News for and about the Internet2 community

["Greg Wood" <>]

FIBER OPTIC BASED RESEARCH & EDUCATION NETWORK NOW SPANS THE PACIFIC

SEATTLE, WA USA and CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA – July 23, 2001 – Collaboration
among researchers and students "down under" with those in North America took
a giant leap forward today as the Australian Academic and Research Network
(AARNet) activated a trans-Pacific optical fiber connection to the Pacific
Northwest Gigapop at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington,
USA. The Pacific Northwest Gigapop is a primary interconnection point for
advanced research and education networks in Canada, the US, and now the
Pacific Rim. This new direct 155 Megabit per second (OC-3c) connection
allows the Australian research community to communicate quickly and
efficiently with researchers, and enjoy access to advanced research
resources and apparatus in the Canada and the US.

"Having an optical fiber circuit to the Pacific Northwest Gigapop makes the
previously unworkably slow and roundabout data trip across over ten thousand
of miles of water a breeze. The most significant achievement in bridging
this trans-oceanic digital-divide will be our newly acquired abilities to
traffic in high quality remote sense, video, sound and multimedia material
as well as in huge scientific datasets and other demanding digital objects
like medical images. This will make virtual neighbors out of our partner
networks and resources across the world. Exploiting such mechanisms to
develop relationships between researchers is key to fostering and sustaining
excellence in research, in education and economic development," said George
McLaughlin, Executive Director of AARNet.

"AARNet faced the challenges and isolating forces of extreme geographic
distance head-on with an audacious and well architected effort. With the
continued leading-edge work of their talented and determined network
engineering staff, this circuit will support AARNet’s role as one of the top
research networks in the world. We are pleased to help them accomplish this
and to provide them with the next-generation infrastructure they need to
move their data efficiently among their partners around the world. This
important addition to the global research and education network fabric will
benefit us all," said Ron Johnson, Vice President and Vice Provost of the
University of Washington.

"The first connections through the Pacific Northwest Gigapop will be to
CANet*3 and Internet2 backbone networks, the advanced research and education
networks of Canada and the United States respectively," said McLaughlin. "In
addition, we will obtain immediate very high speed and lowest latency access
to the research and education networks and the interconnected computational
and information resources throughout the Pacific Northwest and California."

The transPacific fiber optic cable is part of the Southern Cross Cable
Network with U.S. landing and backhaul to PNWGP provided by WCI Cable. Two
separate redundant cables span 19,000 miles under the Pacific with landings
in Alexandria, Australia; Kahe Point; Oahu, Hawaii; and Nedonna Beach,
Oregon among others places. It took 19 months to lay these cables.

About AARNet
AARNet Pty Ltd is a not-for-profit company that operates the AARNet2
network, providing Internet services to all thirty-seven Australian
universities, CSIRO Australia and their research and education partners.
AARNet provides an incubator for development of advanced network
infrastructure and applications. It has a national and international focus
with access to the global research and education networks through the PNWGP.
AARNet is also a member of the GrangeNet consortium which will build a
10Gbps backbone in Australia and develop advanced network and grid services
to support advanced applications.

About Pacific Northwest Gigapop
Pacific Northwest Gigapop is the Northwest’s Next Generation Internet,
Internet 2/Abilene applications cooperative, testbed, and point of presence.
PNWGP connects together high-performance international and Federal research
networks with universities, research organizations, and leading-edge R&D and
new-media enterprises throughout Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon,
Canada, and now Australia.

About the University of Washington
The University of Washington is one of the world’s top research
universities. Perennially among the top 3 American institutions in
peer-reviewed research activities and related competitive contracts and
grants, and with numerous top-ranked programs, the UW is a university which
truly embodies the ideals of “Learning @ the Leading Edge” ™

About WCI Cable
WCI, headquartered in Hillsboro, is made up of World Net Communications,
Inc., WCI Cable, Inc., WCI LightPoint, LLC and Alaska Fiber Star, LLC.
Collectively the group manages and constructs terrestrial and submarine
fiber optic systems and telecommunications infrastructure. WCI provides
carrier neutral collocation and undertakes new network projects throughout
North America and the Pacific Rim.

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.
For more information about Internet2, see: http://www.internet2.edu/

About CANet*3
CA*net 3 is Canada's Advanced Research and Education Internet backbone,
connecting individual universities, federal and provincial government labs
and research institutes through provincially based Regional Advanced
Networks, or RANs.

Contact info:

AARNet
George McLaughlin, Executive Director
AARNet Pty Ltd (ACN 084 540 518)
Post: GPO Box 1142, Canberra ACT 2601
Australia
Tel: (02) 6276 6900 (international: +61 2 6276 6900)
Email: 

Web: http://www.aarnet.edu.au/

Pacific Northwest Gigapop
Jan Eveleth, Manager
4545 15th Ave. NE
Seattle, WA 98105
206 934 5588

www.pnw-gigapop.net

University of Washington
www.washington.edu

WCI Cable
Patrick Estenes Vice President, Business Development
WCI Cable, Inc.
(503) 466-8620

www.wcicable.com

Internet2
Greg Wood
(202) 331-5360

www.internet2.edu

CANet*3
Bill St. Arnaud
CANARIE Inc.
Senior Director, Advanced Networks
110 O’Connor Street, 4th Floor
Ottawa, ON K1P 1H1
 

(613) 785-0426
www.canet3.net

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