks to export control. The founders of the SOVAM TELEPORT Company were leading communications companies of Russia, USA and UK:

- IAS (Institute for Automated Systems) - known in the 1980s as VNIIPAS

- Cable & Wireless, Plc. (UK), one of the 30 most known companies in Europe, operating in over than 50 countries

- San-Francisco/Moscow Teleport Inc. (USA) - one of the first telecommunication companies actively operating on the territory of the former USSR and Eastern Europe.

The SOVAM TELEPORT based on its satellite X.25 channels to California provided UUCP-mail. Sovam Teleport had PoPs in many cities of Russia, forming the SOVAMNET network.

Since 1995 SOVAM TELEPORT offered to its users Russia Online services (the access to reference information on economic and industrial statistics, encyclopedias and other reference publications. (Source: http://ru.wikipedia.org/ )

Sprint networks (Sprint-Russia) jointly with the Central Telegraph provided such services as: e-mail, fax, voice calls, and telex/telegraph through 40 regional sites in Russia, coupled with the global packet-switched networks. Later it provided IP-services also. It was a commercial network, largely focused on the organizations working in the field of economics and business. (Source: http://www.osp.ru/print_text.php?type=article&id=178799&isPdf)

Infocom is a joint Russian-Finnish company founded by the IAS, Moscow City Telephone Network, and Finnish PTT. He had more than 100 regular customers. Infocom offered X.25 services over leased line to the node in Helsinki (Datapak). Infocom started its work on the telecommunication market since 1991.

Interlink - a joint Russian-German venture which offered X.25 services over leased lines to the hosts in Stuttgart (Geonet, c/o Gutacker Telecommunications). It had more than 50 clients. Interlink was a part of the Geonet, with its nodes in Luxembourg, Switzerland, and 5 other cities, located in Germany.

(Source: http://emag.iis.ru/arc/infosoc/emag.nsf/BPA/bc177065e3753c63c32575c9004042e9)

INFOTEL - the packet switched network (operated with equipment from Siemens). The company provided network services over Iskra-2 telephone channels. INFOTEL began its work on the telecommunication market since 1992.

ROSPAK - the packet-switched network. In 1991, IAS (former VNIIPAS) together with JSC "Intertelecom” had created a nationwide packet switched network, called ROSPAK, which was a public network based on X.25 protocol. (Source http://www.mark-itt.ru/MARK-ITT/rospak/)

GlasNet was one of the first non-governmental and non-commercial networks of the former Soviet Union, which provided Internet services. The GlasNet network started its work since March of 1991 in Moscow. GlasNet was a member of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) - an international network with offices in many countries around the world. It provided to its users e-mail service based on UUCP-technology, as well as a set of IP-services. The network was based on telephone channels

Fidonet is a non-professional open global network consisting of thousands of nodes all around the world. Established in 1984 by Tom Jennings, Fidonet has grown rapidly starting from two nodes in June of 1984 to over 8000 nodes in 1994, and had become widespread in Russia. Fidonet used its own set of protocols working on low-speed channels. For its users Fidonet provided e-mail and newsletter services.

5. The Science and Education network in 1990s. RELARN Association.

Creation of networks for science and higher education has started in the 1990s. These networks were very diverse and in some degree fragmented as the direct consequence of a fact that the infrastructure was built within different projects, programs, public initiatives, and even individual initiatives of some organizations. [Source: http://www.mininform.ru/3495/3499/]

As a result, in the 90's in Russia there was a number of the different science and education networks such as: FREEnet, Radio-MSU, RASnet (EmNet), RSSI, RUNnet, Relarn-IP, RBnet.

- FREEnet (The Network For Research, Education and Engineering) - an open network for science and education, was originally initiated by the Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences (IOC RAS). in 1991,http://www.free.net.

FREEnet/SUAREN network was founded in July 1991 on the initiative of the Institute of Organic Chemistry, named after Zelinsky, and was operated by Universities's Network Corporation (UNICOR), established by the Board of Higher Education in 1992. Since 1991 FREEnet had the opportunity to exchange the e-mail traffic using a gateway to the EARN / BITNET network, an international site that functioned on the premises of the IOC RAS . Since 1992, the development of the FREEnet was performed with financial support from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), the program of the State Committee for Higher Education (Creating a national system of databases and knowledge bases of higher education in Russia), the International Science Foundation (ISF), the Institute "Open Society", and NATO. In 1994 there were 250 institutions of science, education, culture and health, connected to the network, and in 1996 - more than 350. The communications were performed on the base of terrestrial channels at the rate of 19 kbit/s. Since 1993, the network provided full access to Internet. In 1999 FREEnet was one of the first networks in Russia to start supporting IPv6 protocol.

