HIGH BANDWIDTH NETWORK PROVIDES CONNECTIVITY AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT

Released on June 16, 2005

The schools, libraries, health facilities and community groups connected to CommunityNet in the province will now have a high bandwidth link to global research networks around the world through SRnet.

SRnet is Saskatchewan's Optical Regional Advanced Research and Education Network (R&E ORAN) that provides a gateway to CANARIE, Canada's research and innovation network and other ORANs and research networks around the world. SRnet does not carry commercial Internet traffic but supports the exchange of research and educational data traffic between its members and their peer organizations across Canada and around the world.

"Thanks to CommunityNet, people in educational institutions, health care facilities, and most libraries in 366 communities throughout Saskatchewan have the world at their fingertips through high speed Internet access," Minister responsible for SaskTel Maynard Sonntag said on behalf of that corporation and on behalf of Minister responsible for the Information Technology Office Andrew Thomson. "The connection to SRnet will provide a bridge to broadband research networks around the world and will enable the development and testing of 'next generation' applications and products by the researchers, entrepreneurs and administrators in these organizations."

"The interconnection of SRnet and CommunityNet will provide access to an advanced research network to enable the development, assessment and testing of new applications, products and concepts in a next generation network environment," SRnet President Cy Scheske said. "With speeds of up to one Gigabit per second, SRnet can support advanced network applications, such as high quality video conferencing, that the commercial Internet is too slow or congested to support."

The interconnection of SRnet and CommunityNet will allow residents of Saskatchewan to participate in globally collaborative research projects, or collaboratories, with their peers around the world. This will enable a specialist in a health region in Saskatchewan to participate in projects with the best in the world or to remotely access highly sophisticated scientific equipment in other countries. It could also mean that kids in schools around the province will be able to participate in collaborative projects with schools in other countries so that they can share their similarities and come to appreciate their differences.

This agreement is a joint collaboration between SRnet, the Government of Saskatchewan's Information Technology Office (ITO) and SaskTel. SaskTel will install and maintain the network connection between the SRnet network and the CommunityNet network.

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For More Information, Contact:

Michelle Englot SaskTel Regina Phone: (306) 777-4476 Cell: (306) 539-0691