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To: pat mudge who wrote (8840)	1/8/1998 10:23:00 AM
From: Chemsync	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 21342

High Speed European Network Hi Pat, Surely there's some DMT in here. But two years of trials! Were we THAT far-sighted?? sg Europe Will Fund Global Partnership To Devise 21st Century Superhighway By Jeremy Scott-Joynt 07-JAN-98 NEC, Cisco and Alcatel are collaborating on a European Union-funded project to design a high-speed Internet for Europe ready in time for the new millenium. ÿÿÿÿÿÿ The three companies will start work in March on IthACI, or Internet and the ATM: Experiments and Enhancements for Convergence and Integration, a two-year program of field trials aimed at refining the way asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks can be used for IP-based traffic and adapting it to European users' needs. ÿÿÿÿÿÿ IthACI has been selected by the EU's Advanced Communications Technologies and Services (ACTS) program, because it hopes the project will enhance the way ATM can work with multimedia communications, particularly in terms of quality of service. ÿÿÿÿÿÿ In the process the project is expected to bring more European influence to bear on the ATM standardization process, currently dominated by US companies under the umbrella of the Internet Engineering Task Force. Many companies have their own IP switching technologies, such as Cisco's tag switching, but the European Commission is aware of the potential benefits of a standard that derives - at least in part - out of work performed in Europe. ÿÿÿÿÿÿ "One of the advantages of this project is that when you have concrete field trials experience, standards bodies are much more likely to take notice," said Dr Heinrich Stuettgen, of NEC Europe. "And it really cuts down on the paperwork." ÿÿÿÿÿÿ Even though ATM is in use across Europe and the rest of the world for data traffic, its application to IP networks has only gathered pace in the last couple of years as the Internet's explosive growth forced IP into the spotlight for future public data networks. NEC Europe's Heidelberg laboratories, Cisco UK and Alcatel Bell in Belgium will lead the project. But four research institutions from the UK, Germany, Greece and Belgium, as well as a Greek systems integrator, Algo Systems, will also take part. ÿÿÿÿÿÿ EU officials said that between 30% and 50% of the cost of this kind of project would be met from EU funds. They also confirmed that non-EU companies routinely participated in ACTS projects, and subsidiaries, like NEC Europe and Cisco UK, could receive funding as long as they were based in EU nations. ÿÿÿÿÿÿ Margaret Hopkins, an analyst with the Analysys consultancy in Cambridge, UK, said Cisco and Alcatel both brought vital experience to the project. "Alcatel has been doing a lot of work on ATM in Europe for a very long time," she said. ÿÿÿÿÿÿ "They have positioned themselves right at the core of EC promotion of ATM. But it's only more recently that they have cottoned on to the fact that IP will be key, and that's where Cisco, as the leaders in IP networks, come in."