[Source: http://www.fid.ru/projects/book/Mendkovich, http://www.free.net]

- Radio-MSU / RUHEP – the specialized network of high-energy physics, formed at 1993, http://www.radio-msu.net/about.htm, http://www.ruhep.ru/ruhep/history.hep/histor_e.htm

The founder of the network was the Institute of Nuclear Physics, Moscow State University. This project was supported from different sources: Russian Ministry of Science and separate Russian institutions; Ministry of Science of Germany (in frame of the international research program); the German Research Network (DFN); and international research funds. The basic node for international communications was located in the German Centre for High Energy Physics, DESY, Hamburg (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron - http://www.desy.de). Through this node the access to the German research network DFN (German Research Network) and the European network (EuropaNET) was done. The main channels from Radio-MSU/RUHEP, connected to the DESY, were: from Moscow it was the combination of 1024 kbit/s on the ground and satellite portion of 128 kbit/s, a satellite channels from Novosibirsk (128 kbit/s), Gatchina (64 kbit / s), Minsk (64 kbit / s ), and Yerevan (64 kbit / s), as well as other channels from Alma-Ata, Tbilisi and Harkhov. In 1994 a satellite channel 256Kbit/s to the DESY research center was provided, and in 1996 it was upgraded to 1 Mbit/s (later 5 Mbit/s). In 1998 a 128 Kbps channel BINP (Novosibirsk)-KEK (Japan) was configured.

[Source: http://www.radio-msu.net/about.htm, http://www.ruhep.ru/ruhep/history.hep/histor_e.htm]

- RSSI (Russian Space Science Internet) - The Russian Space Science Internet network. The first lines of communications with foreign space agencies were established in 1966; in 1993 a specialized network for Russian space research communities was formed. http://www.rssi.ru/koi8/rssihi.htm

RSSI Network interconnected a number of a research institutes of RAS and other scientific organizations to provide international communications for the Russian scientific community, working in the field of space research. The first communication line, which linked the Space Research Institute (Moscow) and the National Center for Space Studies (CNES - Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, France - http://www.cnes.fr) was created in 1966.

Russian Space Science Internet (RSSI) Project was established in April, 1993 after joint decision of Russian co-chairmen of Working Groups on Space Research and NASA to improve cooperative activities under the Agreement Between the United States of America and the Russian Federation Concerning Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes (1992). The main goal of this project was to provide network communications to Russian space science community. The network connectivity was facilitated through the joint cooperation of:

- the NASA Internet (NI);

- the NASA Program Support Communications Network (PSCN);

- the Russian Space Science Internet (RSSI).

In February 1994 the satellite 256Kbps link connected RSSI with Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA, USA) that allowed the first organizations-members of RSSI to gain access to Internet. RSSI Network Operation Centre (NOC) was organized at the same time.

In 1999 RSSI’s network infrastructure included organizations that were located in Moscow, the Moscow and Kaluga regions (Obninsk, Fryazino, Troitsk, Star City(Korolev), Istra ). The network had branches in St. Petersburg and Krasnoyarsk.

In the middle of 1997 RSSI increased its international channel capacity up to 512Kbps

In February, 1998 RSSI signed "Peering and Transit Agreement between NASA Integrated Services Network (NISN) and Russian Space Science Internet (RSSI)". In June 1998, 50 organizations were connected to RSSI using leased lines, and 57 organizations - via dial-up links. [Source: http://www.rssi.ru/rssihi_e.html]

- RUNnet (the Russian University Network) - Federal University Computer Network RUNNET was founded in frame on the federal program "Universities of Russia", 1994 http://www.runnet.ru/

The cteation of RUNnet started in 1994, as the satellite-based network. In the end of 1996 the backbone of the network and the connection of its regional segments were based on the federal nodes, located in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Petrozavodsk, Rostov-on-Don, Tambov , Nizhny Novgorod, Ulyanovsk, Saratov, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Izhevsk, e Barnaul, Khabarovsk, Vladivostok. RUNnet provided the services to more than 400 universities and other major educational and research institutions, having been initially operated by Vuztelecomcenter, and later – by Informika (state organization).

