News for and about the Internet2 community

["Lauren Rotman" <>]

Internet2 Offers Members Dedicated Wavelengths and Fiber to Enable
Revolutionary Applications and Network Research

Internet2 WaveCo and Internet2 FiberCo to Immediately Deliver Advanced
Networking Capabilities for the Research and Academic Community

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - July 27, 2006 - Internet2 today announced the immediate
availability of dedicated optical wavelengths in addition to dark fiber
assets for its members. The new service, called WaveCo, will provide members
with access to lightpaths beyond the Internet2 Network footprint.  

To enable the WaveCo service, Internet2 will work with its carrier, Level 3
Communications, to provision circuits - optical carrier and digital signal -
for regional networks and other Internet2 members needing to
cost-effectively extend their connectivity anywhere the Level 3 optical
network reaches. 

Because Level 3 is dramatically expanding its coverage in Tier 2 and Tier 3
markets, regional research and education networks leveraging the WaveCo
service may be able to reach sites they couldn't six months ago,
particularly in metropolitan areas. Through Internet2's agreement with the
carrier, the "off-net" service will have the advantage of aggregated rates
which are especially beneficial for regional networks that wish to extend
their reach to only a few sites with varying demands for circuit capacity or
duration. 

"The resources afforded by WaveCo and FiberCo allow regional networks and
other Internet2 participants to control strategic assets of their
networking," said Steve Cotter, Internet2 director of Network Services.
"These two services provide an end-to-end solution for greater, flexible
network reach."

WaveCo complements the successful model of the Internet2 FiberCo dark fiber
service which provides the research and education community the ability to
cost-effectively purchase dedicated dark fiber on a nationwide scale.
FiberCo and WaveCo allow Internet2 members to economically own and use the
essential building blocks of advanced networking infrastructure.  

By providing dedicated optical waves and fiber, Internet2 supports
community-control of fundamental networking infrastructure, while enabling a
wide variety of bandwidth-intensive applications under development at
campuses and research labs today.  

"Today scientists, doctors, and researchers throughout the world
increasingly require reliable and flexible network facilities to collaborate
and share bandwidth-intensive resources," said Cotter. "Through Internet2's
new WaveCo and FiberCo services we will continue to support and facilitate
the most innovative uses of networking to advance science and research on a
multiple-terabyte scale." 

These services are being offered in advance of the completion of the
recently announced new Internet2 Network infrastructure, which will be built
on experience gained through Internet2's successful Hybrid Optical Packet
Infrastructure (HOPI) testbed. The HOPI project examined hybrid packet and
circuit switched optical infrastructures to understand next generation
network architectures. When complete, the new Internet2 Network will provide
advanced capabilities to support the work of computer scientists and
researchers, including testing new network paradigms, protocols, and
architectures that push the envelope of networking technology. 

Internet2 is working with its members and regional networking organizations
to finalize deployment details of the new network, which will become
operational during 2007.  

Inquiries for dedicated waves or dark fiber can be directed to

 and to 
.

About Internet2(R)
Led by more than 200 U.S. universities, working with industry and
government, Internet2 develops and deploys advanced network applications and
technologies for research and higher education, accelerating the creation of
tomorrow's Internet. Internet2 facilitates the kinds of dynamic partnerships
among academia, industry, and government that helped foster today's Internet
in its infancy. For more information about Internet2 network capabilities,
visit http://networks.internet2.edu.

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Media contact:
Lauren Rotman

202.331.5345