FACT FINDING MISSION TO AZERBAIJAN

The mission was performed on October 2 - 5, 1996 by the team of UNESCO representative D. Ziyasheva and EDNES manager of STACCIS project A. Eliutin.

Geo-historical background:

Azerbaijan republic (population 5.4 mln) is situated to the south of the Great Caucasus, bordering Russian Federation at the north, Turkey, Armenia and Iran at the south. Azerbaijan has access to the Caspian Sea, the capital city of Baku being a major sea port and oil terminal. Azerbaijan became independent in 1991.

After a series of changes in the governing structures and political regime the republic finally entered a relatively stable state, though unsettled territorial claims with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region complicate the relations between the two states. Being affected by the same transition period problems as other new independent states in the region, Azerbaijan, being rich in oil and flexible in economic approaches, recovered rather fast. New economic links in the region, a large part of which are with Iran, helps re-launching national production, though many Soviet-time industrial resources are still operating at part-capacity.

Azerbaijan has well developed trade and joint venture sector, including computers built locally at a relatively low price, favorable import/export regulations facilitate international trade. The capital city of Baku is connected with major city in Europe and Asia by leading air carriers like Lufthansa, KLM, etc.

Existing computer and network resources suitable for STACCIS purposes:

Azerbaijan was among the first republics in the former USSR which participated in the development of the nation-wide academic X.25 based network, developed and launched in collaboration with VNIIPAS. At the same time, in the post-Soviet period the computer networks in the republic suffered most, as compared to other countries in the region, because the main outside link was provided by relayed wireless connection through the territory of Chechnia and was completely disabled during the war.

As a foreign aid, in 1994 Turkish government provided temporary connection to METU - English language university and communication center in Ankara. The current agreement expires by the end of 1996 and only provides for low bandwidth exchange. Technically rated at 9600 bps, this channel can currently be run only at 4800 bps, due to bad quality of physical connection lines.

Recently, the NATO foundation has proposed collaboration in building a stable national network topology with connection to a Turkish gateway. So far, the final agreement cannot be reached due to internal problems concerning national network administration.

A major service provider, active in most FSU countries: commercial company Relcom, offers basic services (mostly email) through semi-formal temporary agreements with existing channel owners, like air companies, and time-sharing channels belonging to the national Ministry of communications.

Quite recently, a group has formed, including Relcom, Azerincom (main national communication company), the computer department of the national Academy of sciences, to combine efforts in re-establishing a capable network connection in Azerbaijan. Two options are discussed: leased lines from the Ministry of communications and installation of an independent satellite channel. By the end of October the final decision has to be made. Whatever the decision might be, for the first 1.5 - 2 years the new channel is going to be financed from the allocation by UN, envisioning creation of an information center for UN in the republic of Azerbaijan. Similar projects have been already completed in some FSU countries (e.g., Ukraine and Moldova).

An operational satellite channel exists in the national Ministry of communication. Preliminary talks with the Ministry however revealed the applicable price for this service which is estimated at about $16,000 a month for a 64Kbps channel which makes this channel far too expensive (per unit of bandwidth) for most of academic users.

Installation of a new satellite communication complex is considered as an alternative solution, and the preliminary talks with RadioMSU - a major satellite communication node in Moscow are in progress.

Considering multiple alternatives, and a certain caution in assessment of potential capacity of the explored channel solutions in the years to come, an assistance from UNESCO in terms of consultancy and cost-efficiency analysis would be most welcome, as confirmed by the national focal points during the mission.

After the launch of the communication node connected to METU in Ankara, all the institutes of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan were connected to this resource, sharing its limited capacity. Recently, the node has moved to the new Academy building, so the network has to be re-launched even within its present limited capacity.

Considering the critical state of this, most critical part of the nation al communication infrastructure, an extensive array of possible solutions, both technical and financial, are in view. Among them are:

Optic fiber connection to the main communication node of Azerincom. This solution is going to cost about $70,000 for building the physical channel only (less running costs) and is not much favored by future academic users with their tight budgets;
A new satellite connection, independent from the national Ministry of communication, is going to cost about $100,000 a year for 64Kbps, which is of the same order as leasing a similar channel from the Ministry of communication. However, upgrading this channel to higher baud rate is going to be cheaper than the initial cost and seems more promising in a long run;
IDB communication company offers the lease of a 64Kbps channel for $12,000 a month.

