IP: JAPAN TO TEST-DRIVE HIGH-SPEED NETWORK from edupage

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

A group headed by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone is starting a two-year test 
that will use high-speed switching technology to resolve data networking 
gridlock. The Mapos (multiple-access over SONET/SDH) technology will be 
used to link five points in Tokyo via optical fiber. More than 10 companies 
and universities, including NTT, International Digital Communications and 
the Japanese units of Cisco Systems and Sun Microsystems, will take part in 
the trial. "We have verified that Mapos functions in a laboratory 
environment," says an NTT spokesman. "In the field test starting in the 
middle of this month, we are going to verify how high a performance it can 
attain in the practical network environment where Internet data is actually 
flowing." At the same time KDD, Japan's leading international telephone 
carrier, plans to start its "KTH21" (KDD Terabit Highway for the 21st 
Century) project, which will establish a terabit-level backbone network and 
international trunk lines for high-speed networking. (EE Times 8 Feb 99)