Patrick after Tom after Wirt:

> Tom Brandt after Wirt:
>
>  > At 13:51 11/30/98 -0500, Wirt writ:
>  > <snip>
>  > >
>  > >However, the customers I'm beginning to love, just as an aside, are
>  > >those who have made the full transition to internet-based telnet and
>  > >have an internet-accessible IP address. If you want network speeds,
>  > >this is the only way to go.
>  > >File transfer times generally drop significantly. Better yet, with
>  > >the internet, there's no worry about leaving a phone line open to
>  > >Pittsburgh over the weekend.
>  >
>  > I have been trying to get some of my clients to do this, but none yet
have,
>
>  > either because they do not know how, they have security concerns, or they
>  > do not feel like fighting with their corporate network people to allow
> this
>  > kind of access.
>
>  Agreed. Only in our case, I'm the one that would like to get our 3000 on
>  the Internet. Our CIO says, "All production boxes will be accessible
>  from the Internet." But no one seems to want to implement it, at least
>  not yet, for some of the reasons Tom gave above. (Also, it's understood
>  this is a "long-term goal," which may be interpreted as we don't have to
>  do anything about it for quite a while.) How do you mollify the security
>  concerns? Can anyone offer good sales pitches? I'd love to get this
>  done, by early next year if possible, but I need help to justify it.

It's difficult for me to see that an HP3000 connected to the internet is at
any greater risk than an HP3000 connected to the switched phone system with an
active modem. Perhaps the only real difference is that the hacker may have to
pay for each of his attempts in one medium and not the other.

When all's said and done, it seems to me that the only real difference lies in
the form of the numbers dialed: (505) 555-1212 vs. 192.168.1.1  Whatever
security you have or don't have on your system will still be your only
protection.

But on the second subject, the hard-dollar justification for switching from a
modem bank to internet-based telnet access occurs by simply counting your
incoming phone lines. If you have five or six phone lines attached to modems
connected to your DTCs, the monthly service charges for a relatively low
bandwidth frame relay (56/64K) connection will be in the general ballpark of
your aggregate independent line charges. At that point, switchover is a wash.
Any greater usage than five or six simultaneous telnet connections and you're
actually saving money.

The soft-dollar justification for switching occurs by simply imagining all of
the things that you're going to want to do with your HP3000 on the internet
over the next five years.

Wirt Atmar