N-1-1-040.90 RARE (Reseaux Associes pour la Recherche Europeenne), by Josefien Bersee* Networking for Researchers in Europe since 1986 RARE is the association of European networking organizations and their users. RARE's aim is to foster cooperation between both national and international networking organizations to develop a harmonized data communications infrastructure in Europe. RARE supports the principles of Open Systems and the international standardization activities. The Association has four types of members. The twenty European countries listed in the statutes are eligible to be the National Members which, as voting members, formally constitute the Association. Associate National Members are national research networking organizations in other countries which support the objectives of RARE. International Members are international organizations within Europe which support the objectives of RARE and are closely associated with the use, coordination and provision of an infrastructure to the benefit of the research community. Liaison Members are organizations which are involved in networking and related matters with whom RARE considers it important to have close and continuing contact. At this point in time, RARE has 26 National Members and 10 International and Liaison Members. RARE Projects RARE is carrying out a number of projects. Its largest project is the COSINE (Cooperation for Open Systems Interconnection Networking in Europe) Implementation Phase, EUREKA Project No.8. This project is carried out under contract with the CEC. Under the Implementation Phase a number of Pilot Projects and User Services are operated. One of these User Services (S2.1) was created out of the RARE MHS Pilot Project, which established a pilot infrastructure for electronic mail based on the X.400 standard. Another well-known project is the International X.25 Infrastructure (IXI), COSINE Service S1. The IXI backbone was created to interconnect the public packet switching networks and the private research networks across Europe. Other RARE projects concerned electronic mail reliability and a connectionless network services pilot project - to gain experience with the internetworking of products based on ISO-IP standards. Recently a project has started on the international character set issue, which is now being incorporated in the COSINE framework. Another recent initiative has been the setting up of Ebone 92: an interim backbone infrastructure providing value-added open networking services for Internet IP and pilot ISO CLNS. The Operational Unit To handle the operational management of existing and future networking services for the European Research and Education community, RARE is now preparing the establishment of an Operational Unit. This Operational Unit will operate on a not-for-profit basis, having Europe as a primary geographic scope, but if necessary also including services to other countries. Conferences Each year RARE organizes a Joint Networking Conference (JNC) to provide the opportunity for a broad discussion on networking for the European research community, to review progress in its area of activities and to stimulate new work. In 1992, the JNC will take place in Innsbruck, Austria. Liaisons with other Organizations RARE provides a user's voice on a number of European standardization and political bodies, such as EEMA, EWOS, ECTUA, ECFRN and and ETSI. On a broader scale, RARE represents the European participation on the Coordinating Committee for Intercontinental Research Networking (CCIRN). Recently, RARE has agreed in principle to become a charter member of the Internet Society. *Publicity Officer, at the RARE Secretariat of the RARE Association