RNP > RNP News > 1999 News

RNP and Engeredes announce a joint venture agreement in the Internet2 Project in Brazil

The National Research Network (RNP) announced on August 30th last, the forming of a partnership with Engeredes, a long-distance telecommunications service corporation of the Algar group, that was created to operate in Brazil's new competitive marketplace. RNP Project Manager José Luiz Ribeiro Filho made the announcement during a pilot project presentation of the operator's telemedicine services in Uberlândia (MG). The partnership will enable the use of Engeredes' optic fiber network in High Performance Metropolitan Networks (ReMAVs), the first step towards the installation of Internet2 in Brazil.
Engeredes launched its Broadbank Telemedicine System during a real-time digital image transmission in extremely high resolution of a surgery being performed in Triângulo do Coração in Uberlândia. This transmission was relayed both to the USP hospital in Ribeirão Preto (SP) and to the Brazilian Society of Telemedicine.
Already in its final stage, the Engeredes/RNP partnership will speed up the deployment of RNP2. The installed Engeredes optical fiber network will initially be used to connect ReMAVs in São Paulo, Campinas, Goiânia and Brasilia. With the extension of the operator's networking capacity, the consortia operating in Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro will then also be connected.

ReMAVs are a joint initiative of RNP and of the Theme-Oriented Research and Development Program in Computer Science (ProTeM-CC), sponsored by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and coordinated by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT). ReMAVs are formed into groups of consortia comprised of university-level institutions, research institutions and telecommunications service providers, selected at the end of 1997 under the Call for Proposals RNP/ProTeM-CC. They are part of the MCT strategy to deploy a high performance Brazilian backbone, enabling the development and use of applications requiring high quality service in networking and broadband transmission, in conformity with the American Internet2 project. Certain of the ReMAV consortia are developing projects in Telemedicine that will benefit from the Engeredes infrastructure now made available through the RNP partnership program. In the operator's perspective, the partnership is strategic in that it disseminates pioneer Telemedicine services the operator is developing in Brazil.

Telemedicine is a concept whereby broadband networking infrastructure is used to decentralize medical information, link complex centers to simpler ones, and enable the procurement of "second opinions" and of long-distance diagnosis. It also enables access to electronic medical files from anywhere across the nation by means of a specially created national databank. In addition, it can carry out videoconferences with transmission of surgical operations and create virtual universities featuring practical and theoretical instruction.

[RNP, 08.30.1999]