The Moscow office of Cisco Systems announced signing a US$ 8 mln. agreement with Kaznet company from Kazakhstan. The joint project is reported to be the first nation-wide data communications network in CIS countries which will be build entirely on a single vendor products.

Igor Lopukhov from Cisco said that the network designed by Kaznet specialists will include the ATM core, based on Cisco IGX 8400 multiservice ATM/Frame Relay switches, and united local networks. The solution will provide various types of access to its subscribers. It will be the first system of this class even in Europe.

The network will include 34 nodes in 18 major cities of Kazakhstan, linked by digital landline and satellite channels. Its hardware facilities will include 24 ATM switches, 36 backbone routers and 17 control stations. The total capacity of the network will reach 42 Mbps. The network will cover the entire territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan and will be managed from the Control Center in Almaty city. It is worth mentioning, Infoart notes, that the size of this territory may be compared to that of the entire Europe (on exception of Scandinavian peninsula).

The Kaznet system was assembled at Cisco's facilities in Amsterdam and tested on March 23 to April 5, 1999. According to Kaznet, Cisco's specialists will provide complete technical support until all nodes of the network will be installed.

Building the network is on since November and December 1998. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of July 1999. The network will be in commercial operation since late August 1999.

The Kazakhstan Online network will offer its users two ways of Internet access: by means of ADSL modems and by leased lines. The ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) technology provides plenty of bandwidth for a conventional copper phoneline, thus allowing to transfer data downwards at up 8 Mbps and upwards at up to 736 Kbps. The other option, i.e., the leased line, provides permanent Internet connection at the committed information rate up to 512 Kbps.

Kazakhstan Online will also offer Frame Relay services for building corporate networks. They will provide communication between geographically distributed offices with optimal data transfer rates, high performance and scalability. The transparent digital channels, offered by the Kaznet, will allow corporate users to apply any type of protocol (IP, IPX/SPX, and NetBEUI) and to exchange any type of traffic (voice, video, and data). On top of that, Kazakhstan Online network will be the first to provide videoconferencing by means of landline communications, thus drastically increasing the quality of communications and the range of services.

Source: InfoArt News Agency

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