ECHO closure, October 1998

The major news item to report in this issue is the closure of ECHO from 1 October 1998. ECHO was originally set up to encourage the use of information services and it is felt that it has now achieved its aim. Registered customers should have received a letter informing them of the changes, and the details are also available on ECHO and its web server. Briefly, the TED database will remain on the current ECHO infrastructure for the time being with no changes to customer contact points. It will continue to be a fee-paying service until the end of 1998. No statement has yet been issued about the position from 1999, but this might provide the opportunity to move to free access. EURODICAUTOM, the useful multilingual terminology and abbreviations database for translators and interpreters, together with I'M GUIDE and I'M FORUM (which form part of the on-going INFO2000 programme) will continue on I'M EUROPE at http://www.echo.lu with a web interface only. Other access methods to these databases will be withdrawn and all other ECHO databases will be discontinued.