Sonderband 2. International Council on Archives. Dritte Europäische Archivkonferenz, Wien 11. bis 15. Mai 1993. Tagungsprotokolle (1996)
4. Session / Séance. Strategies for Links with Historical Research / Stratégies de Communication envers la Recherche historique - Gonzalez, Pedro: Data Bases and Long Distance Communication. A Spanish Éxperience / Bases de données et information a distance. Une expérience des archives espagnoles (english 319 - français 343)
concept has appeared, that of „Value Added Networks“ which, apart from the „simple“ transportation of data, provide other more highly developed services5. The exchange of information and remote services is, without doubt, an extraordinary way of getting the different professionals connected with research and information to work together. However this world is advancing continuously and, as in other areas of rapid growth, a situation of „maturity“, with the acceptance of minimum standards by all, has probably not yet been reached and we are still victims of the „push“ of technology. At the present moment, the interconnection of the computing resources for remote access to the different services provided online is based on two general categories of computer networks:- Local Area Networks (LANs) which link computers situated in the same building or, at most, within the space of a few kilometres. They may have a huge data transport capacity at relatively low cost, and are related above all to the expansion of the microcomputers.- Wide Area Networks (WANs) which interconnect computers at great distance. In this case it is very costly to achieve high capacity or high speed of transportation. We could say, then, that telecommunications have been in the past - and still are - a significant bottle-neck for the exchange of large quantities of information or the provision of specific services. In spite of this limitation in speed, the world of information has advanced in the intercommunication of computing resources. At this moment it is possible to connect up with a multitude of different public or private networks, either national or international, with access to free or paid services. There are academic networks of a national character (IRIS Network in Spain); continent-wide networks such as EARN (European Academic Network); inter-continental networks such as BITNET or INTERNET; private networks such as the European Space Agency’s ESA-IRS, or the IBM network etc. Lastly, the smaller networks, either regional or national, interconnect within continental networks or worldwide networks, forming networks of networks like INTERNET. Internet is an academic network financed with federal support in the USA, with access to the world’s main academic networks. It is really a network of networks, with participation by government bodies, universities, research centres and private institutions. For the future, in 1991 the USA Congress approved the extension and improvement of the Internet network, with the development of a new very broadband network, the NREN (National Research and Education Network), through the „High Computing Performance Act“. The ambitious objective to be achieved is - by the end of 1995 - a one Gb per second transmission capacity, which at the present moment still seems like a dream. 4. Session/Séance: Gonzalez, Data Bases and long distance Communcation 5 Bawden, David: Value added information systems and services, in: Perspectives in Information Management 2 (Bowker Sowr 1990), p. 157-179. 323
