News for and about the Internet2 community

[Michelle Pollak <>]

CLARA AND INTERNET2 TO COLLABORATE ON INNOVATIVE NETWORK TECHNOLOGIES AND
APPLICATIONS

INDIANAPOLIS – October 15, 2003 – Last night, representatives of
Internet2® and CLARA (Cooperación Latino-Americana de Redes Avanzadas)
signed an agreement at the Fall 2003 Internet2 Fall Member Meeting to
collaborate on developing the next generation of Internet technologies
and applications for the global research and education community. 
The agreement will provide a basis for the two organizations to work
together toward establishing high-performance Internet connectivity
between their respective communities with the goal of enabling
researchers to collaborate internationally.

“CLARA is an essential step for developing information society in Latin
America and the Caribbean in collaboration with existing regional
networking initiatives in Europe, North America and the Pacific
Rim.  We are glad to have Internet2 as a partner in supporting the
innovative use of advanced applications in our communities,” said Nelson
Simões, chair of CLARA.

Douglas Van Houweling, president and CEO of Internet2 said, “Today’s
Internet enables U.S. researchers, teachers and students to communicate
and work with their colleagues around the globe.  This agreement
between CLARA and Internet2 will enhance the potential for collaboration
between research and education communities in the United States, Latin
American and the Caribbean.”

As part of the agreement, CLARA and Internet2 will work collaboratively
to:

+ Promote 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;

+ Collaborate on the development of common standards and technical
implementations across their respective networks;

+ 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,

+ Encourage technology transfer from their joint endeavors to accelerate
the availability of new services and applications.

The CLARA organization comprises national advanced networks from more
than 16 countries throughout Latin America.  As of today, several
CLARA members (CUDI-Mexico, RNP-Brazil, RETINA-Argentina, REUNA-Chile,
REACCIUN-2-Venezuela) already have direct connections to Internet2
networks in the United States, including Internet2’s Abilene
network.  Some of these connections are supported by the AMPATH
project and others via connections with California’s CENIC network and
the University of Texas at El Paso.  As the RedCLARA backbone
network is developed, CLARA anticipates that more than 700 universities
and research centers will be connected to it.  RedCLARA, being
developed with the support of the European ALICE Project, will create the
first intra-regional infrastructure for research and education in Latin
America and the Caribbean.

# # #

About Internet2(R)
Led by more than 200 U.S. 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 among academia, industry, and government that
helped foster today’s Internet in its infancy.  For more information
about Internet2, visit:
http://www.internet2.edu/.

About CLARA
CLARA (Cooperación Latino Americana de Redes Avanzadas) is a recently
formed consortium of more than 16 Latin American National Research and
Education Networks.  CLARA has two primary objectives: to build and
develop a regional research networking infrastructure for collaboration
and communication between that national research and education networks
of the region; and to establish a dialogue with other regional network
initiatives for the support and promotion of scientific and technological
developments for our communities.  The backbone, RedCLARA, being
developed with the support of the European ALICE Project, will create the
first intra-regional infrastructure for research and education in Latin
American and Caribbean, directly connected to Europe – in addition to the
direct connections already in use from Mexico to the United States, and
via the AMPATH project from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Venezuela to
the United States.  For more information, contact Nelson Simões at
.

CONTACT:
Michelle Pollak
Internet2
(202) 285-4590