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Brazil's Rede Nacional de Pesquisa (RNP) will be connected to Americas Path (AMPATH), a high capacity network developed by Global Crossing and FIU that connects academic and research institutions throughout the Americas.

RIO DE JANEIRO AND MIAMI -- June 28, 2001 - Global Crossing (NYSE:GX) and Florida International University, Miami's public research university today announced an agreement to provide a high-speed DS3 connection through the AMPATH network to Rede Nacional de Pesquisa (RNP), Brazil's national research network, facilitating faster connectivity to a host of top research and academic institutions in the Americas for the Brazilian institution.

"We are very excited with the opportunity to participate in this initiative and are confident that the facilities provided by Global Crossing in conjunction with FIU's exchange point to Abilene will foster Brazilian international cooperation and also the interconnection of almost every academic network initiatives in Latin America, with a quality of service not known until now," acknowledged Nelson Simões, General Director of RNP.

Global Crossing has donated 10 DS3s (45 Mbps) to FIU's AMPATH project to enable the interconnection of more than 250 universities and research organizations in Latin America to US and non-US National Research and Education Networks using Internet2's Abilene network and the STAR TAP.

"This is an initiative that will enable a rich exchange of information, which will contribute to the development of advanced network applications in the country," said Luis Carlos Correia, Global Crossing's managing director in Brazil. "We are pleased to partner with FIU to bring this type of connectivity to the Americas and foster educational advancements through technology."

Internet2 is a consortium being led by more than 180 universities that work in partnership with industry and government to develop and deploy advanced network applications and technologies. The STAR TAP is the Science, Technology and Research Transit Access Point funded by the National Science Foundation to facilitate the long-term interconnection and interoperability of advanced international networking. It is connected to the Ameritech Network Access Point (NAP), in Chicago, and allows network traffic to flow to international collaborators from 150 leading research universities and institutions, including supercomputing centers.

"FIU is very excited about RNP's participation in the AMPATH project. Brazil's universities have much to offer in science and distance learning applications that will benefit from connectivity to AMPATH'S high-performance network," said Mark B. Rosenberg, FIU's Provost. "We are looking forward to having the AMPATH network connect Brazil's research and education communities with their US and international collaborators."

Other research institutions/universities that will be connected to AMPATH include Retina in Argentina, Senacyt in Panama, Reaccuin in Venezuela, CUDI in Mexico, Cintel in Colombia, RCP in Peru and Reuna in Chile.

About RNP:
RNP-Rede Nacional de Pesquisa (National Research Network) is the Brazilian academic network project. The project was launched in 1991 with two missions: build a national IP backbone to integrate regional initiatives, and foster the use of the Internet in Brazil. The backbone presently connects about 350 institutions, among them all federal universities and research institutes as well as most of other public and private higher education organizations. In the middle of year 2000 a newly designed backbone, called RNP2, has been set up to support advanced network applications, with points of presence in the major state capitals connected to an ATM core by 155 Mbps lines. For the academic and research community the new network infrastructure means a tenfold increase in bandwith availability. RNP is also engaged in a broader governement project which purpose is to support and facilitate the development of the information infrastructure of a knowledge-based Brazil. RNP´s activities include promoting and participating in projects related to the development of communications networking infrastrucuture in the country.

About FIU:
FIU, Miami's public research university, educates more than 32,000 students on campuses throughout South Florida and Latin America. It is the only public university in Florida with both a Phi Beta Kappa chapter and the Carnegie Foundation's top rating for research universities. Over the past three years, its sponsored research program is the fastest-growing of any research university in the state. FIU delivers high-quality education and training, conducts and promotes research to enhance Florida's role as a leader in telecommunications and information technology, offers training necessary to fostering business development and workforce preparedness and promotes technology transfer to enhance enabling technologies for the telecommunications and information technology industries. More information about FIU can be found at www.fiu.edu and www.ampath.fiu.edu.
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