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Global
Crossing Connects Latin American and European Research
Communities
ALICE project
will create RedCLARA network in Latin America.
RedCLARA to be connected to GÉANT network
in Europe.
Ushers in unprecedented levels of collaborative
working for regional researchers.
Underscores Global Crossing’s lead in providing
global connectivity to R&E community.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 2004, London, UK -- Global Crossing
(NASDAQ: GLBCE) is to provide a high-capacity network
that will interconnect the research and educational
(R&E) community in Latin America and open the
way for unprecedented levels of collaboration with
colleagues and institutions in Europe.
América Latina Interconectada Con Europa
(ALICE) is a three-year project jointly funded by
the European Union and the national research and
educational networks (NRENs) of 18 Latin American
countries. Under a contract awarded by the Delivery
of Advanced Network Technology to Europe (DANTE),
Global Crossing will leverage its substantial regional
infrastructure and transatlantic cable system to
create RedCLARA. This IP backbone will connect universities
and research facilities in Brazil, Argentina, Chile,
Panama, Mexico and Venezuela -- while also providing
direct, high-speed connectivity to GÉANT,
the pan-European research and education backbone
network operated by DANTE.
The ALICE project was born out of studies carried
out in 2002 to investigate the feasibility of connecting
Latin American national research and education networks
(LA-NRENs) via a regional network and to analyse
the underlying demand for connectivity with Europe.
Creation of the RedCLARA network represents a significant
move toward the development of an IP-based research
infrastructure in the region. It will accelerate
the development of the information society in Latin
America and provide the means for full collaboration
on advanced international research projects. Today,
most universities in the region rely on 45-Mbps
links into Miami for connectivity to research networks
in other parts of the world.
RedCLARA will operate initially at 155 Mbps and
will be interconnected to GÉANT, the world’s
largest international academic and research network.
GÉANT reaches more than 3,500 research and
education institutions in 32 European countries
through its direct connection to 28 NRENs around
Europe. It provides the highest capacity and offers
the greatest geographic coverage of any network
of its kind in the world, enabling researchers to
compete on an international stage. At the end of
the ALICE project, the Latin American Co-operation
of Advanced Networks (CLARA) is expected to assume
responsibility for the operation of the intra-regional
network and its direct continuous connection to
GÉANT.
John Legere, CEO of Global Crossing, said: “This
network will overcome wide discrepancies in the
cost of connectivity within Latin America and will
end the international isolation of research institutions
caused by the high traffic thresholds currently
necessary to justify international connectivity.
Global Crossing’s global network will make
broadband collaboration affordable.”
DANTE’s general manager, Dai Davies, said:
“For the first time, Latin American countries
will have high-speed networking to conduct effective
research collaboration both within the region and
with their European counterparts. ALICE has been
instrumental in acting as a catalyst for the future
development of research networking in the region
via the CLARA organisation. The prospect of acquiring
dedicated international access to the global R&E
community has spurred many countries in the region
to focus on the development of their NRENs.”
The first fruits of the ALICE project will be realized
shortly with the successful connection of six LA-NRENs.
The project’s significant contribution to
the region’s development will continue with
the addition of further connections to other countries
soon afterwards. At present, the four participating
European NRENs include France (RENATER), Italy (INFN/GARR),
Portugal (FCCN) and Spain (RedIRIS), all of which
have close historical and social ties with Latin
America.
"With the implementation
of the ALICE project, we are taking an important
step in research and education integration in the
region," said Nelson Simões, president
of CLARA. "High performance research networks
are becoming an essential support for modern
research and development." |
Global Crossing will connect the Latin American
network to GÉANT via a 622-Mbps diverse transatlantic
link between Madrid and São Paulo, Brazil.
Within Latin America, Global Crossing capacity will
be used to create a backbone ring operating at 155
Mbps and linking São Paulo, Buenos Aires,
Santiago, Tijuana and Panama City. Caracas in Venezuela
will be connected to RedCLARA via a 45-Mbps spur
connected to the São Paulo hub. The resilience
of the service will be assured by the use of self-healing
SDH transmission technology for the backbone ring
and transatlantic link.
