What's New - Newsletter
The News
What's New - Newsletter
The News
Dialup Tendencies
The times when NetMedia was the only provider with POPs in all areas are
over. Today all big ISPS and many small ones have POPs in all dial-up
areas, so that competition tightens. Besides the price, primary areas to
which the focus of competition have moved are the following:
- Multiple POPs in same area
NetVision has two POPs in 09 - Netanya and Herzlia and two in 06 - Hadera and Kiryat-Shmona. ACTCOM has two POPs in 09 - Netanya and Herzlia and two in 04 - Haifa and Karmiel. InterNet Gold hosts three POPs in 03 - Ramat-Gan, Rishon le-Zion and Rosh ha-Ain.
With amount of dial-up users getting close to 100,000 people the niche is worthwhile more than 30 million dollars yearly.
- Technical Support
Most users are unable to appreciate adequately quality of the backbone, but are very sensitive to the level of support they get. Technical if the face of the ISP one hand, but also one of the major budget articles of ISPs. Profit margin is very small for all ISPs, so the money they put in customer support and the way it is offered is the key to success.
- ISDN
ISDN Battle
The ISDN technology benefits may be arguable. DSL is on the horizon. In
Israeli however ISPs see the future of dial-up in ISDN, NetVision and
ACTCOM new price policies are pushing users towards ISDN very
aggressively. Another provider ISDN-Net is focused on ISDN market only.
All offer free equipment upon 2 years commitment, and have very
attractive prices.
ACTVNet
Another strange player appeared on market for home users. Spin-off by
Shani, one of the loosing Israeli ISPs, offers a leased Frame-Relay
connection for home users. The IP address they allocate is on their
private network, translated by firewall for Internet access. Thus the
connection can not be used to make you home computer to be a server on
the Internet, but used only for Internet access as a client. The price
is very cheap, not much more you will pay to Bezeq and ISP for modem
line, the catch however is the connection - Shani's backbone is very
poor, so you wouldn't get any quality better than you get with a modem
with them. In addition the installation process is headache.
For more information: http://www.actcom.co.il/
Aquanet's New POPs
Aquanet went through massive expansion during January.
New POPs were opened at Herzlia (09 area), Kfar-Saba (09 area) and Ashkelon
(08 area) another one in Hadera (06 area) is on the way...
For more information: http://www.aquanet.co.il/
Conference was build up of two parallel series of panels, one concentrating on technical edge and one on Internet as a social phenomena.
Few important Internet persons both Israeli and international were lecturing. Of an more impressive facts on Israel may witness the following. After minister of Science Michael Eitan informed about his efforts and progress on government computerization, complaining on slow advance because of non-modern though of the governmental clerks. Scott Brander rated as one 25 of most important people in networking world by Network Computing, told that comparing with large Telecommunication companies, Israeli government is a very mobile entity with some very fresh thinking.
For more information see: http://www.isoc.org.il/conf98/
ISDN Net
ISDN Net is a new kid around the block, backed by very powerful financial
bodies Globes and Koor. Their aim the dial-up subscribers niche, offering very
attractive package for ISDN dial-up users. Current pricing and technical
commitment they give make them very attractive. If no catch pops up they will
probably become of majors players here.
For more information see: http://www.isdn.net.il/
Simplex lines work one way only USA ==> Israel, since Israelis are downloading from Global Internet then Israeli servers serve. Duplex lines can be employed when technology allows so, i.e. on satellite links, when the nature of the link is simlex, In order to make link satellite work both ways two dishes should usually are installed. Thus the technology is relevant for Internet Gold, which are basing their backbone on Eurocom satellite lines.
For more information: http://www.inter.net.il/ http://www.neystadt.org/israel/maps/6.htm
List of New Sites Opened in Israel
Following feedback from one of "Israeli Internet" subscribers, new
feature was added. You can see list of all Israeli sites there were
opened during last 2 months.
For more information: http://www.neystadt.org/israel/sites/news.htm
I've participated in this conference last year and it was very good. Represenatives of Internet companies, Internet Providers, ISOC, Machba, Media and others attend it. You can meet most of the people you hear or see their work during the year.
