Bandwidth news: #reply-9637171
Enron Communications Introduces Global
Bandwidth Commodity Market
PR Newswire - May 20, 1999 09:08
PORTLAND, Ore., May 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Enron Communications
announced today a plan to commence the trading of bandwidth as a
commodity -- a proposition that is expected to revolutionize the Internet
industry by enabling the competitive enterprise market to order and reserve
the bandwidth necessary to utilize a new generation of desktop applications.
"Working closely with others in the communications industry, Enron
Communications has developed standard terms and conditions for the
commoditization of bandwidth, which will enable businesses to buy and
trade bandwidth," said Joe Hirko, president and CEO of Enron
Communications. "Customers will be able to reserve bandwidth for high bit
rate applications like streaming media, Internet video conferencing, and
high-quality multimedia graphics that are defining competitive advantage in
the enterprise marketplace."
"The trading of bandwidth will supercharge the entire Internet industry by
dramatically increasing the efficiency of bandwidth provisioning and
deployment," said Tom Gros, vice president of global bandwidth trading for
Enron Communications. "Bandwidth trading levels the playing field for
communications companies by making bandwidth more cost effective and
more readily available for the development, delivery and utilization of
applications. Bandwidth transactions that used to take months to close will
literally take seconds, creating wholesale market efficiencies for the
industry."
Enron Communications is proposing two bandwidth commodity offerings
between two city pairs. The first is a time division multiplexing (TDM) T-1
(digital transmission link) service between New York and Los Angeles,
targeting large multinational bandwidth consumers like Fortune 500 firms.
The second service offering will be an Internet Protocol (IP) DS-2 (digital
signal) between Washington, D.C. and San Francisco/San Jose, targeting
telecommunications firms and Internet Service Providers. These
configurations will serve as the benchmarks for the most liquid
telecommunications path across North America, as well as launching points
to connect to Asian and European markets.
Efficient bandwidth trading will be made possible by Enron Communications'
Pooling Point Operations model, a switching and interconnection facility in
selected physical locations through which connections between bandwidth
buyers and sellers may be established and monitored. Pooling Points will be
managed by a Pooling Point Operator (PPO), an independent third party
responsible for scheduling bandwidth connections, monitoring the quality of
service (QoS) of each transaction, issuing code numbers for access to web
sites and maintaining the physical security and operational integrity of the
transactions.
"Pooling Point Operations will greatly increase our bandwidth connectivity
and liquidity," said Gros. "Efficient Pooling Point Operations are a key
element in the successful development of the bandwidth commodity market."
The Pooling Point network architecture has been developed in conjunction
with Enron Communications strategic allies Cisco Systems, which will supply
the Cisco gigabit switch routers, and Sun Microsystems, which will supply
the Enterprise servers and the Solaris operating system.
"Bandwidth trading as proposed by Enron Communications has the potential
to create an exciting new business model that promises to redefine
telecommunications," said Larry Lang, vice president, marketing, Cisco
Systems, Inc. "Service providers will benefit because they can tap into a
much more liquid reserve of bandwidth to meet unexpected customers
demands. And end users will benefit because market forces will be brought
to bear to ensure that the bandwidth they want is readily available at a fair
price."
"Enron Communications' concept of a global bandwidth commodity market
is an exciting, yet natural progression for the telecommunications industry,"
said John McFarlane, president, Solaris Software, Sun Microsystems.
"Sun's vision, product, and service offerings are ideal for supporting this new
bandwidth-on-demand model of delivering digital media, ecommerce and
other high-bandwidth applications to business users."
About the Enron Intelligent Network: The Enron Intelligent Network is an
architecture based on a unique approach to networking through distributed
servers, Enron Communications' InterAgent(R) middleware and Enron
Communications' Pure IP(TM) technology. The intelligence of the network
comes from Enron Communications' standards-based InterAgent, a
real-time intelligent messaging technology that supports the development and
maintenance of distributed applications across diverse network
environments. The Enron Intelligent Network brings to market a reliable,
bandwidth-on-demand platform for delivering data, applications and
streaming rich media to the desktop. The Enron Intelligent Network allows
customers to access on-the-fly capacity, tiered QoS, data, application and
content capabilities purchased entirely on an as-used basis.
About Enron Communications, Inc.: Enron Communications, a wholly
owned subsidiary of Enron Corp. (NYSE: ENE), is a leader in the delivery
of high- quality, high-bandwidth business information and applications. Enron
Communications is building a long-haul fiber-optic network on strategic
routes throughout the United States to create a data-centric national Pure IP
backbone known as the Enron Intelligent Network. It is extending the
capabilities of that network through agreements with ISPs and carriers
seeking to generate new revenue sources and improved services.
Enron Corp. is one of the world's leading integrated natural gas and
electricity companies. The company, which owns approximately $30 billion
in assets, produces electricity and natural gas, develops, constructs and
operates energy and water facilities worldwide and delivers physical
commodities and risk management and financial services to customers
around the world. Enron's Internet address is www.enron.com, the stock is
traded under the ticker symbol, "ENE."
CONTACT: Claudia Johnson of Enron Communications, Inc.,
503-464-3631; or Karen Denne of Enron Corp., 713-853-9757.
SOURCE Enron Communications, Inc.
/CONTACT: Claudia Johnson of Enron Communications, Inc.,
503-464-3631; or
Karen Denne of Enron Corp., 713-853-9757/
/Web site: enron.com |
