News for and about the Internet2 community

["Greg Wood" <>]

Thailand and the United States Collaborate to Develop Advanced Internet
Technologies and Applications

Bangkok–-July 9, 2001--Representatives of the higher education and research
community in Thailand today signed an agreement with Internet2  - the
project of 187 research universities in the US -  to collaborate on the
development of advanced networking technologies and applications.  The
Ministry of University Affairs in Thailand, which runs the UNINET academic
network, and NECTEC, the information technology research center of the
National Science and Technology Development Agency of Thailand are the two
Thai partners to the agreement.

Dr. Vanchai Sirichana, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of University
Affairs explained, "Our venture started off in 1992 with open standards and
there is no doubts that this adherence will not abate nor does the
continuing development in connectivity and advanced networking.  Many
existing and future research and academic collaborations are waiting for
this opportune linkage.  Technology transfers, in both directions, are
inevitable."

Dr. Pairash Thajchayapong, Director, of the National Science and Technology
Development Agency, home of NECTEC added, "The Internet2 is a very important
tool for us. Thailand and the USA. Can encourage joint research projects or
others such as medical practice and training with this tool. I really would
like to express my sincere gratitude to the National Science Foundation and
the Internet2 team and the Association of Thai Professionals in America and
Canada for their commitment and actions throughout the Conference. I am
looking forwards to seeing Thailand-USA cooperation in science and
technology field much more expanded in the near future."

"The agreement signed today with Thailand is just the beginning of a
relationship that we believe will help us enable researchers, faculty and
students in both Thailand and the U.S. in working together using
high-performance Internet capabilities," said Douglas Van Houweling,
President and CEO of Internet2.

As part of today’s announcement, the Thailand and Internet2 agree to:
o       provide appropriate interconnection between and among their respective
members and networks for the purpose of development and pre-commercial
testing and use of advanced research and education applications;
o       collaborate on the development of common standards and technical
implementations across their respective networks;
o       promote collaboration between their constituent member organizations 
and
institutions relating to the development of next-generation networking and
applications in research and higher education; and
o       encourage technology transfer from their joint endeavors to 
accelerate the
availability of new services and applications.

As of today, the Thai research and education community is connected by
NECTEC’s ThaiSARN and UNINET networks to the Internet2 backbone networks in
the U.S. and research and academic networks throughout much of the rest of
the world – including Internet2’s Abilene backbone network, a project of
Qwest Communications, Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks, Indiana University and
Internet2.

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 partnership of academia,
industry and government that helped foster today's Internet in its infancy.
For more information about Internet2, see: http://www.internet2.edu/

About UniNet of the Ministry of University Affairs
With its over 100 member institutions, a 155megabit per second backbone, 34
megabit per second regional connectivities, and continuing and consistent
management, the UniNet is clearly committed to the stringent and
comprehensive goals of this international collaboration with NSF.  From its
track record the UniNet should be able to sustain this physical channel to
Internet2 networks, financially and technically.
http://www.uni.net.th

About NECTEC
National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC) is a member of
National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA).  NECTEC's
mandates are to conduct and support
research, development and engineering as well as to invest in activities
leading to national science and technology development in both the public
and private sectors, particularly in electronics and computer technology. In
addition NECTEC also offers technical services, standards, testing and
quality control and takes a leading role in the development of information
technology infrastructure of the country for the benefits of the economy,
education and human resource development.
http://www.nectec.or.th

Contact:
Greg Wood
Internet2

(202) 331-5360

Dr. Thanakorn Uan-On
Ministry of University Affairs, Thailand


Dr. Royol Chitradon
NECTEC

(662) 6427077

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