Connectivity Providers Database

Date: Thu, 23 Dec 1999 11:34:19 -0200 From: Carlos A. Afonso <ca@rits.org.br> To: Steven G. Huter <sghuter@nsrc.org> Cc: Randy Bush <randy@nsrc.org>, Karl Kurien <kkurien@nsrc.org> Subject: Re: NSRC Update for Brazil Hi Steve, Randy and Karl: There are basically four players right now in the backbone business: Embratel (MCI-Worldcom): http://www.embratel.net.br Netstream (high speed fiber in metro areas, owned by AT&T): http://www.netstream.com.br MetroRed (similar to Netstream, owned by Fidelity Investments, seems much smaller than Netstream): http://www.metrored.com.br Rede Nacional de Pesquisa (RNP), which operates the academic network and is funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology: http://www.rnp.br. This is slowly implementing Internet II type metropolitan networks in some cities (Rio, São Paulo, Brasília, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre etc), using 155 to 622 Mb/s ATM beds. Jointly, these backbones have a gross bandwidth to the Internet at large (links to the US, Canada, Europe and some border Latin American countries) in the range of 450 - 500 Mb/s, most of which (about 300 Mb/s) is operated by Embratel. Other companies (like IBM, Global One and Unisys) operate backbones with links through Embratel, so they are counted in the figures above. Players in the cable IP and KU band business are starting to appear (like Ajato - Abril/UOL Group - and Virtua - Globo Group) but their impact is so far negligible. All sites above provide detailed info, including network maps and, in some cases, speed data. --c.a. Carlos A. Afonso diretor de desenvolvimento / development director Rede de Informações para o Terceiro Setor - Rits Information Network for the Third Sector Rio de Janeiro, Brasil http://www.rits.org.br fax +55-21-527-5685 ca@rits.org.br