Resources for networks in less-industrialized nations

True global connectivity is years away. Countries must first have an internal network, no matter how small, before linking electronically to the rest of the world´s networks. The article considers the evolution of the Relcom (Reliable Communications) network in the ex Soviet Union. Relcom is a spin off of the Demos Cooperative, which in 1982 began distributing a version of Unix in the Soviet Union. (Demos is a Russian acronym for interactive portable operating system.) Network related resources-communication infrastructure, software, hardware, people, and sponsorship and applications-differ from one LIN to the next. For example, Relcom and the much smaller Cuban networks use similar technology and both lack capital, but the communication infrastructures, user and technician pools, and applications are quite different. Furthermore, all computer networks, regardless of nation, are shaped and constrained by communication, economic, and education policies