November 15, 2001
CHICAGO, IL -- A new transatlantic high-performance internet connection
today joined the research and education communities in the Netherlands and
the U.S. at gigabit speed.
The upgraded connection between SURFnet, the advanced research and higher
education network in the Netherlands, and Abilene, an Internet2® backbone
network serving over 200 universities and research centers in the United
States, will enable applications such as TV-quality videoconferencing,
MPEG2 video streaming, data mining and remote collaboration between
researchers, teachers and students in the US and the Netherlands. The
connection was established through StarLightSM, a National Science
Foundation funded project providing a Gigabit Ethernet-based
interconnection point for national research networks from around the world.
SURFnet and Internet2 have worked together since 1998 to provide
connectivity and promote collaboration between the advanced networking
initiatives of the U.S. and the Netherlands.
"With the introduction of dark fiber in the local loop and Gigabit Ethernet
switches as interconnect points, global research networking is entering a
new phase," said Kees Neggers, Managing Director of SURFnet.
"This new Gigabit Ethernet connectivity marks an important milestone where
connections between the United States and Europe are no longer bottlenecks
for researchers using advanced network applications," said Steve Corbato,
Director of Backbone Network Infrastructure for Internet2.
The new connection between SURFnet and Abilene will utilize two 622 megabit
per second connections SURFnet has acquired between the Netherlands and its
new Chicago based Point of Presence. The new Abilene-SURFnet peering marks
the first connection of StarLight to the Abilene network via Gigabit Ethernet.
About Internet2
Led by over 180 US universities, working with industry and government,
Internet2 is developing and deploying advanced network applications and
technologies for research and higher education, accelerating the creation
of tomorrow's Internet. Internet2 recreates the partnerships of academia,
industry and government that helped foster today's Internet in its
infancy.
About SURFnet
SURFnet operates and innovates the national research network, to which 200
institutions in higher education and research in the Netherlands are
connected. To remain in the lead SURFnet puts in a sustained effort to
improve the infrastructure and to develop new applications in order to give
users faster and better access to new Internet services. In the context of
GigaPort--a project of the Dutch Government, the business community,
educational institutions and research centers--SURFnet has
recently launched a new network, SURFnet5, which is among the best research
networks in the world, offering its users at Universities, polytechnics,
research centers and similar institutions both native IPv4 and native IPv6
connectivity via 10Gbit/s wide area lambda's. It also offers businesses the
opportunity to develop next generation Internet applications.
About Starlight
StarLight is an advanced optical infrastructure and proving ground for
network services optimized for high-performance applications. It is being
built in parallel with STAR TAPSM, the Chicago-based international,
interconnection point that has facilitated the long-term interconnection
and interoperability of advanced international networking since 1997.
StarLight is being developed by University of Illinois at Chicago's
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, the International Center for Advanced
Internet Research (iCAIR) at Northwestern University, and the Mathematics
and Computer Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory, in
partnership with Canada's CANARIE and Holland's SURFnet. StarLight and STAR
TAP are funded by the National Science Foundation.
Contact:
Greg Wood
Internet2
ghwood@internet2.edu
Sandra Passchier
SURFnet
sandra.passchier@surfnet.nl
