Networking revolution
Consortium announces national optical Internet
By SIMON TUCK, Ottawa Sun
A CONSORTIUM of telecommunications firms and the federal
government unveiled plans yesterday to build the world's first
national optical Internet, a next-generation pipeline expected to
add another couple of lanes to the information superhighway.
Government and corporate participants say the new $120-million
fibre optics-based network, called CA*net 3, will mean
revolutionary change in telecommunications by providing the
world's widest bandwidth. It should also help Canadians get to
the front of the pack as the global economy gears up for the next
phase of its technological transformation.
The existence of a high-speed Canadian-based network also has
the potential to reverse the flow of one-way Internet traffic
heading north from the U.S., proponents say, instead offering the
chance to turn Canada into a "super library" that provides content
services to the world.
While previous networks were built primarily to support voice
communications, this multi-media successor is being built
specifically for the Internet, with voices treated as just another
layer of traffic.
"We're enabling Canadians to leapfrog the world in developing
the fastest Internet service anywhere in existence," said Industry
Minister John Manley, following a press conference in Hull. "I
see this as Canadians seizing a leading position in the world."
Comparing the investment to the hi-tech equivalent of building the
national railway, Manley and members of the Bell Canada-led
consortium said the new network will also be good news for the
economy. Commercial applications will include
videoconferencing and enhanced virtual reality. "We don't even
know what all of the applications will be, but we do know that
many of the those applications will not be developed on the old,
slower-speed network," Manley said.
Nortel's Brian McFadden said the investment gives Canada a
competitive advantage. "In the hi-tech industry, it's all about
opportunities."
For the public sector, however, Manley said the most obvious
benefits will be in fields such as long-distance education and
medicine. As the network's increased power offers real-time
potential, medical teams will be able to take part in operations on
patients on the other side of the country. It's expected to be
about 100 times as fast as what's available today.
The private sector players -- Bell Canada, Nortel, Newbridge
Networks, JDS Fitel, and Cisco Systems -- will pick up about
three-quarters of the bill for the new service. The federal
government will chip in about $30 million from the $55 million
allocated in the last budget to CANARIE Inc. (Canadian
Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry and
Education), the non-profit tech group set up to support research
and development for the information highway. Canada wouldn't
be getting the new fibre optics network first if not for the
government's help, Manley said.
The new network will be rolled out beginning in October and
initially will be available mostly to university researchers and
government labs. Ten Canadian access points -- called
GigaPOPs (Gigabit-capacity points of presence) -- are being
built although only the most powerful computers will be able to
take advantage of the extra power.
Capable of 40-gigabit power, the new network should be
available to Canadian consumers by the new millennium and will
likely benefit this region as much as any in the country.
The area's high rate of Internet access and the growing
technology sector mean CA*net 3 could be a boon. It also helps
that the federal government and three of the five corporate
players -- Nortel, Newbridge and JDS Fitel -- have large chunks
of their operations here. The other two -- Cisco and Bell Canada
-- also have stakes in the region. |