Annual Internet Society of Israel Conference
The Internet Society of Israel is pleased to announce that registration to its conference to take place on Jan 7th, 1998 at Kfar Hamacabiah is now open at http://www.isoc.org.il/conf98/
Registration can be done online via our secure server or you can contact the conference organizers directly.
This years guest speaker will be Scott Bradner who is an area chair in the IETF, a member of the IESG and a Trustee of ISOC. He was also codirector of the IETF IP next generation effort and is coeditor of "IPng: Internet Protocol Next Generation" from Addison-Wesley. He also runs the famous Harvard Benchmark Lab and is a weekly columnist for Network World.
Internet Gold upgrades its IIX line
Last week Internet Gold expanded its Sifranet line to IIX from 1.5MB to
2MB.
IBM upgrades its IIX line
Today IBM Israel expanded its Sifranet line to IIX from 0.5MB to 1.5MB.
At this moment "Russian Internet", includes limited subset of features present in Israeli peer. Russian version does not feature maps, news and statistics.
"Russian Internet" includes full list of all Russian web sites registered both under .RU zone and top level domains - .COM, .ORG, .NET, .EDU. In addition database full text search of the database is allowed.
The URL of "Russian Internet" is http://www.neystadt.org/russia/.
NetVision Opens 3 new POPs
During november NetVision opened 3 new POPs (Points of Presence) in
Israel. New POP in 06 area, at Kiryat-Shmona was opened three weeks ago.
Additional POP in 09 area, at Netanya and another one in 03 area, at
Rishon-le-Zion. Last two pops support 56K modems and ISDN lines. The
last two was opened last week.
New Line to Digital Island, Hawaii
Hawaii's ISP Digital Island established 256 KBit/Sec Frame Relay line.
This was done primary for the benefit of Hawaiian customers, giving them
better connectivity to Israel.
NetVision Expands International Capacity
Following recent expansion NetVision's international backbone was
expanded too. NetVision added 4.5 MBit/Sec to their Tel-Aviv - New
Jersey link, bringing this link to 8 MBit/Sec and their total
international capacity to over 15 MBit/Sec.
Internet Golds puts another simplex T1 from USA
Internet Gold has installed a new T1 (1.5MM/S) Simplex from NJ to
Rosh-Haain. Internet Gold use simplex technology of lines which are
inidirectional. These lines are cheaper than duplex - bi-directional
ones. Since, there are more information sources in USA than in Israel,
Israel-USA traffic are not balanced. Thus people download more, than
americans download from Israel, this trique gives them more cost
effective network.
With this upgrade Internet Gold's international capacity exceeded 7 MBit/Sec.
For more information: http://www.inter.net.il/ http://www.isoc.org.il/iix.html http://golan.net/iix/
For more information: http://www.isracom.net.il/
StarNet fiber/satellite mixture
Following previous announcement of StarNet's optical line. At this
moment StarNet uses mixture of their two lines to UUNet, one satellite
and one fiber. Outgoing traffic uses optical one, while incoming,
satellite.
For more information: http://www.star.net.il/
I've implemented small search engine which allows you to search database of all Israeli sites. This is not full text search of all Israeli sites, but still seems to be useful. the database is updated regulary and you can search for site title, open date and url.
The engine is accessed via main page of "Israeli Internet" at http://www.neystadt.org/israel/
This upgrade finally stabilizes Intra-Israeli traffic, which was saturated during recent year.
2. StarNet have upgraded their line to IIX to 1MBit/Sec Sifranet. After previous upgrade the capacity was almost at its limit, but now this is solved.
Some time ago ISOC opened IIX traffic statistic page. This allows simple users monitor bandwidth situation and the level of overload of some ISPs' lines. May be this was one of the factors that situation was improved so dramatically lately.
One additional interesting fact that one can see on the statistics page - all ISPs import more data than export, except NetVision is the only who export more than import.
For more info: IIX Statistics: http://www.isoc.org.il/iix-graph.html NetVision: http://www.netvision.net.il/ StarNet: http://www.star.net.il/ IIX: http://www.isoc.org.il/iix.html
1. StarNet gets International Optic Line
StarNet is the 3rd provider in Israel to support low latency fiber-optic
international links.
