Japans JGN2 Symposium 2005 Features Keynote Speaker Larry Smarr of UCSD Broadcast Live from Seattle over Advanced Optical Networks

January 18, 2005 -- Dignitaries and researchers attending the JGN2 Symposium 2005 in Osaka, Japan today listened and watched as Internet visionary Larry Smarr gave the keynote presentation on a large screen above the podium. Unlike traditional keynote talks, however, Smarr was 5,000 miles away in Seattle, Washington. And unlike traditional in-person talks, the quality, size, and resolution was so great that the audience noted that they could see every hair on the speaker's head.

Advances in transmitting live, uncompressed high-definition television (HDTV) signals over optical networks are enabling true tele-presence, in which participants feel they are together in the same room. The Internet HDTV broadcast system used for this event was developed by the University of Washington for the ResearchChannel. A server in Seattle transmitted high-definition digital video and digital audio at very high quality and very low latency to a client system in Osaka. Professor Smarrs presentation originated on the University of Washington campus and was transmitted at 1.5 Gbps to the Pacific Northwest GigaPoP (PNWGP), then across a 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps) transpacific link from Seattle to Tokyo, and then via the JGN2 to Osaka. The transpacific link was provided by the Internet Educational Equal Access Foundation (IEEAF), which is managed by the PNGWG in Seattle and the WIDE project in Japan.

Smarr, director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology [Cal-(IT)²] and principal investigator of the National Science Foundation-funded OptIPuter project, talked about the emergence of a new cyberinfrastructure based on network parallelism, in which distributed clusters and instruments are tightly coupled using multiple wavelengths of light, or lambdas, on single optical fibers. The ability to stream several gigabits of data in parallel, like in this HDTV transmission, is enabling new modes of communication and communication. The clear crisp images and sounds that HDTV affords make for better dialogue and interaction with colleagues over distances, said Smarr, who is also a professor at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Jacobs School of Engineering. The goal is to make these sorts of communication technologies persistent, so that far-away colleagues appear to be just beyond the Looking Glass.

In his talk, Smarr noted that Cal-(IT)² is incorporating advanced video-over-fiber networking technologies into its two new buildings at UCSD and UC Irvine. Facilities are slated to include a digital cinema and HDTV production facility, as well as dedicated meeting and public spaces with large-format displays to support tele-presence and collaboration. Said Smarr: Every type of research will benefit if we can tear down walls and let scientists and engineers talk and work together in real time as if they were in the same room -- even if theyre thousands of miles away.

Tomonori Aoyama, a professor of Information and Communication Engineering at the University of Tokyo, chair of the JGN2 management committee, and chair of the Symposiums keynote session, expressed his sincere gratitude to all who contributed to its success. The goal of the Symposium was to present the research and development activities taking place using Japans JGN2, operated by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NiCT), said Aoyama. I am very pleased that we used JGN2 and IEEAF broadband network technologies during the featured remote presentation by Dr. Smarr to explain the needs and applications for these technologies.

JGN2, an advanced network testbed for research and development, is both a national and international testbed. It supports high-speed networking technologies and application advancements. Nationally, JGN2 is a 20 Gbps backbone network that has access points in all Japanese prefectures. Internationally, JGN2 connects Tokyo via a 10 Gbps link to the StarLight facility in Chicago, where it peers with the USAs National LambdaRail, Abilene and other advanced international, national, and regional research and education networks.

This is a milestone both in the use of technology and the establishment of a new high-water mark in extraordinarily close international collaborations, explained Ron Johnson, Vice President for Computing & Communications at University of Washington. We are collectively managing dedicated lightpaths to carry uncompressed HDTV while at the same time supporting scientific research such as the Huygens Titan probe with a lambda-based network infrastructure that links Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. Colleagues at JGN2, WIDE, IEEAF, PNWGP, StarLight, the University of Washington, the ResearchChannel, and other like-minded entities worldwide are working together to create deterministic networks using multiple lambdas over optical fibers to guarantee the bandwidth speeds and latency in order to do things like real-time HDTV transmission and remote steering of scientific instruments. We will continue to pursue this, to make high-quality HDTV transmission both persistent and ubiquitous.

