Qwest Communications and TKC awarded high-speed net contract from NASA.

Qwest Communications International Inc. and TKC Communications, LLC, an Alaska Native Corporation, recently announced that the two companies were jointly awarded a multi-year contract to build a high-speed network for secure communications among the NASA facilities throughout the United States. NASA will use the network to support the "One NASA" effort, which is designed to better unify the organization's facilities.

Under the agreement, Qwest and TKC Communications will construct a network that will provide a range of very-high-bandwidth services--with some connections capable of simultaneously sending more than 600,000 emails per second--and will connect NASA sites in multiple phases. The initial phase will connect Marshall Space Centre in Huntsville, Ala.; Glenn Research Center in Cleveland; NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.; Kennedy Space Center in Florida; Johnson Space Center in Houston; and Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.

"Qwest has been providing network services for the NASA Research and Education Network (NREN) for more than a year, and we have shown NASA that Qwest is the company to turn to for cutting-edge network services," said James F. X. Payne, senior vice president and general manager, Qwest government services division. "This is a unique project that will showcase Qwest's ability to deliver a tailored communications solution to a high-profile federal agency with multiple sites throughout the United States--an important asset in today's increasingly data-centric communications environment."

"We are very excited to provide best-of-breed solutions to NASA with our partners at Qwest." said Steven L. Giani, president of TKC Communications. "We couldn't ask for a better mentor-protege relationship." In this relationship, Qwest, as the mentor, provides guidance to TKC Communications, a small Alaskan native-owned business, which recently was granted a Federal Communications Commission International Common Carrier 214 license.

In addition to NREN, Qwest provides network services for such cutting-edge research networks as the National Science Foundation's Distributed Terascale Facility program, a network that will be capable of transferring the entire contents of the public Internet within two hours, and the Department of Energy's Energy Sciences Network (ESnet). Qwest also is the backbone provider of the Abilene Internet2 network, which is the primary network to which more than 200 colleges and universities in all 50 states and 37 countries connect.

Qwest offers federal government agencies a complete range of services with everything from a single private line or frame relay application to Web hosting or professional services tailored to the federal marketplace. Qwest also offers strategic consulting, custom application development, database design and broadband access down to the last mile.