In 1994 RUNnet signed the Agreement of Cooperation with joint academic network of Scandinavia (NORDUnet). Since 1995, the Internet access was provided through two nodes: in Moscow (on the terrestrial 128 kbit/s Renater channel to Paris), and in St. Petersburg (on the 256 kbit /s fiber-optic FUNET/NORDUnet channel to Helsinki). Here is the dynamic of growth of the international RUNnet channels: 1995 - 256Kbit / s; 1996 - 1 Mbit / s; 1997 - 2 Mbit / s; 1998 - 8 Mbit / s; 2000 - 34 Mbit / s. At the present moment RUNnet operates two 10 Gbit/s links to NORDUnet (Finland). Since 2003 RUNNet supported IPv6. [Sources: http://www.isoc.org/inet95/proceedings/PAPER/027/abst.html, http://www.runnet.ru/, http://www.fid.ru/projects/book/Tihonov/]

- RASnet (the Russian Academy of Sciences Network) - The corporate network of the Russian Academy of Sciences (http://www.jscc.ru/rasnet.shtml)

RASnet interconnected the regional networks of branches and scientific centers of RAS. The network was designed to provide for the RAS organizations an information exchange, access to a databases, information systems, and international science and education networks.

EmNet program was a predecessor of the RASnet. EmNet program aimed to create pan-European information environment to support research mathematicians, based on modern computer networks and advanced telecommunication technologies. In 1993, the project EmNet / fSU / Phase - I was supported by the European Commission through the INTAS association. The project included creation of a network of the eight regional EmNet centers in Russia, Ukraine and Georgia. The aim of Phase I was to enhance of the network environment for the fSU partners and integration of fSU mathematical community into EmNet (Euromath Network and services),

RASnet was financially supported by RAS. In 1997 RASnet actively participated in a State programs: «Creation the computer networks and databases for research and education», and «Establishment of telecommunications systems and services support.»

As part of those programs (during 1997-1999) the number of RAS institutes in Moscow were successfully connected to the the metropoliten fiber-optic infrastructure (SMB), as access nodes, using the modern telecommunications technology.

[Sources: http://www.jscc.ru/rasnet.shtml, http://www.botik.ru/PSI/EmNet_NIS/]

- RBnet (Russian Backbone Network) was build in the framework of the Interdepartmental State Program "Creation of the national computer telecommunication network for science and higher education" ("NSKT-NVSH"), 1996-2002 http://www.relarn.ru/about/index.en.html, http://ripn.net

The RBnet network was the main state network backbone, which provided connectivity for multiple network segments that served various user groups of research and education (R&E) community. From a technological point of view RBNet was a high-speed IP-based network with Points-of-Presence (POPs) in all federal districts that integrated regional network segments for science and education. RBNet was operated by the Russian Institute for Public Networks (RIPN).

The basic access points were located in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-na-Donu, Samara, Nizhniy Novgorod, Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Khabarovsk, and Obninsk. As a rule, RBNet equipment was installed at regional communication enterprises where reliable 24/7 service was guaranteed. Channel infrastructure of RBNet was provided by two major Russian communication companies - Transtelecom and Rostelecom

To optimize interregional data exchange, since1996 RIPN provided the development of the regional exchange systems for IP traffic (Internet-eXchange) in Moscow (MSK-IX/G-NAP), St. Petersburg (SPB-IX), Samara (Samara-IX), Novosibirsk (NSK-IX) and Yekaterinburg (EKT-IX). To build distributed systems of high-speed access, RIPN developed its own fiber-optic segments in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Samara. ATM and Gigabit Ethernet networks were created on the basis of those segments. An experimental IPv6 traffic exchange facility had been built in Moscow in collaboration with Institute of Organic Chemistry and State Research Institute "Informika".

In 2000-2003 the RBnet’s infrastructure covered about 50 Russian regions, integrating a 2500 organizations. Over the course of the program the capacity of the channels had been increased from the initial 256 Kbps up to 45 Mbps.

