Koninklijke PTT Telecom Nederland NV has been awarded a multi-million dollar contract to provide a multiprotocol network to will be used to connect European academic, industrial and governmental research institutions. Funded by the countries of the European Community and the European Free Trade Association, the new network is to be called EuropaNet and replaces IXI, the X25-based backbone network that has served the research community across Europe for the last two years. The three-year contract, which includes performance and availability guarantees, follows the completion of a public invitation to tender by Reseaux Associes pour la Recherche Europeene on behalf of the Cosine development project being carried out under the Eureka research programme. The network is to be accessible from nodes within all the Cosine member countries, and is to offer a range of access speeds up to 2Mbps. Switching technology was provided by RC Electronics, and the network is claimed to support connection with TCP/IP and X25-based networks. In an attempt to encourage take-up by national research networks, the Community is making funds available to assist them with their subscriptions. It says that two networks are already connected at 2Mbps, and a further four – including three interfacing via TCP/IP – are expected to connect at 2Mbps in the next few months. Access is also to be extended to Eastern Europe, using funds from the Community’s PHARE programme under a separate contract between the EC and PTT Telecom: Poland, Hungary, Czech and Slovak Republics, Bulgaria and Romania are to be connected into the system. Operation of the network is being passed from PTT Telecom to its Unisource Business Networks joint venture, which will run it from its International Network Management Centre in The Hague. Indeed, the services are to be integrated into the Unisource Business Networks service portfolio this year, although exactly how and when has yet to be decided.
