Excerpt from "Join the world -- Academic network development in China" By Jian Ding (ding@library.uta.edu) 8/20/93 After Mr. Yachun Lian briefly introduced the background and the purpose of the symposium, Mr. Xingzhong Gao from local PTT introduced the development of CHINAPAC, the major public data network backbone. He said that the new CHINAPAC(different from old CNPAC) have 5,500 backbone nodes which cover all capital cities of every provinces on the Mainland, with Canton links to Hong Kong and Macao, and Beijing links to the rest of the world(6 countries currently). CHINAPAC and its international link runs at 64kbps backbone rate. It supports major CCITT X series protocols including x.25 and x.75. It also supports SNA, SDLC, 3270, DSP and BSC protocols. User links vary from 1200bps through 64kbps. User can connect to CHINAPAC through leased line(x.25, 9.6k through 64k) or through dial-up(x.32, 9.6k; or x.28 1200/2400bps). The CHINAPAC is scheduled to put into operation by August 15, 1993. Mr. Gao also mentioned the telecomm infrastructure development in Beijing. The good news for all concerned network experts is that by September 1993, 64kbps telecomm backbone will be available in Beijing with 22 nodes linking together. It means that a 64k leased line can be set up at once between almost any two points in Beijing. This news is particularly good for NCFC which is applying for such a leased line for its international internet link. Excerpt 2: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The First Commercial E-mail Service has Become Operational in China ========================================================================== by Tian Bai Qian Director of CANET, China In May of this year, CHINAPAC (the national X.25 packet switching network provideded by Beijing Telegraph Office of China PTT) announced that e-mail service has been available for users. This e-mail system is the first commercial e-mail service based on the X.25 network in China. This e-mail system was imported from United States. The host machine, named CHINAMAIL, is located in Beijing, and it runs SpingMail (formerly TeleMail) software to implement the CCITT X.400 protocol. Currently, the CHINAMAIL system can provide 3,000 mail-boxes for users within China. This will be expanded to 10,000 mail-boxes.