International Cooperation

In 1994 , the RIPN participated in a project of the Moscow Fiber-optic backbone network, which consisted of the North (Northern Moscow Fiber Optic Backbone (NMB) and South (Southern Moscow Fiber Optic Backbone (SMB) parts. The implementation of North part of that program was done by RIPN, which later operated the NMB. The responsibility for the development of the SMB, in coordination with the Ministry of Science and the Academy of Sciences, was taken by the Open Society Institute (based on International Soros Foundation).

In 1997 RBNet took part in the preparation and implementation of the first Russian-American project on creation of a high-speed network channel for science and education between Russia and the US (NSF, High-Performance International Internet Services, HPIIS projects (MirNet (1998) - 6Mbit/s, and later FastNet - 45Mbit/s (1999), NaukaNet (2002) - 155Mbit/s). RBnet provided the Russian research and education community the access to the USA science networks (NLR, Internet2, ESnet), and in 2003 – to the science CSTnet network of China ("Little Gloriad" 155Mbit/s). In 2004 RBNet launched its Russian segment of the global communication ring for science and education, that was developed by a number of countries on the international GLORIAD project (U.S.A., Russia, China, Netherlands, Korea, Canada, the Nordic countries Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland) (Appendix 4. International Project MirNet (1998); FastNet (1999), NaukaNet (2002 "); Little Gloriad (2003); GLORIAD (2004)). At this stage Informika (RUNnet) took an active part in this project, participating in connection to NORDUnet.

2001 RBNet provided connectivity to pan-European network GEANT (project coordinator - Moscow Joint Supercomputer Center), to international systems of R&E traffic exchange StarLight and NetherLight (project coordinator - Russian Research Center Kurchatov Institute). For those purposes the equipment administrated by RIPN was installed in Amsterdam, Stockholm and Chicago. Those POPs were connected by means of integrated trunk (backbone RUNNet/RBNet) on the route Moscow - St. Petersburg - Stockholm (2.5 Gbps) - Amsterdam (622 Mbps). [Source: http://www.relarn.ru/about/index.en.html), http://ripn.net, http://www.rbnet.ru/en/about_en.shtml ]

At the beginning of the 90-s, the majority of operating regional nonprofit computer networks emerged on the basis of nodes of national networks, which were described above and usually located at universities and research institutions. Networks continued developing mainly due to the initiatives of educational and scientific organizations, local administrations , sponsor support provided by commercial telecom companies, and foreign funds. Many of them became network service providers for local scientific, educational and cultural organizations.

For expanding of information exchange and efficiency in the funding to support science and education network communities, the RELARN (Russian Electronic Academic & Research Network) Association had been established in 1992.

RELARN became one of the first organizations which coordinated state support to computer telecommunications in science and education (State Committee for Higher Education and Ministry of Science). The number of RELARN’s member was quickly growing. By 1994, the number of the RELARN Association’s members were 822, and in 1996 - 1034 members.

The members of the RELARN Association were initially connected to the Russian commercial operators: Relcom, Demos, IAS, Rosnet, Techno. Later on the high speed non-commercial network RELARN-IP, based on NMB (100 Mbps FDDI technology), has been created.

Since 1994 the essential part of the financial support of the network infrastructure for science and education organizations had been provided by Federal Agencies and National Foundations. The largest sources of the financing were provided by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Education, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian Foundation for Basic Research.

At the same time there were a number of programs on development of nonprofit computer telecommunications in Russia from international organizations such as the International Soros Foundation (ISF) , National Science Foundation (NSF), IREX (International Research and Scientific Exchanges USA), Ford Foundation, NATO, and others. The European Union launched the programs to make contributions to nonprofit Internet development area in Russia. There were a number of international programs, supporting international communication channels for specific scientific areas such as: high energy physics, supported by the Government of Germany and Japan; an international space research programs, supported by the Europe and US’s space agencies; and others.

A key role for Russian science and education communities the Interdepartmental State Program "Creation of the national computer telecommunication network for science and higher education" ("NSKT-NVSH"), 1996-2002 had played. The following state organizations took part in the program: the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Education, the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the State Committee of Communications and Information.

