SUBJECT: n-1-4-011.34
Ecuador and the Galapagos
by Steve Goldstein
<sgoldste@cise.cise.nsf.gov>

Banco del Pacifico (Bank of the Pacific), one of Ecuador's leading and biggest
commercial banks is progresively community-minded.  Not the least of its
contributions to development in Ecuador was the founding of ECUAnet, a not-
for-profit Internet networking association for Ecuador, with free access for
universities and like non-profit institutions.  ECUAnet is given bandwidth
on the Bank's satellite and microwave-based domestic networking infrastructure
(main mission: for automatic teller
machines, inter-branch/inter-city voice and data, etc.) *and* on its satellite
link to Miami.  ECUAnet is already connected to the Internet (ecnet.ec),
and, as their guest in October, I saw and partiticipated in
demonstrations of Internet-roving and resource-browsing internationally
(conceived by ECUAnet V.P., Xavier Baquero--also V.P. for R&D of Banco del
Pacifico--and his staff).  ECUAnet's booth at this October's COMPU
computer exposition in Quito was continuously populated with enthusiastic
and curious visitors.

Just in case you may have forgotten, the Galapagos Islands, that font of
Darwin's theories on evolution and since, that sacred ground to environmental
preservationists, belong to Ecuador.
The staff of the Charles Darwin Research Station find themselves about two
miles (with line-of-sight) from Banco del Pacifico's branch in Puerto Ayora,
Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos.  The director and her husband are Internet
enthusiasts, recently of the University of Georgia's Institute of Ecology.

The Bank is installing a terminal-server at its branch in Puerto Ayora.
You will soon be able to ping Galapagos.  We tested the link by logging
on to a terminal server on the Ecuadoran mainland over a voice circuit,
and it works fine-- right now, 2400 bps, but may be increased in non-banking
hours to >=9600 bps over satellite to Guyaquil and satellite from Guyaquil
to Miami (19,200 bps during banking hours/ 56 kbps during non-banking hours).
However, there are not enough phone numbers available
on the island to dedicate a new number to the terminal server at the bank's
branch in Puerto Ayora, thus limiting dial-in service to non-banking hours.

Banco del Pacifico plans to donate a modem, dial-in software and an
uninterruptable power supply to help connect the Station's computer to
the terminal server.
The ultimate solution, For the Charles Darwin Research Station, a dedicated
link between the Station and the branch over a distance of a few Km, will
cost about US$5,000 to install.

So, dear colleagues, if any of you should be interested in assisting the
Charles Darwin Research Station achieve full Internet connectivity through
ECUAnet, please write either to:

Chantal Blanton, Ph.D.
Directora
Estacion Cientifica Charles Darwin (Charles Darwin Research Station)
Casilla 17-01-3891
Quito, Ecuador
FAX: +593-2-443935

or e-mail to:

Xavier Baquero <xbaquero@ecnet.ec>

with "pass to Charles Darwin" in the subject line
(Xavier will find a way to print and pass it on to them).

ECUAnet can serve as an example of how private interests can assist
the research and ecucational communities in technologically emerging
countries.  While we have highlighted the Galapagos progress, ECUAnet
is expanding its coverage of Ecuador's educational institutions on the
mainland, and it is attracting many inquiries from Ecuador's medical
community whose practitioners seek convenient access to medical information
abroad.