ANNOUNCEMENT

The release of SICS Protocol Implementation Measurement System tool,

                              SPIMS


Swedish Institute of Computer Science has released the research
prototype of SPIMS, a protocol performance measurement tool for
research and non-commercial use. A commercial version is also
distributed by SICS.

SPIMS is used to measure the performance of protocol and
protocol-like services including, response time (two-way delay),
throughput and the time to open and close connections. It has
been used to:
        * benchmark alternative protocol implementations
        * observe how performance varies when parameters in
specific implementations have been varied, ie to tune parameters.

It is implemented on Unix, including SunOS 4., Unix BSD4.3, DNIX
(Unix System V, with extensions) and Ultrix 2.0/3.0. It runs as
user processes and requires a TCP-connection for measurement
set-up. No kernel modifications or any modifications to measured
protocols are required.

SPIMS currently has interfaces to the DoD Internet Protocols:
UDP, TCP, FTP, SunRPC, the ISO protocols from the ISODE 4.0 dis-
tribution package: FTAM, ROSE, ISO TP0 and to Sunlink 5.2 ISO TP4
as well as Stanford's VMTP. Also available are a rudimentary set
of benchmarks, stubs for new protocol interfaces and a user manu-
al.

Distribution

There are two different distribution classes depending on re-
questing organization:

1. Universities and non-profit organizations.

     To these organizations, SPIMS source code is distributed
     free of charge. There are two ways to get the software:

     1. FTP. If you have an Internet FTP connection, you can use
     anonymous FTP to sics.se [192.16.123.90], and retrieve the
     file in pub/spims-dist/dist890915.tar.Z (this is a .6MB tar
     image) in BINARY mode. Log in as user anonymous and at the
     password prompt, use your complete electronic mail address.

     2. On a Sun 1/4-inch cartridge tape. For mailing, a handling
     fee of US$150.00 will be charged. Submit a bank check with
     the request. Do not send tapes or envelopes.

2. Commercial organizations.

These organizations can chose between a license for commercial
use or a license for internal research only and no commercial use
whatsoever.

     For internal research use only.

     The SPIMS source code is distributed for a one time fee of
     US$500.00.  Organizations interested in the research proto-
     type need to contact us via e-mail and briefly motivate why
     they qualify (non-commercial use) for the research proto-
     type. They will thereafter get a permission to obtain a copy
     from the same distribution source as for universities.

     Commercial use.

     A commercial version of SPIMS will eventually be distributed
     and supported by a commercial partner. In the meantime we
     we distribute the research prototype(source code) to 
     interested organizations without any guaranty or
     support.  Contact SICS for further information.

License

SPIMS is not in the public domain and the software is covered by
licenses. Use of the SPIMS software represents acceptance of the
terms and conditions of the licenses. The licenses are enclosed
in the distribution package. Licenses and SPIMS cover letter can
also be obtained via an Internet FTP connection without getting
the whole software. The retrieval procedure is identical to the
above university distribution via FTP. The file to retrieve is
pub/spims-dist/licenses.tar.Z

How SPIMS works

Measurements take place between processes over the measured pro-
tocol.  SPIMS generates messages and transfers them via the meas-
ured protocol service according to a user-supplied specification.
Unique in SPIMS is the measurement specification language which
is used to specify a measurement session. In the language there
are constructs for different application types (like bulk data
transfer), for specifying frequency and sequence of messages, for
distribution over message sizes and for combining basic specifi-
cations. These specifications are independent of both protocols
and protocol implementations and can be used for benchmarking.


More information

For more information about the research prototype distribution
and about a commercial license, contact:

        Swedish Institute of Computer Science
        Att: Birgitta Klingenberg
        P.O. Box 1263
        S-164 28 Kista
        SWEDEN

        e-address: spims@sics.se
        Phone: +46-8-7521500, Fax: +46-8-7517230

For more details on the internals of SPIMS, see:

     Nordmark & Gunningberg, Proc. of 13:th Conf. on Local Com-
     puter Networks, Minneapolis 1989, pp 222-229.

How SPIMS can be used to benchmark protocols, see:

     Gunningberg, Bjorkman, Nordmark, Sjodin, Pink & Stromqvist
     "Application Protocols and Performance Benchmarks", IEEE
     Communications Magazine, June 1989, Vol. 27, No.6, pp 30-36.

     Sjodin, Gunningberg, Nordmark, & Pink, "Towards Protocol
     Benchmarks', IFIP WG6.1/6.4 Protocols for High-Speed Net-
     works, May 1989, Zurich, pp 57-67

How SPIMS can be used when tuning protocols, see:

     Nordmark & Cheriton, "Experiences from VMTP: How to achieve
     low response time", IFIP WG6.1/6.4 Protocols for High-Speed
     Networks', May 1989, Zurich, pp 43-54.