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1.1     ! root        1: % run this through LaTeX with the appropriate wrapper
        !             2: 
        !             3: \section      {The White Pages Service}
        !             4: A natural function of computer networks is to form the {\em infrastructure\/}
        !             5: between the users they interconnect.
        !             6: For example,
        !             7: the electronic mail service offered by computer networks provides a means for
        !             8: users to collaborate towards some common goal.
        !             9: In the simplest cases,
        !            10: this collaboration may be solely for the dissemination of information.
        !            11: In other cases,
        !            12: two users may work on joint research project,
        !            13: using electronic mail as their primary means of communication.
        !            14: 
        !            15: Most network services are based on the implicit assumption that each user can
        !            16: supply {\em infrastructural information} to 
        !            17: facilitate information transfers through the network.
        !            18: For example,
        !            19: electronic mail services expect that an originator can supply 
        !            20: addressing information 
        !            21: for all the intended recipients.
        !            22: It is not necessarily the task of electronic mail, per se,
        !            23: to provide this infrastructural information to the user.
        !            24: 
        !            25: This model works fine in small environments,
        !            26: particularly those where infrastructural information is not difficult to 
        !            27: obtain and remember.
        !            28: However,
        !            29: the model does not scale well.
        !            30: Consider the case when the membership of a network consists of hundreds of
        !            31: thousands of users belonging to thousands of organizations.
        !            32: It is no longer reasonable for a single user to provide this information,
        !            33: except in very limited circumstances.
        !            34: Further,
        !            35: it is likely that some of the information changes frequently,
        !            36: due to personnel and other resource movement.
        !            37: The goal of a {\em white pages\/} service is to 
        !            38: provide the necessary information, and to mask the complexity of the
        !            39: infrastructural information.
        !            40: 
        !            41: From the user's perspective,
        !            42: the NYSERNet/PSI White Pages Pilot Project focuses solely on providing
        !            43: infrastructural information dealing with human users.%
        !            44: \footnote{The white pages service is perfectly capable of managing other kinds
        !            45: of information,
        !            46: e.g.,
        !            47: keeping track of machine-related infrastructural information;
        !            48: however,
        !            49: this is beyond the scope of the pilot.}
        !            50: 
        !            51: Naturally,
        !            52: this raises questions as to the underlying technology which provides the
        !            53: white pages service.

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