Until now only NetVision and Trendline had fiber-optic lines to USA.
Fiber-optic
line is at least 3 times faster from user perspective than satellite
lines which
are in use by other ISPs in Israel.
StarNet installed fiber-optic T1 (1.5Mbit) to Palo-Alto, UUNet.
For more information: http://www.Star.net.il/ http://www.neystadt.org/israel/isp-sum.htm
2. ACTCOM upgrades line to IIX
Last week ACTCOM upgraded its line to IIX from 128 KBit to leased 1MBit
Frame-Relay line. This upgrade follows a chain of recent upgrades done
by other
Israeli ISPs, which significantly improved intra-Israel connectivity.
For more information: http://www.actcom.co.il/ http://www.isoc.org.il/iix.html
I estimate that about 100,000 people has suffered as a result of this failure.
ACTCOM Upgrades
ACTCOM upgraded its only international link from 512KB to 768KB. In addition
link between their main site in Haifa and Tel-Aviv POP was upgraded to
512KB.
For more info see http://www.neystadt.org/israel/maps/4.htm
Internet Gold Adds International Capacity
Internet Gold Added another two international lines, adding together 2MB
towards Israel. InterNet Gold utilizes simplex satellite lines, which allow
only USA ==> Israel flow, which allows to make the infrastructure cheaper
without sacrificing quality. The total international capacity of Internet
Gold towards Israel reached 5.65 MBit.
NetVision vs. IIX
As a part of joining NetMedia's and NetVision's infrastructure, NetMedia
started using NetVision line to IIX. The overloaded NetVision's line to IIX
became a total hazard with this mix. NetVision finally decided upon upgrade,
but this goes very slow... As of today Intra-Israeli communications is
almost completely disabled due to this.
For more information: http://www.artaxia.com/ http://www.isoc.org.il/iix.html
NetVision Opens new USA POP
NetVision opened a new USA point of presence, co-located at SprintNAP,
Pennsauken (New-Jersey, USA). Previously all their international lines
joined at their single USA POP, located at Elron offices in NYC. New
infrastructure balances Israel <=> USA <=> Global Internet traffic with
redundant links, removing this single point of failure from NetVision's
backbone.
NetVision to upgrade IIX line
Frustrating situation of saturated NetVision's connection to IIX, finally
going to be resolved. After four months of technical problems and
conflicting situations the agrement was reached. NetVision's link to IIX is
going to be upgraded to from 512KB to 1MB.
As a part of "Israeli Internet" guide (http://www.neystadt.org/israel/), I've added page comparing all Israeli ISPs, explaining each therm and rating them.
The chart is at http://www.neystadt.org/israel/isp-sum.htm
For more information: http://www.ibm.net.il/ http://www.ibm.net/
Aquanet Becomes "level-zero" ISP -------------------------------- Aquanet joined a club of "level-zero" ISPs in Israel. Recently they disconnected from IBM Israel which provided them with International connectivity and established sattelite line to USA branch of Wisper Bandwidth Plc., an UK based ISP. Some time ago Aquanet was disconnected from IIX, and inspite of their ambitious plans, this is not announced to change.
For more information: http://www.aquanet.co.il/ http://www.wisper.net/
NetVision vs. IIX - a Deadlock ------------------------------ The NetVision line is still oversubscibed, what creates a great difficulties in local communication for major part of Israeli Internet users. ISOC management states that following recent IIX upgrade and relocation there are no technical limitations to prevent NetVision from establishing a broadband link into IIX. However NetVision does not intend to upgrade "as long as IIX has current structure".
For more information: http://www.isoc.org.il/iix.html
NetVision to Buy out NetMedia ----------------------------- Rumors say purchase of NetMedia by NetVision is negotioated, and may happen soon...
For more information: http://www.NetVision.net.il/ http://www.NetMedia.net.il/
NetMedia disconnects from IIX
NetMedia has disconnected from IIX. This means that intra-Israeli
communicating with NetMedia will go via USA from now. This will introoduce
significant network delay fro NetMedia users. I was unable to receive from
NetMedia with explanation for this step.
