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> From: [log in to unmask]
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: IREX AWARDED NATO GRANT
> Date: 02 September 1998 22:17
>
> IREX AWARDED NATO GRANT TO STRENGTHEN INTERNET IN
> RUSSIA
>
> WASHINGTON, DC - The International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX)
> has received a NATO Infrastructure Grant to establish the first
> non-commercial Internet exchange in St. Petersburg, Russia. The
> purpose of the Open Internet Exchange, as it will be known, is to
> create a high-speed (256 kilobits per second) Internet ring between
> eight institutions, including universities and libraries, in the St.
> Petersburg region. For the first time, those Internet users will be
> able to exchange electronic traffic among themselves without having to
> depend on Internet nodes outside the city. This will decrease the
> load on the Internet traffic leaving the city from those eight
> institutes.
>
> The first eight cooperating partners include St.
> Petersburg State University, the Institute for Aviation Technology and
> Instrumentation, and the St. Petersburg branch of the Soros Foundation
> Internet Project. Cooperating partners will receive grants of
> supporting equipment, leased line installation, and monthly rent for
> 12 months of connection to the Internet Exchange. After the end of
> the grant period, those users will themselves begin to pay to the cost
> of the leased line within the city, and additional partners will be
> added to the Open Internet Exchange as it develops in the future.
>
> IREX is a Washington-based international non-profit organization that
> manages exchange and professional training programs in Central and
> Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Since 1993 it has been active in
> establishing non-commercial Internet access throughout the former
> Soviet region, and has helped provide E-mail services to over 100
> organizations in St. Petersburg alone, including the eight
> institutions selected to become founding members of the Open Internet
> Exchange. IREX was named co-director of the project, along with a
> consortium in St. Petersburg, LOTOS, which has been working to develop
> a non-commercial Internet structure in St. Petersburg since 1996.
> IREX's role will be to ensure the all Exchange partners participate on
> an equal basis in the project, while LOTOS will provide the technical
> support for the project.
>
> The goal of the NATO Infrastructure Grant program is to set up the
> links and networking capabilities in NATO Partner countries required
> to facilitate international collaboration in research.
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