GENEVA, Switzerland -- July 22, 1998 -- Teleglobe, one of the largest international telecommunications carriers and Internet backbone providers, and INTELSAT, a leading provider of international satellite services, today announced that they will jointly beta test a Multicast Internet Caching and Replication System. This first commercial implementation of a true "push" system, developed by A&T Systems of Silver Spring, Maryland, under contract to INTELSAT, will simultaneously deliver the most frequently accessed Internet content to correspondent sites worldwide. "Push" technology, a growing trend among Internet content providers, sends information automatically to the user, versus content that the user or server must actually seek and retrieve.
The announcement was made during INET, the Internet Society's annual conference, for which Teleglobe is providing 4 Mbps of its Internet access service, Globeinternet(SM), for conference attendees, via its Frankfurt GlobeInternet Point of Presence (POP).
In the beta test phase of this development, Teleglobe will operate a content "warehouse," which will be physically operated as a part of one of its INTELSAT earth stations. Web-based content will be multicast from a hub cache at the warehouse to ISP-operated "kiosks" worldwide, which, in turn, will cache and offer content to local users. This dual caching architecture is unique because the "push" mode takes advantage of the multicast protocol, versus the more typical "pull" approach used by other caching systems operating in a unicast mode.
In the first release of the system, the warehouse will contain and manage three types of content:
- popular pre-selected content;
- websites wishing to offer their content via the warehouse; and
- content requested from kiosk operators or users.
Teleglobe and INTELSAT expect subsequent releases to support delivery of:
- real-time events, e.g., on-demand music and sports events, and content "pushed" into the warehouse; and
- real-time, and semi-real-time, reliable content delivery, requiring reliable multicast transport, such as financial information, news groups and other push content.
Teleglobe, INTELSAT and A&T Systems plans to initiate the beta test in November this year. "The marriage of our global Internet backbone service, Globeinternet(SM), with the caching and replication system will allow ISPs and other online providers worldwide to improve service quality and reduce costs by locally hosting popular content," said Bob Collet, vice president and general manager of Teleglobe's data services division. "It is also a natural complement, both as a product and operationally, to our emerging GlobeWebsSM virtual hosting service. Teleglobe plans to offer this multicast service commercially by mid-1999."
Teleglobe's NxSTM-1 (Nx155 Mbps) is a Cisco Powered Network, which includes POPs in the United States and Canada, and Europe, via its international transmission infrastructure - the third largest in the world. Teleglobe is directly connected to other U.S. backbone networks, other networks by Network Access Points (NAPs) throughout the United States and Europe, and soon to major content sites such as America Online and Microsoft. Teleglobe's Cisco Powered Network status reflects the company's commitment to using industry leading, state-of-the-art technology from Cisco in order to deliver a high level of network interoperability, reliability and performance, as well as new, advanced and differentiated services.
"Deployment of POPs in additional cities throughout the world will continue throughout the next few years, as we grow our business Internet services," Collet continued. "To ensure that our customers receive the best quality of service, we will continue to move our network closer to the content or move the content to us through the caching and replication system."
Teleglobe has reported over 500 percent customer growth in its global backbone service since INET '97, directly connecting ISPs in more than 70 countries. This customer base represents over 14 percent of all Internet destinations.
A substantial component of Teleglobe's international growth in ISP connections is being implemented via the INTELSAT satellite system. Tom Eaton, vice president of sales and marketing at INTELSAT, said, "INTELSAT is gratified to be working closely with Teleglobe, as well as many other INTELSAT signatories, to utilize the benefits of satellite-based transmission to bring Internet connectivity to more and more people and places throughout the world. Our caching and replication service platform was designed around the natural ability of satellite to multicast data traffic. We believe it can be a true innovation in the global delivery of Internet services, so helping to make the World Wide Web truly worldwide."
Dr. Ashok Thareja, president and CEO of A&T Systems, said, "We believe our caching and replication system will be the first manifestation of a true content push system. The implications for the Internet will be considerable. We're delighted to be collaborating with INTELSAT and Teleglobe to bring this initiative into the marketplace."
About Teleglobe
Teleglobe is recognized as a world leader in the intercontinental telecommunications industry. The Teleglobe network includes submarine cable and satellite facilities linking North America with over 240 countries and territories, meeting global connectivity needs of established and emerging carriers from around the world, as well as those of Internet Service Providers (ISPs), multinational corporations and broadcasters. Teleglobe Inc. is listed on the NYSE, the Montreal Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "TGO."About INTELSAT
INTELSAT owns and operates a global communications satellite system. With 1997 revenues of more than US$ 960 million, the INTELSAT system provides voice / data and video services to over 200 countries and territories via satellite.About A&T Systems
A&T Systems, Inc. is a high technology computer engineering firm specializing in software development, systems integration and management, and performance engineering. A&T is an accomplished provider of software solutions encompassing systems design, modeling, web applications development, testing, training and technology transfer. A&T has extensive experience in product development using IP Multicast technologies. A&T is the prime contractor for the development of Multicast Internet Caching and Replication system for INTELSAT.
