IREX AWARDED NATO GRANT

[amhvid at irex.org]

IREX AWARDED NATO GRANT TO STRENGTHEN INTERNET IN
RUSSIA

WASHINGTON, DC - The International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX)
has received a NATO Infrastructure Grant to establish the first
non-commercial Internet exchange in St. Petersburg, Russia. The
purpose of the Open Internet Exchange, as it will be known, is to
create a high-speed (256 kilobits per second) Internet ring between
eight institutions, including universities and libraries, in the St.
Petersburg region. For the first time, those Internet users will be
able to exchange electronic traffic among themselves without having to
depend on Internet nodes outside the city.  This will decrease the
load on the Internet traffic leaving the city from those eight
institutes.

The first eight cooperating partners include St.
Petersburg State University, the Institute for Aviation Technology and
Instrumentation, and the St. Petersburg branch of the Soros Foundation
Internet Project.  Cooperating partners will receive grants of
supporting equipment, leased line installation, and monthly rent for
12 months of connection to the Internet Exchange.  After the end of
the grant period, those users will themselves begin to pay to the cost
of the leased line within the city, and additional partners will be
added to the Open Internet Exchange as it develops in the future.

IREX is a Washington-based international non-profit organization that
manages exchange and professional training programs in Central and
Eastern Europe and Eurasia.  Since 1993 it has been active in
establishing non-commercial Internet access throughout the former
Soviet region, and has helped provide E-mail services to over 100
organizations in St. Petersburg alone, including the eight
institutions selected to become founding members of the Open Internet
Exchange.  IREX was named co-director of the project, along with a
consortium in St. Petersburg, LOTOS, which has been working to develop
a non-commercial Internet structure in St. Petersburg since 1996.
IREX's role will be to ensure the all Exchange partners participate on
an equal basis in the project, while LOTOS will provide the technical
support for the project.

The goal of the NATO Infrastructure Grant program is to set up the
links and networking capabilities in NATO Partner countries required
to facilitate international collaboration in research.