The goals of the program ("НСКТ-НВШ")

· Legislation

· Regional high-speed networks

· Inter-regional backbone infrastructure for a computer communications

· Distributed databases, data-processing and computing systems

· Means of access for the end users to the network resources

[Source: http://emag.iis.ru/arc/infosoc/emag.nsf/BPA/cadb2653f863aa37c32575c100289ba1]

One of the main results of the program ("NSKT-NVSH") had been the construction of the inter-agency network backbone (Russian Backbone Network - RBNet), that facilitated the formation of an integrated information space in science and education of the Russian Federation. The RBnet network was the main state network backbone, which provided connectivity for multiple network segments that served various user groups of research and education (R&E) community. Other R&E networks has been also supported in the framework of this Program.

The Interdepartmental State Program was coordinated with State Program "Universities of Russia" (Direction V) supported by Ministry of Education and with the Program "33 Regional Universities” supported by Open Society Institute of the International Soros Foundation. In the framework of these Programs the University Internet Centers have been opened, and connected to RBNet (with terrestrial channels) and RUNNet (with satellite channels).

The resulting infrastructure, including segments of RBnet, RUNnet, RASnet is shown on the following Figure 2.

The network infrastructure, including segments of RBnet, RUNnet, RASnet

Figure 2.The resulting infrastructure, including segmentsof RBnet, RUNnet, RASnet

In 1999-2005 the Russian scientific networks had been connected to the international R&E networks such as: NORDUnet - Nordic European Countries, SURFnet and GEANT - Europe, Abilene (Internet2), NLR, ESnet through the Starlight at Chicago - in the USA (the international projects MirNet (1998), FastNet (1999); (NaukaNet (2002 "), Little Gloriad (2003), GLORIAD (2004)). Also Russian R&E community had access to a specialized channels: the BINP channel (KEK (Japan) - (Novosibirsk, Russia)), Radio-MSU – DESY.

6. Development trend of the nationalwide network backbone (1994-1999). Rostelecom.

In the second half of the 1990’s (1996-1999) telecommunication infrastructure was developed considerably and the Internet industry began to influence on the development of telecommunication infrastructure.

The creating of the modern telecommunication infrastructure in Russia during that period has been developed in three areas in parallel:

- Implementation of large-scale national projects (nationwide network backbone);

- Development and support of regional and interregional telecommunication projects

- Telecommunication activity of a non-governmental organizations (commercial and non-commercial sectors)

The development of the national primary telecommunication infrastructure (nationwide network infrastructure) was carried out under the large-scale state and private projects, where the most important were Rostelecom’s projects on constructing of nationwide fiber-optic backbone systems.

Rostelecom has been established as an open joint stock company on September 23, 1993. Since that time the company, as Russia's national long-distance telecommunications operator, has been constantly expanding and modernizing its nationwide digital backbone network. In those days Rostelecom was the only operator of long-distance connections in Russia, so we can call Rostelecom the largest ISP to the intermediary ISPs.

During the period of 1994-1999 Rostelecom accomplished the large-scale projects: Denmark - Russia (Kingisepp, 1993), "Moscow - Rostov-on-Don - Novorossiysk" (1994-1996), marine fiber-optic channel "Palermo (Italy) - Istanbul (Turkey) - Odessa (Ukraine)" (1994-1996), "Nahodka (Russia) - Naoetsu (Japan) – Busan (South Korea)" (1995), "Nahodka - Khabarovsk" (1995), "Moscow - Khabarovsk" (1999), "Rostov-on-Don - Lugansk" (2000) [Source: http://old.rt.ru/about/history/1995-1993/]

The period of 1994-1999 was characterized by extremely dynamic development of the regional networks that provided the Internet connections across all Russian Federation Territories. In most cases, the physical level of the Russian Internet was based on three main fiber-optic Rostelecom's systems: "Moscow - Novorossiysk", "Moscow - Khabarovsk" and "Moscow - Saint Petersburg." [Source: http://old.rt.ru/about/net/magistr/#]

At the St Petersburg direction and Leningrad Region, Internet networking was based mainly on the telecommunication system of the regional power energy company “LENENERGO” and sometime later - over RASCOM (regional North-West telecommunication railway company).

An additional impetus for the Internet development in Russia had been the emergence of a new companies, such as "Transtelecom" (1997) , “Enifcom” (1997), "Gascom" (1992) as a large national telecommunication operators with own nationwide infrastructure:

- "TransTeleCom" - Joint Stock Company "Company TransTeleCom"; trademark – TTK; was founded in 1997; [Source: http://www.ttk.ru/rus/ 59897/59900/61841/, http://www.ttk.ru/eng/about/]. The major shareholder was Joint Stock Company Russian Railways. During three years (1997- 2000) the company has built the most modern and branched fiber-optic telecommunication lines, using the most advanced and efficient telecommunication technologies.

