Global Crossing Provides IP Network "Engine" to Break Internet2 Land Speed Record

Global Crossing Provides IP Network 'Engine' to Break Internet2 Land Speed Record · Global Crossing's MPLS IP VPN service used by SURFnet, member of record breaking international team. · Independent demonstration of Global Crossing's top performance in the field of traffic engineering. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 2002 MADISON, N.J. - Global Crossing announced today it has made IP network performance history as the VPN service provider to SURFnet, a member of the international team that set the new intercontinental Internet2 land speed record. The Internet2 Land Speed Record demonstrates the ultimate end-to-end performance that an application can achieve over both the current, and next generation, production quality IP based networks. SURFnet, the Dutch national computer network for higher education and research, was a member of an international team of academic and research institutions that set a new record for Internet performance by transferring the equivalent of the contents of an entire compact disc across more than 7,608 miles (12,272 km) of network in 13 seconds. The rate of 401 Mbit/s achieved in transferring 625 megabytes of data from Fairbanks, Alaska to Amsterdam in the Netherlands is over 8,000 times greater than the fastest dial-up modem. The world record team consisted of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, the Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam and SURFnet. In setting the new Internet2 Land Speed Record (I2-LSR) they used the networking capabilities of the Pacific Northwest Gigapop, an access point to leading-edge networks; the Internet2 Abilene backbone network; StarLight, the advanced optical infrastructure and proving ground in Chicago, Illinois; SURFnet and Global Crossing. The high-speed SURFnet connections used to set this record were developed as part of the GigaPort project, the Dutch Next Generation Internet initiative. Global Crossing provides the interconnection between SURFnet's PoPs in Amsterdam and Chicago using its ExpressRoute IP VPN service. The IP VPN service operates at 622 Mbit/s, allowing a private tunnel to be created across the Global Crossing IP backbone from the Netherlands to the StarLight research facility in Chicago, an essential transatlantic bridge that allows both partners to further their pursuit of application- centric research and development. Global Crossing provides a range of high-speed networking solutions including IP Transit and Wavelength services. Kees Neggers, managing director of SURFnet explains: "This is a perfect illustration of the seamless quality of networking solutions over the Global Crossing's high-speed backbone network. SURFnet is committed to supporting its users in the development and implementation of next generation technologies. High performance networking is crucial to international research collaboration using grid applications which demand fast, enormous bandwidth capacity on a global scale." Global Crossing's ExpressRoute IP VPN addresses the needs of customers for seamless high-throughput data transport over an MPLS-enabled backbone. The particular value of ExpressRoute IP VPN to customers is its ability to transport large volumes of IP-based traffic between international sites without having to undergo protocol conversions that may limit the performance of such traffic. Global Crossing's deployment of MPLS and traffic engineering management enables it to guarantee the performance of massive bandwidth at high speeds. In addition usage-based billing provides flexible and economical pricing to research institutions that must manage their networks efficiently within fixed budgets. John Legere, chief executive officer of Global Crossing said: "The academic community scrutinizes IP network performance due to the bandwidth hungry nature of scientific collaboration. This is an independent testament to the enormous bandwidth and outstanding network performance of our global network. It demonstrates that our financial restructuring has not impacted our ability to continue to meet the demanding critical network utilization requirements of organizations such as SURFnet." Global Crossing provides network services to some of the leading research network organizations including DANTE (Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe), which manages the world's largest research network GÉANT, and FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo), the largest academic research institution in Brazil. The Internet2 Land Speed Record is an open and ongoing competition. Entries were judged on a combination of how much bandwidth they used and how much distance they covered end-to-end, using standard Internet (TCP/IP) protocols. Full details can be found at: http://www.internet2.edu/html/i2lsr.shtml -Ends- ABOUT GLOBAL CROSSING Global Crossing provides telecommunications solutions over the world's first integrated global IP-based network, which reaches 27 countries and more than 200 major cities around the globe. Global Crossing serves many of the world's largest corporations, providing a full range of managed data and voice products and services. Global Crossing operates throughout the Americas and Europe, and provides services in Asia through its subsidiary, Asia Global Crossing. On January 28, 2002, certain companies in the Global Crossing Group (excluding Asia Global Crossing and its subsidiaries) commenced Chapter 11 cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York and coordinated proceedings in the Supreme Court of Bermuda. Please visit www.globalcrossing.com or www.asiaglobalcrossing.com for more information about Global Crossing and Asia Global Crossing. ABOUT SURFNET AND GIGAPORT SURFnet operates and innovates the national research network, to which 150 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. SURFnet is partner in GigaPort, a project of the Dutch government, trade and industry, educational institutions and research institutes, which aims to give the Netherlands a head start in the development and use of advanced and innovative Internet technology. For more information, see: http://www.surfnet.nl/en/ and http://www.gigaport.nl/ ABOUT INTERNET2® Led by over 190 U.S. universities, working with industry and government, Internet2 is developing and deploying advanced network applications and technologies for research and higher education, accelerating the creation of tomorrow's Internet. Internet2 recreates the partnerships among academia, industry, and government that helped foster today's Internet in its infancy. For more information about Internet2, see: http://www.internet2.edu/ ABOUT THE FACULTY OF SCIENCE OF UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM The Advanced Internet Research group of the University of Amsterdam's Faculty of Science researches new architectures and protocols for the Internet. It actively participates in world-wide standardization organizations such as the Internet Engineering Task Force and the Global Grid Forum. The group conducts experiments with extremely high-speed network infrastructures. The Institute carries out groundbreaking research in the fields of security, authorization, authentication and accounting for Grid environments. The Institute is developing a virtual laboratory based on Grid technology for e-science applications. For more information, see: http://www.science.uva.nl/research/air/ ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA AT FAIRBANKS The University of Alaska is Alaska's only public system of higher education. The system, which covers an area one-fifth the size of the contiguous United States, is comprised of three multi-mission universities located in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau with extended satellite colleges and sites throughout Alaska that provide educational services to urban and rural populations of diverse cultural backgrounds. The university is a land-,sea-, and space-grant institution with strong state and federally funded research programs. For more information, see:http://www.alaska.edu/ CONTACT GLOBAL CROSSING: Press Contact Mish Desmidt Global Crossing mish.desmidt@globalcrossing.com +44 (0) 7771 668438 Josephine Bowen/Valerie Weisenreder Bandwidth Consultancy Tel: +44 (0) 207 693 7000 josephine.bowen@bandwidthconsultancy.com Sandra Passchier SURFnet sandra.passchier@surfnet.nl +31 30-2305305 Greg Wood Internet2 ghwood@internet2.edu +1 202-331-5360 Analysts/Investors Contact Ken Simril +1 310-385-3838 investors@globalcrossing.com ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/05/09/20020509BIT00090/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/05/09/20020509BIT00090/wkr0002.pdf