Canada’s CANARIE Flies Fast

Canada may be better known for its hockey than for its technology, but the country has announced plans for a national high-speed network that will rival the fastest networks operating in the U.S. when it is switched on in October.

The network, CA-net 3, will use dense wavelength division multiplexed optical fiber that can carry 40 gigabits of data per second--more than 25,000 times more than today’s T1 lines. The network will enable applications such as multimedia videoconferencing and enhanced virtual reality, according to the Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry and Education, or CANARIE, a nonprofit corporation that represents the public and private sectors.

The network will be a sort of “research intranet,” for use by 34 Canadian universities, government institutions and companies, said Andrew Bjerring, CANARIE’s president and chief executive. Although it will not be made available to the general public, the best of CA-net 3’s technical innovations are expected to be built into future commercial networks, he said.

The Canadian government has earmarked $55 million in the current fiscal year to fund CA-net 3’s development, and the network itself will be built by a consortium of companies including Bell Canada, Northern Telecom, Cisco Systems Canada, JDS Fitel and Newbridge Networks.