Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!caen!uflorida!haven!uvaarpa!murdoch!murdoch.acc.virginia.edu!dwells From: dwells@fits.cx.nrao.edu (Don Wells) Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains Subject: 24 Countries (was: Ping a host in Africa?) Message-ID: Date: 27 Nov 90 16:20:08 GMT References: Sender: news@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU Distribution: comp Organization: National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, VA Lines: 63 In-Reply-To: dwells@fits.cx.nrao.edu's message of 23 Nov 90 00:49:26 =-=-= Countries =-=-= My count of IP_connected countries now stands at 24 (up from 22, and should be 25): AR[1] AT AU (BE[2]) CA CH CL[3] DE DK FI FR GR IL IN[4] IS IT JP KR MX NL NO NZ SE UK US [1] There is a host at the southern end of an IP circuit to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and it answers. [2] I have been informed of the existence of a connected 24_country corporate IP network which includes a host in Belgium, which I pinged and telnetted. I have decided not to count this or any other corporate_IP_net hosts in my list, partly because they are now just too easy to be a challenge, but also because I am a scientist and the point of my list is to assess the growth of the IP connectivity that binds the worldwide research community. However, I have been informed by a knowledgeable person that a certain Belgian university now has connected status so, although I do not yet know an IP address for that university, I expect to be able to count BE in the country list "real soon now". [3] The host in question is physically in Chile, but its name is in the EDU domain. [4] An IP circuit to Bombay, India now exists, so that a well-known UUCP host there now answers a ping or a telnet to port 25. =-=-= Continents =-=-= My count of IP_connected continents still stands at 5 (out of 7): Asia, Australia, Europe, North_America, South_America, plus miscellaneous islands in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Pacific oceans. Regarding the continent of Africa: I have gotten no indications of any non-commercial IP connection to anywhere in Africa, although several people who responded to my first message presume (as I do) that South Africa [ZA] will connect sometime soon. Regarding the continent of Antarctica: I have been informed that there is a SPAN circuit to the South Pole already. And, on page 53 of the October 1990 issue of NASA's Information Systems Quarterly I read: "From the NSFNET base at Christchurch [NZ], NSI [NASA Science Internet] will soon extend [IP] connectivity to the Antarctic region." I speculate that we will be able to "work all continents" within a year. -- Donald C. Wells, Assoc. Scientist | dwells@nrao.edu Nat. Radio Astronomy Observatory | 6654::DWELLS Edgemont Road | +1-804-296-0277 38:02.2N Charlottesville, VA 22903-2475 USA | +1-804-296-0278(Fax) 78:31.1W -- Donald C. Wells, Assoc. Scientist | dwells@nrao.edu Nat. Radio Astronomy Observatory | 6654::DWELLS Edgemont Road | +1-804-296-0277 38:02.2N Charlottesville, VA 22903-2475 USA | +1-804-296-0278(Fax) 78:31.1W