Terremark’s NAP of the Americas to Serve as Home of FIU’s AMPATH Network and South Florida’s Internet2 GigaPoP
Dec. 20, 2000
Terremark and FIU Sign Research and Development Agreement With Aim of Establishing Miami as Major Hub for Regional Research and Education Network
Terremark Worldwide, Inc. (AMEX:TWW), a global leader in providing Internet infrastructure and managed services to the telecommunications industry, today announced that Terremark’s NAP of the Americas will serve as the home of the AMPATH Network and South Florida’s Internet2® GigaPoP.
AMPATH, a project developed by Florida International University (FIU) in collaboration with Global Crossing, interconnects the research and education networks in South America, Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico and other countries to U.S. and non-U.S. research and education networks via the Internet2® Abilene network.
Internet2® is a consortium being led by more than 180 universities working in partnership with industry and government to develop and deploy advanced network applications and technologies, accelerating the creation of tomorrow’s Internet.
Internet2® is recreating the partnership among academia, industry and government that fostered today’s Internet. Abilene is an advanced backbone network that supports the development and deployment of the new applications being developed within the Internet2® community. Abilene connects regional network aggregation points, called GigaPoPs, to support the work of Internet2® universities as they develop advanced Internet applications. Abilene complements other high-performance research networks.
The announcement is part of a Research and Development Agreement between Terremark and FIU to work together, through FIU’s Telecommunications and Information Technology Institute, on research and development projects to create test beds for experimentation at the NAP of the Americas using the AMPATH network to study current and emerging Internet and telecommunications technologies, including but not limited to, IPv6, Quality of Service (QoS), multicast and optical switching.
These R&D projects will enable Terremark and FIU to study advanced network technologies prior to their introduction into production networks.
“We are proud that the NAP of the Americas will be the home of the AMPATH Network and the South Florida GigaPoP,” said Manuel D. Medina, Chairman and CEO of Terremark. “We are particularly excited to join forces with Florida International University to develop a program to connect educators and students across the Americas and beyond, which will establish the NAP of the Americas and Miami as one of the premier educational points for the development of applications for the advancement of Internet technologies.”
The NAP of the Americas will serve as a major connecting point where research and education networks can peer with U.S.-and non-U.S.-based National Research Networks. Colocating AMPATH, a point-of-presence, within the NAP of the Americas will establish Miami as a major connectivity point for research and development for educational initiatives.
“With this agreement, the AMPATH and FIU partnership is positioned to become the leading international technology initiative for higher learning throughout the Western Hemisphere,” said FIU President Modesto A. Maidique. “The NAP of the Americas is the ideal site to host a pan-regional higher education initiative, which will enhance Miami’s stature as a leading high-tech learning center.”
Terremark is the operator and owner of the NAP of the Americas, a TerreNAP(sm) Data Center that will be a state-of-the-art facility providing interconnection between global carriers, ISPs and others. The carrier-neutral NAP of the Americas is one of the most significant telecommunications projects in the Western Hemisphere, as it will connect fiber networks in Latin America, Europe and Africa to those in the U.S. and have a profound impact on Internet traffic flow once completed in the second quarter of 2001. It is only the fifth Tier-1 NAP in the Western Hemisphere.
About Terremark Worldwide, Inc.
Terremark Asia is a subsidiary of Terremark Worldwide Inc. (AMEX:TWW). Terremark Worldwide, Inc. is a global leader in providing Internet infrastructure and managed services, as well as a full range of real estate services. Terremark is headquartered at 2601 S. Bayshore Drive, 9th Floor, Miami, Florida USA, 305/856-3200, and has offices in several other locations throughout the United States, Latin America and Asia. More information can be found on Terremark Worldwide, Inc at http://www.terremark.com.
About NAP of the Americas
The NAP of the Americas, a TerreNAP(sm) Data Center, is the fifth Tier-1 Network Access Point (NAP) in the world. TerreNAP(sm) Data Centers is a subsidiary of Terremark Worldwide, Inc. NAP of the Americas is the first carrier neutral Tier-1 NAP and it is the first one housed in a facility built specifically for a NAP. Located in Miami, Florida, the NAP of the Americas will be a premier facility providing interconnection between global carriers, ISPs and others as well as connecting fiber networks in Latin America, Europe and Africa to those in the U.S. Terremark Worldwide is the owner and operator of the NAP of the Americas;
Telcordia Technologies will engineer it with its latest IP technology. For more information on NAP of the Americas can be found on www.napoftheamericas.com.
About FIU
FIU, recognized as one of the nation’s best public research universities, educates some 32,000 students on campuses throughout South Florida and Latin America. Its Telecommunications and Information Technology Institute delivers high-quality telecommunications and information technology 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 of the telecommunications and information technology industries. More information about FIU can be found at www.fiu.edu and www.ampath.fiu.edu .
About Internet2®
Led by over 180 U.S. universities working with industry and government, Internet 2 ® is developing and deploying advanced network applications and technologies for research and higher education, accelerating the creation of tomorrow’s Internet. Internet2 ® recreates the partnership of academia, industry and government that helped foster today’s Internet in its infancy. For more information about Internet2®, see: http://www.internet2.edu.
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties or other factors which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the Companies involved to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include, without limitation, relationships with the Companies’ partners, political instability in countries in which the Companies do business, the Companies’ ability to obtain proper funding for their business plan, decline in demand for the Companies’ services or products, the effect of general economic conditions generally, factors affecting real estate development or telecommunications and other risks, uncertainties detailed from time to time in the Companies’ Securities and Exchange Commission filings and the Companies’ ability to reach definitive binding agreement and work together on a long term basis.
CONTACT: Terremark Worldwide Inc., Miami
Sandra Gonzalez-Levy, 305/860-7829
sgonzalez-levy@terremark.com
or
Edelman Public Relations, Miami
Steven Schwadron/Alex Armas
305/358-9500
steven.schwadron@edelman.com
alex.armas@edelman.com
URL: http://www.businesswire.com
LOAD-DATE: December 20, 2000
