Amsterdam cable operator selects Sun servers for new broadband Internet service; Amsterdam's A2000 to deploy scalable broadband infrastructure architecture from Sun and MediaOne.MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 16, 1997--Sun Microsystems Inc. announced today that A2000 Cable Television & Telecommunications, the cable television provider in the Amsterdam region in Holland, will use Sun's highly scalable, Solaris(TM) based Ultra(TM) Enterprise(TM) servers as the foundation for a new broadband Internet See broadband. service. The service will be available to the more than 600,000 households and businesses in A2000's area with high performance Internet services via cable modems and a hybrid fiber coax (networking) Hybrid Fiber Coax - (HFC) A kind of physical connection used in networks for audio, video, and data. DVB (Digital Video Broadcast) is used in Europe and DOCSIS is used in N America. infrastructure. Since more than 94 percent of Amsterdam's households is wired for cable TV, the A2000 product will offer much of the population cable-modem based access to next generation interactive, media rich, Internet services. This new broadband Internet service will offer much faster access than is possible today with standard 28.8 phone modems. The commercial launch is scheduled for the end of 1997. Sun Professional Services (job) professional services - A department of a supplier providing consultancy and programming manpower for the supplier's products. will be providing A2000 dedicated engineering, integration, installation and operations services to support their broadband Internet service roll-out. The solution, based on the proven MediaOne Express Architecture deployed in the U.S., consists of a mission critical Amsterdam-based Regional Data Center (RDC RDC Republique Democratique du Congo (French) RDC Rez de Chaussee (French: Ground Floor) RDC Red Deer College RDC Remote Desktop Connection (Microsoft) RDC Rowan Companies, Inc ) using high-availability Sun Ultra Enterprise 5000 servers for distributed content delivery and critical services such as e-mail and subscriber information. Sun Ultra 150 and Ultra II servers will handle web, news, media serving, and related services. The system also includes advanced products and technologies from industry leaders Cisco, Oracle, LANcity and Netscape. Furthermore, A2000 is investigating the opportunity to establish communication links between Europe and the U.S. allowing A2000 users direct access to MediaOne's private U.S. backbone connecting U.S. Internet hubs. Thus, A2000 would provide MediaOne co-location and direct access to the Amsterdam Internet Exchange The Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) is an Internet Exchange Point situated in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. AMS-IX is a fast growing, non-profit, neutral and independent peering point. The beginnings of the AMS-IX can be traced back to the early 1990s. -- a major European Internet hub. This will allow MediaOne, A2000, and other global affiliates a common Sun-based content hosting and service delivery platform for U.S. and European delivery European delivery programs are those arrangements that European automobile manufacturers make with their dealerships throughout the world, typically aimed at the North American market (the most profitable market for Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Saab, Volvo and Porsche), to attract consumers . A2000 and MediaOne will collaborate with Sun on enhancements to support the international deployment of broadband Internet services -- including enhanced proxy and content distribution technologies to sharply reduce international network traffic while maintaining the dual needs of stunning web performance for customers and accurate reporting for content providers. "Amsterdam's A2000 broadband infrastructure will enable the delivery of truly high-performance Internet access to a very broad segment of our business and residential population," said Erik Zegwaart, Director Product Group Multimedia at A2000. "After reviewing the various technologies available, we chose the MediaOne architecture because it provides a flexible, very scalable, standards-based, proven solution that allows us to start small yet grow quickly to handle the demands of thousands of users. This state-of-the-art system will also let us offer advanced services such as streamed video and multimedia-giving our subscribers a very rich Internet experience with minimal response and waiting times." "With the advanced Sun-powered MediaOne solution, A2000 will take Amsterdam -- a city roughly the size of Atlanta -- to the next level of Internet access," said Doug Ehrenreich, director of strategic technology for Sun's telecommunications and cable market development group. "This is a key strategic win for us in the Europe market. The use of Sun's open technology will help A2000 ramp up Ramp Up To increase a company's operations in anticipation of increased demand. Notes: A company might 'ramp up' operations if they just signed a contract creating substantially more demand for their product. See also: Demand, Economies of Scale from the planning stage to commercial rollout in just a few months. We are now ready to explore global availability of these proven platforms and services." A2000 Cable Television & Telecommunications A2000 Cable