- “Enifcom” (1997) - Joint Stock Company “Enifcom” - Russian telecommunication operator, was founded in 1997 by RAO UES of Russia (Unified Energy System of Russia) [Source:http://www.rao-ees.ru/en/info/history/show.cgi?history.htm, http://www.effortel.ru:82/press.asp?id=100&div_id=1]

- "Gascom" (it was established in 1992, and today it is Joint Stock Company Gazprom Space Systems (before December 1, 2008 - JSC “Gascom”)) - Russian communications satellite operator. The company was founded in 1992 by several Gazprom Group enterprises (Yamburggazdobicha, Tumenburgaz, Urengoygazprom, Nadimgazprom, Tumentransgaz), NPO Energia and Gazprombank [Source: http://www.gascom.ru/ru/first_page/index.php]

In the mid-1990s, the Russian Internet as a communication system had a multi-ray star topology with the center at Moscow, from which the channels diverged to other cities of Russia, where the regional Internet centers have been formed. [Source: http://www.fid.ru/museum/hall3/03/]

7. Resume

During the ten years (1990 – 2000) the Russian Internet had exponentially grown. At the end of the 2000 more then 6.6 million users had access to Internet. [Source: exhibit 4, http://www.fid.ru/museum/hall8/01/]

Because of the efforts and essential financial support from the state organizations, private companies, foreign funds for the implementation of a number of the national and international programs, the Internet in Russia did fast growth and development and had become the basis for the next stage of Internet in Russia in 2000’s.

The development in the 2000-2012 had provided the way to a new level, what had a major impact on economic development

8. Snapshot of Russian Internet in 2012.

The Internet in Russia today (2012) is a developed modern infrastructure that supports a variety of technology platforms. According to the industry report (“The Internet in Russia. Status, trends and prospects of the industry", the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications, 2011) at the end of 2010 - early 2011 the proportion of Internet -users among the adult (older 18 years) population of Russia was 43% or 50 million people. According to the forecasts by the end of 2014 the number of adult Internet-users will grow up to 80 millions, that comprise 71% of the population over 18 years.

The dynamics of the development of the national domain - one of the key parameter that shows the level of of the Internet development in a country. By 2010 the number of domain names registered in the domain .RU reached 3,128,660 (the level of 3 million domain names had been overcome in September 2010), as well as 700,000 domain names in the .РФ domain. By the end of 2011 the corresponding numbers are 3,600,000 and 900,000. If we compare the whole Russian domain space (.RU and .РФ) with other world largest domain spaces, then the Russia will occupy the fifth place with 4,500,000, very close to the Netherlands (.NL – 4,600,000).

The development of the Internet and the increasing number of the Internet users in Russia is the basis for the sustained growth of the economy and innovative development of the country.

[Source: http://www.fapmc.ru/magnoliaPublic/dms-static/8f55dfa0-1e93-4054-85f8-0f2c6c56fbd7 ]

9. Appendix

Appendix 1. Goskomstat. Population of USSR, RF. Science and education organization.

Sources:

http://www.gks.ru/bgd/regl/b11_13/IssWWW.exe/Stg/d2/07-02.htm

http://www.gks.ru/bgd/regl/b11_13/IssWWW.exe/Stg/d2/07-01.htm

http://www.gks.ru/bgd/regl/b11_13/IssWWW.exe/Stg/d2/07-37-1.htm

http://www.gks.ru/bgd/regl/b11_13/IssWWW.exe/Stg/d2/07-10.htm

http://www.gks.ru/bgd/regl/b11_13/IssWWW.exe/Stg/d5/21-01.htm

http://www.gks.ru/bgd/regl/b11_13/IssWWW.exe/Stg/d5/21-06.htm

Appendiх 2. From MIRnet to GLORIAD (short note)

It began in 1993 as a simple 64 Kbps link between the U.S. and Moscow as part of the NSF's International Connections Management(ICM) Project.

