UNIVERSITIES SET UP DATA COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

Information from throughout the world will be a computer command away when Southeast Missouri State University and other state campuses hook up to the Missouri Research and Education Network data system.

The network will allow Southeast users to sign on to the mainframes of 12 other Missouri colleges and universities, with the University of Missouri-Columbia serving as the network's hub. It will also permit access to national databases, supercomputers, electronic magazines and an international electronic mail network.

"MORENET will allow us at no charge to use computers at schools like the University of Illinois," said Don Krueger, director of the computer center at Southeast. "National database information like Standard and Poor's will also become available to us. Faculty can use the system for electronic magazines and conference computing."

MORENET will be brought on-line by the beginning of the fall semester, said Krueger. The network eventually will be available to all faculty and students.

"It's a fairly complicated system," Krueger said. "There will be a learning period in the computer center first, and then we'll pass it on to faculty. We hope to open it up to students by the spring semester."

Other institutions in the network are Central Missouri State University, Lincoln University, Northeast Missouri State University, Northwest Missouri State University, Southwest Missouri State University, Missouri Southern State College, Missouri Western State College and the universities of Missouri at Rolla and Kansas City.

MORENET will run on Southwestern Bell Telephone's MegaLink Data Service, tying it into an interstate electronic network, the National Science Foundation Internet.

The network was created through a $300,000 NSF grant, said Krueger. Two or three universities in the state initially wanted the capability, he said, but they couldn't afford to sustain the costs alone.

"Without the grant," he said, "the whole thing never would have happened."

The participating universities now pay only expenses of telephone line leasing and membership dues.

"Our share next year will be $17,000 to $20,000," said Krueger. "The bigger universities will pay more. After a year and a half the support costs will be eliminated. We expect the costs to go down."

The majority of Southeast's costs will be offset by using funds previously earmarked for BITNET, which provided the university with electronic mail capabilities. MORENET will deliver BITNET as well as numerous additional uses. Remaining costs will be absorbed by the computer center's budget, Krueger said.

Southeast's long-distance telephone charges are expected to decrease significantly, said Krueger, because MORENET will often be used in place of telephone calls.