1994 NACSIS Symposium

The 1994 NACSIS Symposium was recently held in both Osaka and Tokyo, under the banner of: "Science Information Systems as a New Social Infrastructure." The Osaka site of the symposium was held at the Oval Hall on October 13 (Thursday) and was attended by 122 people, while the Tokyo site was held at the Maison Franco-Japonaise (Nichifutsu Kaikan Hall) on November 16 (Wednesday) and was attended by 459 people. The symposium was opened under the chairmanship of Professor Hitoshi INOUE, Director of the Research and Development Department of NACSIS, who gave the opening address as representative of the sponsors at the Osaka site. Professor Hiroshi INOSE, Director General of NACSIS, gave the opening address at the Tokyo site. The program was as follows:

Brief outlines of each of these presentations are introduced below.

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Information Communications Networks as a New Social Infrastructure

Dr. Kunihiro KATO, Executive Manager of the Engineering Planning Department, NTT's Research and Development Headquarters

1. Introduction

There is a continuing move toward multimedia within the field of information communications networks, against a background of advances such as the fusion of telecommunications, broadcasting, and computing based mainly on the use of telephone lines. In this brief summary, I would like to introduce some trends relating to information communications networks, trends in multimedia services, and the configuration of an infrastructure that will support such multimedia services.

2. Trends in Information Communications Networks

Information communications networks are developing in two directions: as public telecommunications networks progressing from telephone works, to digital data exchange works (DDX), and then to asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) works, and as computer communications networks progressing from personal-computer local area networks (LANs), to inter-LAN links consisting of routers and dedicated lines, and then onto the Internet. This section of the symposium considers the developmental status of each of these types of information communications network from the viewpoint of their disposition, including details such as the positioning of the Science Information Network, and also discusses the significance of new multimedia communications networks that combine both public telecommunications networks and computer communications networks.

3. Trends in Multimedia Services

This section discusses our awareness at NTT of the services provided by NACSIS, directives concerning speeds and fee systems aimed at future multimedia services, and examples of possible services of the future.

4. Construction of Infrastructure Network

Some of the features of multimedia information that are cited are its high speed, its wide bandwidth, and its bursty operation. It has become necessary to construct a high speed, broad-bandwidth backbone network ATM and ultra-high speed optical transmission) as an infrastructure for handling such information efficiently, as well as to speed up the corresponding access nets (by suitable optical or satellite means). A suitable high speed, broad-bandwidth backbone network is already under construction, so this part of the symposium discusses trends concerning problems that will be encountered in speeding up the access nets.

5. Conclusion

While everyone in the terminal, information provider, and telecommunications fields is working towards the true dawn of the multimedia age, we at NTT recognize that NACSIS is in an important position within this territory to administer a comprehensive network (system) linking together all three of these fields. We expect them to contribute immensely in the raising of multimedia applications in the future.

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Enhancement of SINET

Tokyo: Dr. Shoichiro ASANO, Professor, NACSIS
Osaka: Dr. Hisao UOSE, Associate Professor (Visiting), NACSIS

The National Center for Science Information Systems (NACSIS) has been operating the Science Information Network since 1986, providing general networking services for academic research purposes. In the first phase of network services, the NACSIS has installed 29 packet switching systems at 29 locations covering Japan from Hokkaido to Okinawa Island. At the second stage beginning from 1992, the NACSIS has begun the Internet Backbone service which is called SINET. 29 TCP/IP routers are also installed at the same locations interconnecting these routers with high speed digital circuit of 6Mbps or lMbps. Current SINET circuits are configured based on two layered hierarchical topology where the ring topology interconnecting among 10 nucleus nodes including NACSIS, on the other hand, other nodes are connected to nearest nucleus node with star topology. The Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) equipment and Frame Relay equipment are newly installed at each node in 1994 in order to realize flexible and high performance communication control in the SINET.

It might be international trends that ATM based enhancement is adopted to research networks. Currently, ATM is most promising scheme to achieve high performance communication capability when used in such environment where no bottlenecks raised by communication interferences between high speed application occur. However, real situation in research network is not so simple. Such examples as actual limitation of bandwidth of circuits employed in research networks, realistic bounds of efficiency in multiplexing of applications, inconsistency of communication control between LAN and WAN, as well as mismatch of throughput between LAN and WAN, are the factors of hamper in introduction of simplified ATM operation. In practice, it is significant that adaptations and developments of network technologies to meet with real environment is necessary to implement high performance SINET. Introduction of new equipment is merely the first step of SINET enhancement, and, by conducting developments and feasibility demonstrations, we will realize more sophisticated SINET in a couple of years.

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Trial Service of the Electronic Library

Dr. Jun ADACHI, Professor, NACSIS

Aims of NACSIS Electronic Library System

Over the past few years, the Research and Development Department of NACSIS has developed an electronic library system that is provisionally called NACSIS-ELS. The project overview will be outlined briefly, based on the present system which has already reached the trial service stage. The system is designed to provide a primary information service for scientific materials derived from journals and conference proceedings, and it works on a high-speed wide-area network, such as the internet. Since this service encompasses conventional document delivery services, NACSIS-ELS is expected to supply a model for a comprehensive scientific information service in the near future.

Sample System Operations

Two typical retrieval scenarios could be considered when you try to get a document. The first is to look for materials through secondary information. This is a usual approach employed in conventional online information retrieval using boolean search of key words. The second could be to reach documents directly on your workstation from journal's cover page icons, just like you try to pick up a journal from book selves.

System Design Considerations

This system employs typical techniques used on the internet; it incorporates a client-server system configuration, secures network-transparency by the use of IP protocol, and is composed of page-image databases as well as conventional secondary information databases. Implementing a more user-friendly interface is one of the crucial design criteria.

Concluding remarks

NACSIS' most important roles in the coming high-speed network age would be to provide the basic facility for networking as well as stable storage functions. Thus, making the most of the relationship with university libraries and academic societies, we regard it as our responsibility to develop new services, rapidly responding to new technological trends. The trial service of NACSIS-ELS is the first step towards that direction.

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The Future of Information Retrieval Systems

Plans for the Next Generation of Cataloging System Akira MIYAZAWA, Professor, NACSIS

In December of this year, it was exactly ten years since the NACSIS-CAT system started trial operation. There have been huge changes in the hardware and software environments for information systems during that time. From the hardware viewpoint, so-called "down-sizing" has occurred to produce smaller, faster systems; from the software viewpoint, the tide of new advances such as open system architectures, client-server systems, and graphics user interfaces (GUIs) has made these features commonplace. Library systems that are users of NACSIS-CAT and NACSIS-ILL have always been conservative as business systems, but as the 90s dawned, they found they could no longer ignore the new trends. This meant that we found it inevitable that NACSIS-CAT and NACSIS-ILL would have to change to suit the new hardware and software environments.

Therefore, NACSIS has started planning of next generation cataloging system. The first step will be introduction of a new database server system, and new client system for new user interface will follow it. However, the essential functions of CAT system, involving the creation and maintenance of union catalogs, and the ILL system that reflects such usage and applies for loans, will not change their basic nature even if a new system is introduced. Changes to adapt to the new environment and improvements based on experience in operations up to now will form new system functions that are currently under review.

In other words, the development of new services and the use of our union catalogs within new services are essential changes.

That is why we consider it is preferable that the new CAT system itself does not become multifunctional and obese, but should rather simply concentrate on its role of creating and maintaining union catalogs.