In 1997 NSF issued a solicitation for "High-Performance International Internet Services" (HPIIS) to provide connections to the vBNS and other Next Generation Internet networks (NGI, http://www.ngi.gov ) via the STAR TAP. MirNET was a joint US-Russian project to provide next generation Internet services for collaborating the US-Russian scientists and educators. The HPIIS awarded the MirNET project in June, 1998 (Source: http://www.MirNET.org). The project was jointly funded by the US National Science Foundation and the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Russian Federation. The five year budget initially provided a terrestrial 6 Mbps service between Moscow and the STAR TAP facility in Chicago.

At a different periods of time, MirNET (later re-named to NaukaNet), was a collaborative effort among the the consortium organizations. On the American side it involved: U.S.National Science Foundation (NSF); the University of Tennessee; The National Center for Supercomputing Applications of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Joint Institute for computation Science of the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. On the Russian side they were: the Russian Ministry of Industry, Science and Technology; and the Russian Research Center “Kurchatov Institute” (RRC “KI”), the Russian Institute for Public Networks (RIPN), Joint Supercomputer Center of RAS, Moscow State University, Russian Academy of Sciences, "Friends and Partners" Foundation.

The key Russian consortium partners were the RRC “KI”, the Russian Academy of Science, the RIPN being operator of the RBnet, “Friends and Partners” Foundation.

The RIPN coordinated Internet networking across Russia, working with about 800 organizations in over 100 Russian cities to develop infrastructure for the academic and educational networking. RIPN managed the RBNet (the Russian R&E backbone), and participated in the daily technical operation work of the international network connections (NaukaNet, MirNet, FastNet).

The Friends and Partners Foundation managed the projects activity within Russia and worked with UT's Center for International Networking Initiatives for bridging the many barriers (language, cultural, political, commercial) between US and Russian individuals and organizations.

The Russian Research Center “Kurchatov Institute” (RRC KI) had played a leading role in the project, continuing its support to the development of the Russian scientific and academic networking across Russia and the increase of the international scientific cooperation with advanced communications.

Supporting the technical operation of the MirNet (6Mbit/s link) project, and later FastNet ( 45Mbit/s, 2001) and NaukaNet (155Mbit/s, 2002), the RBnet network was providing the access to the USA scientific networks (such as NLR, Internet2, ESnet) for the Russian universities , research institutes and centers, and since 2004 the access to the China scientific network (CSTnet) has been added.

The successful implementation of the Russian-American projects (NaukaNet, MirNet, FastNet), that had become possible due to the active support from the Russian Ministry of Science , The Russian Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”, U.S. NSF, had created the basis for the the U.S.-China-Russia project of the "LittleGloriad" network in 2004 (the international high-speed (155Mbit/s) communication ring for science and education), and in the same year - for the “GLORIAD” project of the advanced science internet network that included U.S.A., Russia, China, Netherlands, Korea, Canada, and the Nordic countries (Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland). The “GLORIAD” network promotes new opportunities for collaboration and cooperation among scientists, educators and students.

Contacts for Gloriad-Russia:

Evgeny P. Velikhov, Alexey A. Soldatov, Alexey P. Platonov, Natalia А. Bulashova

Appendiх 3. Network Configuration at 1990.1.8

By Dmitri Burkov, DEMOS

[tasha]----[ache] [avg386] [dvv]---<- - - -| | Phone Network | | | | P | | =========================== | | | | | | | | | A | | Novell MS-DOS [jumbo] | | | | B |- - | [koch]--->- - - -| |- - | | X | | [dad]---->- - - -| | | | | | ............................. [md1]---->- - - -| | | : | ===== Ethernet : [fox]---->- - - - - - - - | : | ----- RS-232 : [md]----->- - - - - - - - | : | - - - phone line 1200 baud : [bor]---->- - - - - - - - | : | ........................................................ | | DIALOGUE [jvdrd]---< - - - - - - - -| | | [saukh] | | [jvdopd]--<- - - - - - -- -| | [jvdng]---<- - - - - - -- -| ........................................................ | | KIAE | | [cospas] [amet] [berta]---[kiae]---<- - - - - - - - | | | | | =================================================== | | | | | | | ||| | [icp] [cpuv1] [cpuv2] [cpuv3] [cpux3] [cpux8] | | | ============================================ | | | | | | [saa]---> - - - - - - - -| | [alex]--> - - - - - - - -| | [bst]--->- - - - - - - - | | ........................................................ | IPM&CE | [itm514]-->- - - - - - - - | | ........................................................ | Novosibirsk department | of IPM&CE [nfitm]--->- - - - - - - - | ........................................................ | Leningrad IIAS | [gsp]--->- - - - - - - - | ........................................................ | ICSTI | [icsti]->- - - - - - - - |

Please inform avg@hq.demos.su about all changes or any additional information.

