Teleglobe to provide Dutch Gigaport with 2.5 Gbps Internet connectionUtrecht 30 July 2001 Teleglobe will provide GigaPort, the Dutch next generation Internet project,with Internet connectivity and linkage to the world's major research and education networks. Teleglobe also will furnish a transatlantic fiber optic wavelength (lit fiber) connection for GigaPort's research use in developing the next generation Internet
The network of GigaPort was built by SURFnet, the organization responsible for
the Netherlands' national computer network for higher education and research.
The next generation Internet will have the infrastructure to support advanced
applications for learning and research, such as interconnecting supercomputer
centers and enabling collaborative research that requires real-time multimedia
and high bandwidth connections.
The 18-month agreement is worth an estimated euro 4.5 million.
Teleglobe will provide Internet connectivity for GigaPort, a joint project of
the Dutch government, trade and industry and educational and research
institutions, providing GigaPort with an initial speed of 1 gigabit per second
(Gbps) from the GigaPort backbone location at Hempoint in Amsterdam.
In addition, Teleglobe will connect the GigaPort backbone location at the
Amsterdam Internet Exchange with the StarLight Optical Internet Exchange in
Chicago via a 2.5 Gbps optical connection.
Starlight is the successor of the United States-based Science, Technology and
Research Transit Access Point (STAR TAP) and is becoming the common
interconnection point for global research and education networks collaborating
on and developing new Internet technology including wavelength switching and the
development of the "Grid" which some scientists see as the successor to the
worldwide web.
To meet GigaPort's requirements for connectivity to North American research and
education networks such as Abilene, vBNS, Canarie and Esnet, Teleglobe will
implement a network design using 622 megabits per second (Mbps) Multi-Protocol
Label Switching (MPLS) end-to-end tunnels through the Teleglobe GlobeSystem
network.
Last month, Teleglobe became the first Internet Service Provider (ISP) with the
capability to offer new global IP services seamlessly over an MPLS Packet over
Sonet (POS) infrastructure.
The GigaPort network will replace the country's existing national research
infrastructure and is designed to develop a leading position for the Netherlands
as a center for electronic communications in terms of network infrastructure and
associated expertise, as well as services and applications.
Teleglobe was a participant in the early experiments involving the United
States, Canadian and European research and education networks that led to the
creation of STAR TAP with the University of Chicago. Teleglobe developed a
managed router service for the provision of cost-effective connectivity between
research and education networks, while providing access to the global Internet
at the same time.
GigaPort has two major parts: GigaPort Network and Giga Port Applications. The
GigaPort network will replace the country's existing national research
infrastructure to allow access to next generation Internet services and
features, global collaboration with other research and education networks and a
state-of-the-art testing environment for developing and using advanced,
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