The European Commission supports ALICE and is providing
80 percent of funding for the project. ALICE underpins
the Commission’s @LIS programme, which aims
to promote the information society and fight the
digital divide throughout Latin America.
Global Crossing is an existing network provider
to DANTE in the form of a 2.5-Gbps wavelength between
Dublin and Frankfurt, together with a multi-gigabit
IP Transit Service. In Latin America, Global Crossing
currently supports the international connections
of the NRENs of Argentina (RETINA), Brazil (RNP),
Chile (REUNA), Panama (RedCyT) and Venezuela (REACCIUN)
as well as the state network of São Paulo,
which is operated by Fundação de Amparo
à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
(FAPESP).
ABOUT DANTE
DANTE's name derives from the acronym Delivery of
Advanced Network Technology to Europe. Owned by
European NRENs, it is an organisation whose purpose
is to plan, build and operate pan-European networks
for research and education. Working in partnership
with Europe's NRENs and in cooperation with the
European Commission, DANTE has been fundamental
to the success of European research and education
networking over the last decade, providing the data
communications infrastructure essential to the success
of many research projects in Europe today.
ABOUT CLARA
CLARA's name derives from the acronym Cooperación
Latino Americana de Redes Avanzadas -- Latin American
Cooperation of Advanced Networks. CLARA was created
by a number of Latin American NRENs in 2003, and
registered in Uruguay as a non-profit international
organization. Currently, CLARA members include NRENs
from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador,
El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay,
Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. The objectives
of CLARA are to promote cooperation in educational,
scientific and cultural activities within the Latin
American and Caribbean region through the use of
advanced communication networks (the CLARA network),
and also to encourage inter-regional collaboration
by building network links between the CLARA network
and research and education networks in other regions
of the world, beginning with Europe.
ABOUT
GLOBAL CROSSING
Global Crossing (NASDAQ: GLBCE) provides telecommunications
solutions over the world's first integrated global
IP-based network. Its core network connects more
than 300 cities and 30 countries worldwide, and
delivers services to more than 500 major cities,
50 countries and 6 continents around the globe.
The company’s global sales and support model
matches the network footprint and, like the network,
delivers a consistent customer experience worldwide.
Global Crossing IP services are global in scale,
linking the world’s enterprises, governments
and carriers with customers, employees and partners
worldwide in a secure environment that is ideally
suited for IP-based business applications, allowing
e-commerce to thrive. The company offers a full
range of managed data and voice products including
Global Crossing IP VPN Service, Global Crossing
Managed Services and Global Crossing VoIP services,
to more than 40 percent of the Fortune 500, as well
as 700 carriers, mobile operators and ISPs.
Please visit www.globalcrossing.com
for more information about Global Crossing.
# # #
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as "anticipate," "estimate,"
"expect," "project," "intend,"
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factors that could cause the actual results to differ
materially from those contemplated by the statements,
including the results of the ongoing review of the
company’s cost of access liabilities and cost
of access operating expenses and the related control
environment, and the impact of any restatement,
as well as the reaction of the company’s shareholders,
customers, vendors and prospective lenders; the
company's history of substantial operating losses
and the fact that, in the near term, funds from
operations will not satisfy cash requirements; the
ability of the company to arrange the necessary
financing to fund its liquidity requirements; the
likelihood that the prices the company charges for
its services will continue to decrease; the company's
ability to continue to connect its network to incumbent
carriers' networks or maintain Internet peering
arrangements on favorable terms; the consequences
of any inadvertent violation of the company's Network
Security Agreement with the U.S. Government; the
impact of actual and potential customers' bankruptcies
on the company's sales prospects and results of
operations; increased competition and pricing pressures
resulting from technology advances and regulatory
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competitiveness of its technology choices; the company's
dependence on third parties for many functions;
political, legal and other risks due to the company's
substantial international operations; and other
risks referenced from time to time in the company's
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company undertakes no duty to update information
contained in this press release or in other public
disclosures at any time. |
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