About ResearchChannel

ResearchChannel is a non-profit consortium of leading research universities and labs dedicated to creating a voice for research through both traditional broadcast, satellite, and cable TV carriage, as well as via advanced on-demand video and Internet "channels", while exploring new technologies for communication. http://www.researchchannel.org and http://www.researchchannel.org/jgn2/

About JGN2

JGN2 is a new Japanese ultra-high-speed open testbed network for R&D collaboration between industry, academia, and government, operated by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NiCT) of Japan. JGN2 was established in April 2004 with the aim of promoting a broad spectrum of research and development projects, ranging from fundamental core research and development to advanced experimental testing, in areas including the advancement of next generation technologies for networking and diverse network-based applications. JGN2 provides nationwide Japanese IP networks, optical wavelength networks, and R&D environments for optical testbeds. JGN2 was extended internationally in August 2004 with the addition of a 10 Gbps transpacific link between Japan (Tokyo) and the USA (Chicago). http://www.jgn.nict.go.jp/e/

About Cal-(IT)²

The California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology [Cal-(IT)²] is one of four institutes funded through the California Institutes for Science and Innovation initiative to ensure that the state maintain its leadership in cutting-edge technologies. Cal-(IT)² is a collaboration between UC San Diego and UC Irvine. Its mission is to extend the reach of the current information infrastructure throughout the physical world -- enabling anywhere/anytime access to the Internet. More than 200 faculty members from the two campuses are collaborating on interdisciplinary projects, with support from more than 130 industry partners. http://www.calit2.net

About the University of Washington

Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is a public research university with over 41,000 students on campuses in Seattle, Tacoma, and Bothell, Washington. http://www.washington.edu

About Pacific Northwest Gigapop

The Pacific Northwest Gigapop (PNWGP) is a not-for-profit corporation serving leading edge organizations and Research and Education networks throughout the Pacific Rim. PNWGP provides robust, highest-speed access to current state of the art Internet; Next Generation Internet services and technology; and the exclusive R&D testbeds where tomorrows Internet technologies are being developed. PNWGP is built to be the highest caliber Research and Education networking services hub in the world and is the operator of the Pacific Wave distributed west coast international peering and exchange point with integrated pops in Seattle and Los Angeles. The Pacific Northwest Gigapop also is the steward for the Seattle end of the IEEAF Pacific links. http://www.pnw-gigapop.net

About IEEAF

The Internet Educational Equal Access Foundation (IEEAF) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to obtain donations of telecommunications capacity and equipment and make them available for use by the global research and education community. The IEEAF TransPacific Link is the second 10 Gbps transoceanic link provided by IEEAF through a five-year IRU donated by Tyco Telecom; the first, the IEEAF TransAtlantic Link, connects New York and Groningen, The Netherlands, and has been operational since 2002. IEEAF donations currently span 17 time zones. http://www.ieeaf.org/

About WIDE

WIDE, a research consortium working on practical research and development of Internet-related technologies, was launched in 1988. The project has made a significant contribution to development of the Internet by collaborating with many other bodies -- including 133 companies and 11 universities to carry out research in a wide range of fields, and by operating M.ROOT-SERVERS.NET, one of the DNS root servers, since 1997. WIDE Project also operates T-LEX (www.t-lex.net/) as an effort of stewardship for the IEEAF TransPacific Link in Tokyo. http://www.wide.ad.jp/

Participating Organizations

National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NiCT)
NiCT/JGN II, NiCT/APAN
KDDI
NTT Group
WIDE Project
University of California San Diego/Calit2
University of Washington
Pacific Northwest Gigapop
Pacific Wave
ResearchChannel
Pacific Interface, Inc.
StarLight
(Argonne National Lab, Northwestern University, University of Illinois at Chicago)
Indiana University
Intel

