Bernd Steinbrink
Having built a uniform standard for Euro-ISDN that was accepted by 26 network companies in 20 countries, France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom are now trying to establish a European standard for the next generation of high-speed networks. In cooperation with British Telecom, Spanish Telefonica, Italian STET/ASST, and Swedish Telia, the companies will build a Europe-wide, high-speed digital fiber network called the Global European Network, or GEN, that should be the precursor of a future ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) network. In the mid-1990s, GEN is expected to be absorbed into the METRAN or Managed European Transmission Network, which will support data transmission at rates of up to 155 Mbps across Europe.
AT&T now cooperates with most of these state companies on national ATM projects,
as well as on PEAN (Pan European ATM Network), a pilot project set up by 18 European operators to test a broad palette of communication services. By mid-1994, PEAN will have nodes in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and perhaps other countries; interoperability tests scheduled for then will allow transmission of video and image data across the high-speed network. PEAN members have agreed to purchase and install ATM cross-connections that meet standards and recommendations from CCITT/ITU and ETSI (the European Telecommunication Standard Institute), as well as specifications from Heidelberg-based Eurescom.
France Telecom has started yet another project with Telecom PTT Switzerland called Betel (Broadband Exchange over Trans-European Links), which began trials in September 1993 with the interconnection of several research facilities in France and Switzerland. Applications running on the Betel network include distance learning via videoconferenci
ng and sharing supercomputers for scientific computing tasks. The platform consists of 34-Mbps fiber-optic circuits, and the different sites are equipped with FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface) LANs linked to the ATM platform. Starting this year, cost-effective LAN interconnections at very high speeds via ATM networks will be offered.
Another France Telecom ATM project is Brehat, a complete communication system for videoconferencing, video transmission, LAN interconnection, and circuit emulation. The first segments of this network will be deployed in the cities of Lannion and Rennes and at several sites in the Paris region this year. Full-scale commercial launch is planned for 1995. By then, about 17,000 kilometers of fiber-optic lines will be installed in France.
Britain is a special case because it liberalized its telecommunications in 1991, allowing TV and telephone on the same network and making investment in fiber optics profitable for private companies. One of the most unusual project
s involves a company called Energis, which is owned by the 12 regional electric companies in England and Wales. Energis is planning a nationwide fiber-optic network that piggybacks on the power grid. The company was granted a full telecommunications operating license last May and since then has installed 1200 km of fiber by wrapping it around the wires of overhead electrical lines. By the spring of this year, Energis's services--voice, data, image, and multimedia--will link 20 of the country's largest cities and be available to businesses and residential customers. By January 1995, Energis will extend the network to all major towns in the country.
Germany already has one of the most extensive fiber-optic networks in the world. Deutsche Telekom has installed fiber in about 80 large cities and connected them to each other via fiber. This is the basis for a network called VBN (Vermittelandes Breitbandnetz), which was first launched in February 1989. VBN allows data transfers at up to 140 Mbps for videocon
ferencing and is connected via satellite to international videoconferencing networks.
VBN will be the foundation for a fiber-optic network leading into customer homes. One pilot project, BERKOM (Berlin Kommunikation), has already been installed in Berlin for applications such as telepublishing, telemedicine, and city information systems.
In western Germany, the fiber-optic network will be built up through introduction of broadband communications services. A pilot ATM project called Broadband ISDN is scheduled for early this year, starting in Berlin, Hamburg, and the Bonn/Koln (Cologne) region. By 1996, the network will be made available for general use.
Group Effort
The three best-known Pan-European initiatives are RACE, ESPRIT, and IMPACT, all started by the EC (European Community) in the 1980s. RACE (Research and Development in Advanced Communication in Europe) is focused on integrated broadband communications and image/data communications. ESPRIT (European Strategic Program for Rese
arch in Information Technology) began in 1984 and is now in its third phase. Its focus is information technology, and it includes an Office and Business Systems subprogram, slated to run from 1991 to 1994, that deals with image compression techniques for interactive media.
IMPACT 1 (Information Market Policy Actions) ran from 1988 to 1990; in December 1991 the EC adopted its successor, IMPACT 2, to establish an information services market in two key areas: interactive multimedia and geographical information. At the end of 1993, another effort, Info Euro Access, was established to develop the European market for information services, especially those using broadband communications and Euro-ISDN.
Most European ATM networks will remain pilot projects until the middle of the 1990s and will likely be used for business communication afterward.
Bernd Steinbrink is a freelance journalist based in Oldenburg, Germany. He can be reached on CompuServe at 100277,3444 or on BIX c/o "editors."
Europe's Many Data Highways
