RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL -- As of today, August 29th 2001, RNP is exchanging data with the North American Internet2 (I2). The implanted line, of 45 Mbps, permits the interaction with the international scientific community through a high performance network.

The 45 Mbps link was offered to RNP for free for a period of three years, as part of the project Americas Path Network (AMPATH). This link must be used only for interconnection and cooperation among academic networks for the development of new applications and protocols. The AMPATH project is a joint initiative of Florida International University (FIU) and the telecommunications operator Global Crossing in order to interconnect research and educational networks in Latin America and the Caribbean to the Internet2. Brazil is the third Latin American country to have access to the Internet2 through the AMPATH. Other countries connected to it are Chile and Puerto Rico.

The new 45 Mbps link was installed on August 21st between RNP's Point of Presence in Rio de Janeiro (PoP-RJ) and the AMPATH PoP in Miami, Florida. From the AMPATH PoP, RNP2 is connected to Abilene, the major Internet2 ackbone, through which RNP's clients have access to the over 180 participants in the Internet2 in the United States, as well as to other international academic networks also connected to the I2 project.

The AMPATH PoP is currently located in Global Crossing collocation space in the Miami Telehouse. The PoP which utilizes donations from Cisco Systems, Lucent Technologies and Juniper Networks, will soon move to the Terremark Worldwide NAP of the Americas, the fifth tier-1 NAP in the US. RNP will have a second access to the Internet2 starting from the STAR TAP in Chicago. The connection will be made using the 155 Mbps link which joins the PoP-RJ to New York. The STAR TAP-- Science, Technology, And Research Transit Access Point--was created by the National Science Foundation to work as a convergence point to the advanced international networks.

This 155 Mbps channel has been operating since February 16th. Besides being a second door to enter the I2, it is used for the flow of production traffic, that is to say, the traffic which is not associated to the experimentation and development of new protocols and network applications. RNP is studying the possibility of activating a third international connection by means of a Cooperation Agreement on Science and Technology between Brazil and Germany. This new line would connect RNP2 directly to GEANT, the Pan-European backbone.

Contact:
Heidi Alvarez
Florida International University
Heidi@fiu.edu