In 1994, a project was started to investigate the options for a world-wide intranet for all Greenpeace staff - either in offices, on ships or on the road with laptops. After one year intensive study, three major contenders remained: AT&T Easylink, MHS/Netware and TCP/IP intranet under Unix. Despite the obvious compatibility advantages of using Internet software on workstations, the main drawback was that office support staff in all our offices needed to learn Unix and TCP/IP for their new servers. Most of them were used to Novell servers of varying sizes until then. Also considering cost reasons, it was decided to install "Black Boxes" on Intel-CPU-based servers in all major offices with all required TCP/IP Intranet server software under Linux O/S. The staff didn't need to learn new software: it was being maintained remotely through telnet and FTP from the Greenpeace International head office. Several offices were interconnected via medium speed Frame Relay circuits, and X.25 dial-in was available for staff in world-wide locations, both methods leased from an international network provider. After several years of operation, it has proven to be a very manageable, cost-effective and highly reliable method. The latest developments concentrated on optimising mini-networks on ships, using Linux-based servers and operator restricted ISDN dial-up via Inmarsat HSD satellite services. Target audience: medium budget Intranet system designers.

Sjoerd studied computer technology at HTS 'A', a polytechnic college in Amsterdam, NL, graduating in 1976. He moved to Australia, where he worked for Digital Equipment Corporation for almost 3 years. He was then contracted by the Australian government, Antarctic Division, for 8 years, both in Upper Atmospheric Science and Communications departments. He then joined Greenpeace International in 1987, introducing many new communications methods from Antarctica, ships and offices.