August 10, 2001

MIAMI FLORIDA - Florida International University is hosting a three-day workshop starting today -- Wed., Aug. 15 -- on the AMPATH Project, a high-speed research and education computer network linking South and Central America, including Mexico and the Caribbean, to Internet2. The workshop, which is being sponsored by a grant from the National Science Foundation, is being held at FIU-Biscayne Bay's Kovens Conference Center (3000 N.E. 151st St., North Miami). It is intended to identify new potential areas of scientific collaboration between U.S. research interests and others throughout the AMPATH service region. More than 100 universities, corporations and organizations will be represented at the Aug. 15-17 workshop, with participants coming from Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Costa Rica, Canada and other countries. Presenters from such organizations at the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Dept. of Defense and NASA will discuss future AMPATH applications, Internet traffic routing and international research collaboration. Cisco Systems is offering an engineering workshop in conjunction with the event. FIU and Global Crossing announced the creation last year of the AmericasPATH or AMPATH project, which uses Global Crossing's terrestrial and submarine optical-fiber network to connect service-region users to Internet2 and Next Generation Internet networks globally. Participating research centers have the opportunity to contribute to research and development of applications for the advancement of Internet technologies. As its contribution to the AMPATH project, Global Crossing is donating a DS3 connection on its network to each participating country for a period of three years. The donated DS3s connect the research and education networks of each country to the AMPATH point-of-presence in Miami at the Network Access Point of the Americas, which is owned and operated by Terremark Worldwide, Inc. The implementation of the AMPATH project was aided earlier this year by new donations from Cisco Systems (a GSR 12012 router) and Lucent Technologies (a CBX ATM switch) to further the successful implementation of AMPATH. FIU is one of America's leading public research universities, with more than $42 million in annual, federally sponsored research and more than $61 million in total yearly contracts and grants. A recipient of the Carnegie Foundation's top ranking for research universities, the school is home to major research centers in such areas as telecommunications, engineering and environmental technology.

Contact:
FIU Integrated Media Group, Office of Media Relations
PC 519 Miami, FL 33199
ph: +1.305.348.2232