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The contract between UNEP and
GRID-Arendal was signed just before
Christmas 1997. This contract is based
on a ten-year strategic perspective and
contains guidelines and financial
mechanisms for the next four years.
The new director of the UIC, Harald
Holt, started his work at GRID-
Arendal on the first of April 1998, and
met early with industrial partners
SINTEF/RUNIT, NEWTECH, NERA,
ESA and SWISSCOM for negotia-
tions related to the future of the net-
work and reporting relationships. All
parties agreed to contribute towards a
common goal: To improve the quality
of the network.
Improved quality of service has
remained the primary objective for
UNEPnet1 in 1998. The objective has
been that all stations will be brought
into reliable operation, the suppliers
should provide the necessary spare
parts, and local network administra-
tors are trained to operate the sys-
tems. All stations except Almaty have
been put into reliable operation. Spare
parts have been ordered, and training
has taken place.
A contract with RUNIT was signed
early June 1998. RUNIT will operate
and maintain the IP level in UNEPnet.
RUNIT has finalised the build-up
phase. New operational procedures
and structures have also been devel-
oped through a co-operation between
UIC and SWISSCOM.
Three vital documents have been
developed during the last part of 1998.
The first document is a cost-benefit
analysis, which aims at finding an
answer to the value of UNEPnet. The
study was conducted by the Eurodata
Foundation on behalf of UIC in close
co-operation with UNEP, UNON,
ESA and UIC. The results were
encouraging, showing a potential
benefit from full utilisation of
UNEPnet, which clearly exceeds the
cost of operation.
The second document is a Business
Plan for UNEPnet. This plan is a
summary of financial, technical and
policy considerations for UNEPnet
viewed in a business context. The
report concludes that UNEPnet
represents a valuable asset for UNEP.
The last report is a Technical Develop-
ment Plan. This plan describes in detail
the recommended development of the
network in a 5-year perspective.
UNEPnet / Mercure
Looking Ahead
The major challenge for UNEPnet in
1999 is to develop the application of
the network further. This is comprised
of two main aspects.
For the environmental applications,
the main challenge is to help the
UNEPnet sites develop and implement
environmental applications on the
network. A programme supported by
the Swiss government is now being
developed. This programme is ex-
pected to run over a two-year period.
The second challenge is to utilise the
network for telecommunications
applications mainly for traffic out of
Nairobi. Examples of services, which
have been tested and which are now
being used more and more, are inter-
continental video conferences and fax
traffic. A five-year technical develop-
ment plan has been created which
outlines the development of new
services, backbone technologies, and
network access technologies.
Availability 1998
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