011.32 Peru By Daniel Pimienta, Union Latina RCP: THE PERUVIAN NETWORK December 1, 1991, the first message from JS@RCP.PE was broadcasted into several regional email addresses, signifying of the Peruvian national network, the Red Cientifica Peruana (RCP). Building a research network in Peru was considered a real challenge. Peru is a complex country and several attempts have been made since 1985 to start a national network. Some hardly reached the take-off point, others did not achieve a significant user base. The research world in Peru, with 40,000 potential users, is highly dispersed among universities, NGOs linked to research activities, and the national government's research centers. The RCP project combined three main components: an open Peruvian Researcher's Group, which sustains and drives the project, and two International Agencies, which furnished the appropriate support. Union Latina furnished the project manager and the methodology, and, in three successive missions since April, 1991, concentrates on solving the political and organizational tasks, as well as furnishing a portion of the initial budget for the Peruvian Researcher's Group. UNDP offered the technical support, hardware, and software for the node as well as the first months of the international telecommunication budget. The network was founded on several principals that stated the technical, political, organizational, and financial and technical assumptions for the network. These principles included continuous and strong end-user involvement from the beginning, and an association of users from the different portions of the user community. Technically, the principles stated that the network would start with UUCP and migrate towards TCP-IP, would have a strong central node with PC stations running UUPC and would use the X.25 national network. The network was an immediate success, with 45 research institutions involved, representing a total of 25,000 potential users. The UUCP node was installed in one week. This smooth rollout was the result of several factors, including the fact that the project manager was Peruvian and could catalyze Peruvian energies and maintain them oriented toward a common National objective, as well as the well-coordinated support from the international agencies.