Abbreviation:

Leningrad IIAS - Institute for Informatics and Automation USSR

ICSTI - International Center for Scientific and Technical Information

IPM&CE - Institute of Precise Mechanics and Computer Equipment

10. Reference and Bibliography

1. Akademset, IASnet, (russian) http://iasnet.ru/content.php?cid=1

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3. Cook.G., Russia Is Successfully Building Its Own Internet , The Cook Report on Internet, Volume III, No. 4, July 1994, http://www.cookreport.com/backissues/July94newsletter.pdf

4. Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls, COCOM, http://infousa.state.gov/economy/trade/glossac.html#coord

5. Earlier USSR history - evidence from 1980-s, http://www.pseudology.org/webmaster/Klyesov_Internet.htm

6. Edinaya avtomaticheskaya systema svyazi , EASS, (russian) http://www.skri.sut.ru/hist02

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8. FREEnet, http://www.free.net, http://www.fid.ru/projects/book/Mendkovich/

9. Gascom, http://www.gascom.ru/ru/first_page/index.php

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18. Moscow Internet Exchange, MSK-IX, http://www.msk-ix.ru/eng/

19. NaukaNet Project, http://www.naukanet.org/

20. Obchegosudarstvennaya avtomatizirovannaya sistema, OGAS, (russian) http://ogas.kiev.ua/

21. Press conference of the Common Space of the Russian language: domain. SU to the 17th anniversary of the day birth (PRESS PACK, September 19, 2007, ITAR-TASS)

22. Radio-MSU / RUHEP, http://www.radio-msu.net/about.htm, http://www.ruhep.ru/ruhep/history.hep/histor_e.htm

23. RASnet ,EmNet, http://www.jscc.ru/rasnet.shtml, http://www-sbras.nsc.ru/win/euromath/emnet.html

24. RBnet, http://www.rbnet.ru/en/about_en.shtml

25. RELARN, http://www.relarn.ru/about/index.en.html, http://www.relarn.ru/conf/conf94/conf5.txt, http://www.relarn.ru/conf/conf94/conf5.txt

26. Relcom History, http://old.relcom.ru/Relcom/History/Full/

27. RIPE Mailing Lists Archives, Notes on some TCP/IP WAN activities in xSU, http://lists.ripe.net/pipermail/ripe-org-closed/1992/msg00202.html

28. RIPE, Docs Archives, An overview of East and Central European networking activities,May,1993, ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/docs/ripe-086.txt

29. RIPN, http://www.ripn.net/about/en/

30. ROSPAK, http://www.mark-itt.ru/MARK-ITT/rospak/

31. Rostelecom history, http://old.rt.ru/en/about/history/1995-1993/index.php

32. Routing of FSU traffic on NSFNET Backbone Service, http://www.merit.edu/mail.archives/mjts/1993-12/msg00017.html

33. RSSI, http://www.rssi.ru/rssihi_e.html, http://www.fid.ru/projects/book/Nazirov/

34. RUNnet, http://www.runnet.ru/, http://www.isoc.org/inet95/proceedings/PAPER/027/abst.html, http://www.runnet.ru/, http://www.fid.ru/projects/book/Tihonov/

35. Sigalov A., Education and Internet, http://www.ci.ru/inform23_03/p_06.htm

36. Sovam Teleport (www.sovam.com)

37. TransTeleCom, http://www.ttk.ru/rus/59897/59900/61841/

38. Vasilyev V., et al., RUNNET Federal University Network of Russia, Proceedings of NATO Advanced Networking Workshop, Moscow, 1994, http://www.friends-partners.org/oldfriends/telecomm/nato/runnet.html

39. X.25 Networks. IASnet, http://x25networks.ru/2011/05/12/set-iasnet-chast-1/

40. http://www.fid.ru/museum/hall8/01/

Updated: 2013.5.4

Contact Sect at InternetHistory.Asia for further information.