Utrecht, The Netherlands -- July 28, 2004 -- Global Crossing (NASDAQ: GLBCE) has expanded its relationship with the Dutch national research network, SURFnet, under a contract to provide enhanced wavelength connectivity to international research facilities. This latest contract builds on a partnership with SURFnet that began in 2001 and underscores Global Crossing's position as a leading provider of high-capacity IP network services to the global research and scientific community.
SURFnet is the national computer network for higher education and research in the Netherlands. Its role is to connect the networks of universities, colleges, research centres, academic hospitals and scientific libraries with one another and to other national regional education networks (NREN) in Europe and the rest of the world.
Under the new contract, Global Crossing will provide additional 10-Gbps wavelength services between Amsterdam and major optical networking hubs in the US and the international nuclear research institute CERN based in Geneva.
In addition, Global Crossing is providing Internet connectivity to SURFnet users through three Gigabit Ethernet IP Transit ports at SARA, the computer center of the University of Amsterdam and one of SURFnet's two backbone locations in Amsterdam. SURFnet users are connected to other European NRENs via a connection Global Crossing provides to GÉANT, the multi-gigabit pan-European research and educational backbone spanning 32 countries and connecting approximately 3,500 research and educational establishments.
"We are thrilled that SURFnet has once again turned to Global Crossing's high performance network for its unsurpassed reach and reliability," said Keith Cameron, vice president for enterprise sales, Global Crossing Europe. "Although up against stiff competition, Global Crossing won by virtue of its unblemished track record on network performance since 2001. The ability to deliver future requirements such as IPv6 -- which will provide the foundation of the next-generation Internet -- and multicasting is an important consideration to SURFnet as they seek ways to take fully optical research networking to new levels."
Kees Neggers, managing director of SURFnet, said: "More than half the traffic on the SURFnet network has an external destination, so international connectivity is a substantial part of the service. Technology advances such as lambda optical transmission raise the threshold of worldwide scientific collaboration and bring new demands both in functionality and capacity. We are pleased that Global Crossing allows us to regularly upgrade our international connections to guarantee users and their colleagues optimum performance."
Global Crossing's high capacity infrastructure will facilitate continued collaboration between the Dutch optical interconnection point NetherLight and StarLight, a similar facility in Chicago. SURFnet established NetherLight in cooperation with StarLight and CANARIE, the Canadian research networking organization, to broaden its reach with other research networks in America and Asia. Capacity on the two 10-Gbps diversely routed connections to StarLight is also being used to support the Global Lambda Integrated Facility (GLIF), a global experimental networking initiative that supports e-science applications and which will also provide a high-performance network connecting NRENs in the US and Canada to the GÉANT network in Europe.
Since 2001, Global Crossing has played an important role in the development of these two international network exchange points, raising the bandwidth threshold from an initial 622-Mbps MPLS-te IP tunnel between StarLight and NetherLight, which was used in 2002 to establish an Internet2 land speed record as an experiment to demonstrate the ultimate end-to-end performance of current production quality IP networks. Under the new contract, capacity is being upgraded to two 10-Gbps wavelengths across diverse routes on two of Global Crossing's transatlantic sub-sea cable systems for added resilience and reliability.
A third wavelength will connect Amsterdam to the Manhattan Landing (MAN LAN), which is a high-performance exchange point in New York City facilitating peering among US and international research and educational networks. The exchange point, which is being built within the fibre meet-me room in the New York carrier hotel, is a collaborative effort with SURFnet's North American colleagues.
Existing collaboration with SURFnet that falls within the scope of the new contract includes a multi-Gigabit wavelength connection between NetherLight and the European nuclear research organization CERN in Geneva. The network uses the new 10 Gigabit Ethernet WAN transmission technology which enabled researchers from the ATLAS experiment and the University of Amsterdam to use the full data bandwidth to transmit the equivalent of 15 CDs every second between the two cities. The results were an important milestone in exploring the high-speed distribution of data from CERN's new Large Hadron Collider, scheduled to come into operation in 2007.
In a separate 15-year agreement signed in July 2002, Global Crossing provides a dark fibre link between the European radio telescope institute JIVE (Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry) and ASTRON, the Dutch foundation for research in astronomy. The radio telescopes are each a part of the European VLBI Network (EVN), for which JIVE is the central institute based within ASTRON's premises in Dwingeloo, a remote area in the north of the Netherlands.
In May, Global Crossing demonstrated its credentials as a premier provider of network services to scientific and research institutions when the company was awarded a contract by the University of Manchester to establish high-capacity links between five radio telescopes across England and the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire. Known as the e-MERLIN project, the optical fibre links will create a unique instrument for high-resolution radio imaging that is the only general purpose, ground-based astronomical facility that routinely matches the resolution of the Hubble space telescope.
Within Europe, Global Crossing supports DANTE, the organisation responsible for managing the world's largest academic and research network, GÉANT. This pan-European IP backbone interconnects research and educational networks in 32 countries, ultimately connecting approximately 3,500 research and educational establishments around Europe. Global Crossing provides a 2.5-Gbps wavelength between Dublin and Frankfurt, together with a multi-gigabit IP Transit Service. In Ireland, Global Crossing has a contract with the research network HEAnet to provide fast Internet access to more than 150,000 students, academics and researchers.
Elsewhere in the world, Global Crossing supports the Brazilian National Research and Education Network (RNP) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), the two largest academic research institutions in Brazil.
About SURFnet
SURFnet operates and innovates the national research network, to which 180 institutions in higher education and research in the Netherlands are connected. To remain in the lead SURFnet puts in a sustained effort to improve the infrastructure and to develop new applications to give users faster and better access to new Internet services. The organization is among the leading research network operators in the world. SURFnet is responsible for the realization of GigaPort Next Generation Network, a project of the Dutch government, trade and industry, educational institutions and research institutes to strengthen the national knowledge infrastructure.
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.
