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Victoria Wins Computer Contract

Victoria University has won a contract from UNESCO to design a computer network linking Southeast Asia and the Pacific with Internet, a world-wide research network.

In Asia, Japan, Singapore, Korea, Thailand and India are connected to Internet. The planned extension will link most of the other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including some of the Pacific islands, to the service. This will give educationalists and researchers immediate access to colleagues and databases throughout the world.

The design contract was won by Victoria's Computer Science Department jointly with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Victoria's Andy Lipton and Professor John Hine, together with the Australian scientists, will prepare recommendations on the hardware and software to be used, connection sites and choice of telecommunications agencies. Almost any type of computer will be able to connect to the network.

"We may decide to use New Zealand technology in the project," says Hine. "Protocols have been designed at Victoria which can run on inexpensive computers, and the DSIR Department of Information Technology at Gracefield has designed some more sophisticated equipment which is cheaper than off-the-shelf material from the States."