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The Ministry wishes to link up technology with the U.S.


O Estado de São Paulo

Demétrio Weber

08.04.1999


Once the initial stage of Internet2 is set up in Brazil, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT) is planning to link up the new Brazilian network to the American Internet2 project next year. This is pending the start up of operations of the second optical fiber cable to be deployed between Brazil and the U.S. The cable extends to Fortaleza and belongs to an international consortium, of which Embratel is a participant. According to the Project Manager of the National Research Network (RNP) of MCT, José Luiz Ribeiro Filho, the new optical fiber cable should be inaugurated in January. In the U.S., the new networking project began in 1997, with the participation of universities and the private sector. Though it receives government funding, this initiative is coordinated by a Non-Government Organization. According to Ribeiro Filho, the network in the U.S. is no longer exclusively academic, being put to commercial use as well.

Infrastructure - The Project Manager of RNP, who coordinates the present government-maintained Internet backbone, affirms that Brazil has the necessary infrastructure, in terms of optical fiber networks, to operate Internet2. "After privatization, the telephone companies have started to deploy their networks," he observes, further stating that the same has been the case with corporations in other sectors, such as Petrobras.

By the year 2000, he says, Petrobras should conclude optical fiber cable installations at its pipelines between Porto Alegre and Fortaleza. "There will shortly be excess fiber in the Southeast, along the Southern seashore and in parts of the Mid-West and the Northeast," states Ribeiro Filho.

The Internet2 pilot project in Brazil, interconnecting São Paulo, Rio, Belo Horizonte and Brasilia, will run at 77.5 times as great a speed as the current network. According to Ribeiro Filho, however, the U.S. should achieve twice this speed in the year to come.

source: http://www.estado.com.br

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