A newly created Azerbaijan Internet Industrial Association has raised about $75,000 to finance a relatively broadband connection in Azerbaijan, most of the funds coming from the oil companies operating in the country, which themselves are interested in getting access to Internet.

NATO foundation and the ISF (a.k.a. Soros) have allocated $50,000 each to finance the new channel, too. The final decision among these alternatives will be made by UNDP: a major funding agency in this domain, by the end of October this year.

Main national focal point:

Initially, the State Scientific and Industrial Corporation "Informatics" and the Scientific and Training Center (STC) affiliated with it were proposed as the national focal point. In the present unsettled situation the focal body has only low speed unreliable channels to METU, but whatever the decision concerning upgrading the national gateway might be, the Scientific and Training Center "Informatics" will have to find the funds for a 4 wire dedicated line inside the city central area to get access to the node. The estimated cost of this installation is about $10,000-12,000.

During the mission, agreement was achieved between the STC and AzerEl - the largest vendor of computer equipment in Azerbaijan, which envisions financing of the channels upgrade by the company.

At the same time, the mission team was informed that by the end of November the entire "Informatics" corporation would be transferred to the Ministry of Economics structure (presently it belongs to the State Committee of Science and Technology) and the Director General of the corporation Arif Mamed-zade would assume the position of deputy minister responsible for development of information resources. In this capacity the Director General of "Informatics" will be in a better position to secure state support to the telecommunication projects handled by the STACCIS national focal body in Azerbaijan. These coming changes seriously reinforce the position of "Informatics" and make it an even more resourceful national focal point.

Profile of the institution:

In its present form, STC provides training and consultations in computing and information management for specialists from national scientific, educational and business communities.

STC has very well equipped computer classes and training facilities and, after the upgrading of communication channels is completed, becomes fully prepared for a wide scope of activities, including extensive multi-user hands-on training and demonstrations. Ample office space and auxiliary services make it ideally suited for the national telematics demonstration and information center.

Other national contacts:

There is an academic network in Azerbaijan, the network node being well equipped around powerful UNIX servers in the building of the Academy. General manager of AZNet, Faik Farmanov has demonstrated the ability of the node to operate even with the severe limitations of the existing connections. The communication center of AZNet has enough manpower, mostly young computer experts, to efficiently perform network administration for the whole academic community. However, taking into account that the national Academy of Sciences, much like in other FSU countries cannot provide enough support for skilled personnel, the drain of trained computer specialists to commercial companies is real and in the future might affect the project activities. It was discussed with F.Farmanov and agreed that to protect the human resources of the project it is important to integrate the AZNet specialists into activities of the STC to secure additional support.

In the national training system, the communication center of AZNet should assume responsibilities of liaison with academic research and training of network administrators. In the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan, the department of information was created only recently and assumed responsibility for providing communication for the national universities from the department of international relations of the same ministry. The plan of activities of the new department includes connecting 11 leading professional schools and universities and the ministry in a unified network with Internet connectivity added at later stages. Presently, the department does not have enough trained personnel to cope with the complexity of the project and will need assistance from STC and AZNet experts.

The Ministry of ecology the national coordination functions were assumed by the department of science and natural resources protection. This department includes a research group which successfully develops projects of computer-aided monitoring of the seal levels in the Caspian, which is very crucial for environment in the country. The studies aimed at assessment of ecological impact of the phenomena are supported by the World bank, UN agencies and the British Petroleum, which have assisted in acquisition of high quality computers and peripherals. This research group already has valuable experience and data to participate in the international exchange which is only hindered now by the insufficient communication channels.

A STACIS-supported SME development agency KOSIA-SMEDA is operating very successfully in Baku, providing business information for the local and national entrepreneurs through computer catalogs, directories, specialized CD-ROMs, offering advisory service and assistance in launching new enterprises. At the talks with the agency the management expressed their interest in building on-line services in business support domain, in collaboration with STC.