Project Sends Web Content To Remote Sites

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July 22, 1998 (1:11 PM EDT)

By Andrew Craig,

GENEVA -- Canadian telecommunication carrier Teleglobe has launched a satellite-based Internet content distribution service that it said will provide high-speed access to popular websites in remote countries.

Teleglobe said Wednesday that the system will cache Web pages on a central data warehouse and transmit requested files via satellites operated by Intelsat to smaller data warehouses operated by telecom providers in remote countries.

Based in Washington, D.C., Intelsat provides voice, data, and video services to more than 200 countries and territories via satellite.

ISPs and corporate users would be able to access the local warehouses -- called kiosks -- for a significantly lower cost than for leased lines, and with a better quality of service, said Bob Collet, vice president of Teleglobe's data services division.

Teleglobe announced the service at the Internet Society's INet 98 conference held here.

The first trial of the service will begin in October, with four telecom operators around the world -- Cyprus Telecom, Telecom South Africa, Embratel of Brazil, and IDSC of Egypt.

Teleglobe and Intelsat said they expected the service to support real-time Internet audio and video broadcasts from a central warehouse in future versions of the service.

The system will be useful in regions that are not directly connected to a major Internet bankbone, said John Stevenson, department manager for network and technology initiatives at Intelsat.

Any region on a geographic fringe, with a largely English-speaking population that is now or about to undergo deregulation will benefit, said Stevenson.

But the service will not replace existing Internet transport routes, rather it will complement them and offer a high-speed alternative, said Stevenson.

"It is an overlay. I don't see it replacing existing point-to-point networks," he said.