Programme Abstracts

Brenda Lobb
Communication in the Electronic Age

Everybody's doing it - but as this paper will discuss, we actually know little about the effect of computer supported communication on interpersonal interaction, despite 40 years of academic research on the subject.

Rob Kolstad
Real World Sendmail: a Case Study

If you're interested in performance of Unix boxes or, particularly, how to move more bits over a network link, this talk is for you. It includes a case study of tuning/optimising sendmail in order to host the internet-access mailing list, which currently transmits over half a million messages per day. An off-the-shelf PC can now drive a T-3 line flat out with over 100,000 email deliveries per hour

Donald Neal
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol Meets Real Life

HTTP is now used to move most of the traffic on the Internet, a job for which it was not designed. This paper outlines the relationship between HTTP and TCP, and describes improvements now in use and improvements proposed to HTTP to allow the World Wide Web to deliver material more quickly

Edwin Lim and John Paynter
Design Considerations For Web Site Navigation

This paper addresses the major design issues relating to web site navigation on the World Wide Web, including the breadth and depth of web links, the implementation of frames, the page length of web documents and general navigational concepts and design principles. A framework for web navigation is proposed.

Julie Jester and Stephanie Nicholls
Scripts to Manage Change

Managing the promotion of change from the development environment into production is critical in a large organisation - but evaluating the numerous change management packages now available takes time. This paper discusses the design concepts and techniques used in an interim solution developed using shell scripts.

John Paynter
An Analysis of Web-based Information Systems

In this paper, a case study approach is used to investigate how various WWW-based information systems are developed and the reasons why particular strategies and software development methodologies are used in diverse organisations - and to high-light deficiencies in the development strategies used.

Evan Lyon
User Security: A pragmatic Approach

This paper examines the use of two custom programs, source code available, and standard Unix tools to provide improved security for heterogeneous Unix sites - e.g. improved tracking of use of privileged accounts, easy administration and user-machine access restrictions - all with minimal impact on appropriate use of the systems. ** TBA, SunSoft, Aus Cryptography for Java This paper looks at issues of incorporating cryptography into Java programs. An API is proposed that provides an abstraction of various cryptography functions to facilitate a delay in the choice of cryptographic algorithm until run-time. The Java Cryptography Extensions will also be examined.

David Purdue, Sunsoft Aus
Java and Cryptography: Architecture and Practical Design Issues

This paper looks at issues of incorporating cryptography into Java programs. An API is proposed that provides an abstraction of various cryptography functions to facilitate a delay in the choice of cryptographic algorithm until run-time. The Java Cryptography Extensions will also be examined.

Jim Higgins
Will Governance kill the Internet?

The current moves by the US Government in trying to bring some order to the Internet may strike at its very roots. How will these moves impact on the international Internet community and how might we achieve a system of governance which will allow the Net to continue to expand?

Dean Pemberton
SSH: Making Secure Remote Access to Network Resources Affordable

This paper investigates the various challenges of remote network access and examines how SSH can be used to provide some solutions.

Greg Clarke
DCE As An Authentication Service

This presentation will cover the basics of both authentication and DCE, how DCE is put together, the concepts behind DCE security, and the benefits of using DCE as an authentication service. The implementation process will cover the cell design, population, and how DCE integrates with authentication methods currently in use.

Mark Harris
A Beginner's Guide to Electronic Commerce

Encryption and digital currency are the two most potent weapons aimed at national governments at this time. They offer a chance for freedom for the wired individual that is anathema to central governments. Pornography and fraud are dragged out regularly to drum up support for unworkable legislative attempt to regulate the irregular. The Internet is inherently resistant to such attempts, but what effect will they have in themselves?

Bill Parkin
Living With LINUX

This presentation offers a personal view of an environment for home use, made from LINUX, the GNU suite of utilities, and other free-to-use-and-distribute software. Several tools and applications are introduced and their context described, to show what can be done.

John Miller-Williams, Robert Biddle, Ewan Tempero
Rapid ImplementationOf A Program Visualisation System

This paper describes how a successful system for visualisation of the execution of C++ programs on a Unix system was produced in a fraction of the time that would otherwise have been necessary. While program visualisation is a relatively specialised application, all this technology would be similarly useful for many other applications.

Roger Bradshaw
E-Commerce And Certification Authorities In NZ - Public Or Private?

This paper will address worldwide issues in electronic commerce, noting developments in the U.S. and investigating the relationship between e-commerce and certification authorities in New Zealand.

John Terpstra, AquaSoft, Aus
Mission-Critical Experiences With Linux

Just how acceptable is RedHat Linux as a mission-critical business platform? This paper reviews the key packages available for Linux, outlining their strengths and weaknesses. Could be controversial! Some case studies may show what the "Company of Angels" turns into (hee,hee, hee!).

Horst Truestedt, IBM, USA
Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop Standard and Architecture

This paper will describe the Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop Standard, and provide some details on architecture issues

Bruce Miller
Threats and Opportunities for IT in Multiple Mergers

In the wave after wave of mergers, takeovers, spin-offs and buyouts in New Zealand, IT groups have frequently been left with the unenviable task of knitting together the networks, servers, databases, desktops and applications. This presentation discusses the actual problems addressed by several IT groups in a variety of industries.

Chris Goodyer
Heal Thyself

Crown Health Enterprises (CHEs) were set up in NZ in 1993. This paper looks at progress made to date by a typical CHE, the strategic imperatives, the emergence of internet technologies that make realisation both achievable and affordable, and blueprints for thefuture.

Malcolm Stayner
PM++ - The Art of Open Systems Project Managment

This paper looks at the some of the special challenges that face the open systems project manager and proposes some strategies for dealingwith them.

Simon Henley
A Case Study in Large-Scale 3-tier Client-Server deployment

This paper introduces the audience to the concept of middleware, and in particular outlines the role of distributed Transaction Processing (TP) Monitor middleware solutions in building 3-tier client/server applications. It describes in some detail two recent international projects that have deployed OLTP middleware solutions in large-scale 3-tier client/server applications.

KEYNOTE
President's Closing Address