AquaNet introduces their own International connection.
Major changes are happening at AquaNet. They have introduced their own
International connection. In addition AquaNet disconnected from IIX.
Details will follow.
Line Upgrades
* IBM extended their connection to IIX to 512K
* NetVision added another T1 from Haifa to NYC, bringing their total
Internatiuonal bandwidth to more than 8M/Bit.
This service is brought by Israeli Internet Guide - http://www.neystadt.org/israel/.
IBM
IBM upgraded one of it's T1 lines into E1. The Total B/W from IBM abroad
stands on 4.75 MB.
During the next month, the 256K line to the U.K will be upgraded to B/W of
1M.
NetVision
An additional transatlantic T1 had been ordered, to be installed in a
month.
The 1.5M link from NYC to MCI is being upgraded to 3M, to be installed in a
month.
All Israeli Internet Service Providers except Shani and Infolink blocked access of their customers to BezeqNet's network. ISPs said BezeqNet broke the IIX's laws since BezeqNet doesn't hold Ministry of Communications license for providing Internet access. This was first time when wide cooperation of Israeli ISPs took place.
BezeqNet providing Israeli Community with unique 135 service, presents serious threat on dialup services of ISPs, service which recycles the largest sums of the money in Israeli Internet today.
For more information refer to:
23Bezeq - http://www.bezeq.co.il/ Israeli Internet Society - http://www.isoc.org.il/
During last days Israeli Internet users encounter problems, when hosts connected to NetVision communicate with other non NetVision Israeli ones. Since about 50% of Israeli networks are connected to NetVision, in about 30% of Intra-Israeli sessions long delays are encountered. NetVision needs overcame its 512K line to IIX, but latest currently is not capable of providing larger lines due to technical limitations, so the upgrade is not possible.
This problem is being actively researched by ISPs and IIX Board, and will be hopefully solved soon, with either temporary or permanent solution.
More details can be received from Bezeq Beynleumi at 177-022-1300.
Internet Gold Opens new POP at 07 area
Internet Gold announced opening of new POP in 07 area. With this POP opening
it accomlished coverage of all the areas in Israel. The leading number for
the POP is 07-6286928.
More details at Internet Gold WWW site - http://www.inter.net.il.
Ministry of Communications ordered Bezeq to disconnect from IIX, since Bezeq does has license to Provide Internet connectivity. More later...
Euronet is incorporating the most advanced network technology available today in Israel and which is going to replace existing Cifranet and FrameRelay Euronet's backbone. This technology called MAN by BEZEQ and based on IBM's SMDS. Its already used by ILAN - Israeli Academical Network and provide extremely high speed connectivity to sites connected by MAN network.
The changes should be accomplished in a few weeks.
In the last few years, until IIX started functiong, all traffic local to Israel was routed via Tel-Aviv University. This had to be changed by Ministry of Communications order. The IIX that is located at Israel Electric Company Headquarters in Tel-Aviv, serves as exchange point between all Israeli ISPs and Machba (academical network). This improved significantly and speed up local connectivity. In addition to that IIX idea solved endless conflicts netween ISPs and Machba that wasn't satisfied of each one's profesionality and responseness. The idea of IIX is modeled after USA's CIX - Commercial Internet Exchange, sponsored by Internet backbone companies.
Inspite all these news, during last few weeks NetVision customers suffer from packet loss and connectivity breaks. NetVision attributed this to software problems with their routers. It seems to me however that part of this problem is overloaded hardware at Or-Yehuda and lines to USA. NetVision admited that currently load reaches up to 70% of lines capacity at the peek usage, what is very high.
NetVision turned to BAGATZ regarding this issue, claiming that Bezeq is not allowed to compete with its own child companies, and two of them Trendline (Kav Manhe) and Gold Net are already Internet Providers. Thus the lines was closed until the BAGATZ's decision.
NetVision have put new additional 2MB line, what makes it now double E1s (4MB) backbone between their home site at MATAM center in Haifa and Tel-Aviv, where most of their customers are connected to. They have upgraded also few other peripheral lines inside Israel.