Television & Telecommunications is one of the biggest and most advanced cable operators in Europe. A2000 upgrades traditional cable networks into flexible multi-service networks. Shortly, the almost 600,000 households and businesses in the Amsterdam and Hilversum area that are served by A2000 will have access to the newest video and telecommunications services, like voice telephony and Internet access. A2000 is a joint venture between U S West Media Group and United Philips Communications (UPC (Universal Product Code) The standard bar code printed on retail merchandise, which is administered by GS1 US, Brussels, Belgium and Lawrenceville, NJ (www.gs1.org). ). Each company holds a 50 percent interest in A2000. MediaOne MediaOne, a unit of U S WEST Media Group (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :UMG UMG Universal Music Group UMG Universidad Mariano Gálvez de Guatemala (Mariano Galvez University of Guatemala) UMG Upgraded Metallurgical Grade (silicon) UMG Unlicensed Medical Graduate ), is the nation's leading Broadband services company, providing more than 5 million subscribers in 19 states with entertainment, information, and communications services. MediaOne will continue to use the Continental Cablevision name on a limited basis. U S West Media Group is involved in domestic and international cable and telephony, wireless communications, and directory and information services See Information Systems. . For 1996, Media Group reported proportionate revenues of $6.4 billion. Media Group is one of two major groups that make up U S WEST, a company in the connections business, helping customers share information, entertainment and communications services in local markets nationwide. U S WEST's other major group, U S WEST Communications, provides telecommunications services in 14 states. Sun in Telecommunications Sun Microsystems is a leading information technology solutions provider to the global telecommunications industry, including local and long-distance telecom providers, PTTs (postal-telephone- telegraph), cellular and PCS (1) (Personal Communications Services) Refers to wireless services that emerged after the U.S. government auctioned commercial licenses in 1994 and 1995. This radio spectrum in the 1. operators, Internet service providers Internet service provider (ISP) Company that provides Internet connections and services to individuals and organizations. For a monthly fee, ISPs provide computer users with a connection to their site (see data transmission), as well as a log-in name and password. , and telecom equipment suppliers. Together with many of the industry's premier application vendors, Sun offers telecom providers a complete range of network-based solutions, including business support systems, operations support systems Operations Support Systems (also called Operational Support Systems or OSS) are computer systems used by telecommunications service providers. The term OSS most frequently describes "network systems" dealing with the telecom network itself, supporting processes such , network management and Internet and intranet technologies. Sun's core technologies include the scalable SPARC (Scalable Performance ARChitecture) A family of RISC CPUs from Sun that runs mostly under Sun's Solaris, but also under Linux and BSD operating systems. After development began in the mid-1980s by David Patterson of the University of California at Berkeley and Bill (TM) and Solaris network computing platform, and Java, Sun's development environment for creating cross-platform, cross-network applications. Sun Microsystems,Inc. Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, "The Network Is The Computer(TM)," has propelled Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :SUNW SUNW Sun Microsystems, Inc (former stock symbol; now JAVA) SUNW Stanford University Network Workstation (Sun Microsystems, Inc) ), to its position as a leading provider of hardware, software and services for establishing enterprise-wide intranets and expanding the power of the Internet. With more than $8 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 150 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun.com . -0- NOTE TO EDITORS: Sun, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems, Solaris, Ultra, Ultra Enterprise, and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems Inc. in the United States and other countries. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International Inc. in the United States and other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems Inc. Press announcements and other information about Sun Microsystems are available on the Internet via the World Wide Web using a tool such as Netscape Navigator or Sun's HotJava. Type http://www.sun.com at the URL URL in full Uniform Resource Locator Address of a resource on the Internet. The resource can be any type of file stored on a server, such as a Web page, a text file, a graphics file, or an application program. prompt. CONTACT: Sun Microsystems Computer Co. Debra Woods, 415/786-5214 debra.woods@corp.sun.com or Burson-Marsteller for Sun Jennifer Galvanek, 212/614-5243 jennifer_galvanek@bm.com or MediaOne Rob Stoddard, 617/854-3000 rstoddard@mediaone.com or A2000 Cable Television & Telecommunications Victorine Bernard, 011-31-20-5861260 v.bernard@a2000.com |
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