PRESS RELEASE FG/ 9 Feb. 1993 ------------- Ebone provides Megabit IP backbone ----------------------------------- At the Ebone consortium meeting on Feb. 3 in Luxembourg the partners finalized to budget, decided on an upgrade of the backbone, set up the organization to operate Ebone in 1993, and confirmed Ebone's long term strategy. 21 partners have confirmed their commitment to the budget which covers a backbone connecting six backbone sites, nine additional access lines and three links to the US. Ebone is thus used directly for their international IP traffic by partners in virtually all Western European countries and indirectly by several other countries linked to the Ebone partners. In addition, Ebone will be used for pilot CLNS traffic. At the meeting, a plan to upgrade part of the backbone was decided. This means 1.5 Mbps from Stockholm to Washington and to Amsterdam, 1.5 Mbps from Amsterdam to Geneva, 1 Mbps from Geneva to the US and 2 Mbps from Geneva to Paris, and 1.5 Mbps from Paris to Washington. The US links are provided in cooperation with NSFnet and other US IP providers. In addition, 256 kbps links from London to Paris and to Stockholm are being considered for upgrade and the inclusion of a London to Washington link is being investigated. A new backbone site in Bonn has been decided and one in Vienna is being investigated. With this much needed upgrade Ebone can more confidently transport traffic from the rapidly growing number of IP hosts in the partners' networks. Kees Neggers was re-elected as Ebone chairman and an executive committee consisting of Dennis Jennings, Phil Jones, Christian Michau, Dave Morton, Kees Neggers, Peter Rastl and Peter Villemoes was appointed. Funded staff which will assist the executive committee and operate the network includes Frode Greisen as (part time) general manager, Bernhard Stockmann as (part time) chairman of the Ebone action team which is planning Ebone development, and Peter Lothberg as Ebone operations center manager assisted by full time staff at KTH in Stockholm and part time staff at each of the six Ebone backbone sites. RARE is providing the secretariat support for the consortium. The meeting also confirmed Ebone's long term strategy to concentrate in the future on providing a neutral interconnect for all networks, while it is assumed that privision of backbone services will be offered by one or more (competing) providers in the longer run. Until such offers are forthcoming, Ebone will take care of its partners' needs in this area too. Frode Greisen