Shortly after France Telecom launched its Package Intranet service for businesses at Comdex 98 in Paris, a report in Les Echos says that a recent study of the internet’s future in France was critical of network capacity in France and in Europe. The Lorentz report contends that France Telecom’s network backbone will constitute a brake on French internet ambitions, notably as regards electronic commerce. But it is not strictly a Franco- French problem, says Jean-Paul Figer, vice president of Cap Gemini SA and a report author. European infrastructures have much lower capacities than those in the US, he said. In particular, the report criticizes a lack of transmission routers with a high enough capacity to assure a steady flow of corporate and consumer information, and a complexity of service access that hits too many interconnect points before reaching the desired web site. Not to be left in the cold, France Telecom has announced that it will spend between $2bn and $2.2bn on further modernization of the national network. The paper quotes unnamed internet experts as saying they hope the operator will spend the money on switches that will appropriately channel voice and data traffic, which remains smaller in volume than voice traffic in France. Meanwhile, the operator’s intranet package, integrating messaging, controlled and secure access, a web intranet and an internet web site, is said to be economical, although the operator did not cite prices. Using Sun servers and Netscape browsers, the service promises a consistent quality and speed of connection, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, firewall protection and a web administration capability. Companies may also choose to begin with only email and internet navigation, adding their own web site and company intranet later on, the operator said. Software updates will be automatically provided by France Telecom, the operator said.