Circuits

JGN II, WIDE, KDDI, NTT Group
IEEAF, NLR (National Lambda Rail)

Note to Editors

1) A high-resolution photo of UCSD professor Larry Smarr can be downloaded from: http://www.calit2.net/gallery/lsmarr/images/highres/Smarr-06.jpg

2) A diagram of the HD-over-IP" network can be downloaded from:
http://pnwgp.net/s/jgn2_hd_demo.pdf

PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, USA, November 8, 2004 and CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA, November 9 2004 - AARNet (Australia's Academic and Research Network) and ResearchChannel today demonstrated the first high definition uncompressed interactive video interaction across the Pacific at 1.4 gigabits per second in each direction.

The demonstration took advantage of recent massive increases in bandwidth capabilities from Australia to the continental United States on network capacity provided by Southern Cross Cable Networks, to deliver truly remarkable quality video interaction between AARNet's head office in Canberra and the exhibition floor of the Supercomputing Conference SC2004 in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

The partnership between ResearchChannel, AARNet, and the University of Washington provided applications that spurred the development of high speed networks and enabled data transfers previously unavailable between the two continents.

The unprecedented high-quality, low-latency interactive video is the first use of the Southern Cross Trans-Pacific Optical Research Testbed (or SXTransPORT), a dual 10Gbps trans-Pacific initiative of Southern Cross Cable Networks and AARNet and acquired with assistance from the Australian Government. The network path also involved the Pacific Northwest Gigapop and the US National LambdaRail (NLR) 10 gigabit network fabric. The network path also makes use of US National Institutes of Health-funded networks through the University of Hawaii. Future expansion of the network is planned to offer these and additional resources to other continents, and bring scientists and researchers together by exploiting new Internet technologies.

Using two Intel PCI-Xpress computers and AJA Video Systems' Xena-HD HDSDI capture cards, the demonstration is the first to show High Definition interactive systems over Windows XP platforms, providing researchers, medical practitioners and scientists worldwide with new interactive video capabilities.

"This demonstration is the first highly visual culmination of the recent initiatives between AARNet's international developments arm and Southern Cross at the infrastructure level and with our colleagues at the University of Washington at the infrastructure, technology and applications levels," said AARNet's CEO, Chris Hancock.

Dr Mike Sargent, who chairs the Australian Research and Education Network initiative, participated for part of the opening session and engaged with Professor John O'Callaghan, CEO of the Australian Partnership for Advanced Computing, and other participants in Pittsburg for the Supercomputing Global 2004 conference.

"This is a great demonstrator of the benefit of strategic investment of Australian Government funds in helping put the network infrastructure in place to support these innovative applications" said Dr Sargent.

"The video quality presented at the exhibition floor of the SC2004 conference in Pittsburg from Australia is exceptional" said Professor O'Callaghan.

Demonstrations will continue through the rest of this week, though in Australian time these sessions are from 2am to 10am of the mornings of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and from 2am until 8am on Friday.

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Background information

About AARNet
Australia's Academic and Research Network (AARNet) provides high capacity, leading edge Internet services for the tertiary education and research sector communities, and their research partners. For more information about AARNet, please visit http://www.aarnet.edu.au.

About Research Channel
ResearchChannel is a non-profit organisation dedicated to creating a voice for research through video and Internet channels. For more information about ResearchChannel, please visit the web site at www.researchchannel.org.

About Southern Cross Cable Network
The Southern Cross Cable Network provides the fastest, most direct, and most secure international bandwidth from Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii, to the heart of the Internet in the United States. For more information about SCCN, please visit their web site at http://www.southerncrosscables.com/.

About SXTransPORT
The Southern Cross Trans-Pacific Optical Research Testbed is an initiative of Southern Cross Cable Networks and AARNet, supported by the Australian Government, that provides dual 10Gbps circuits between Australia, Hawaii and the US west coast. For more information about SXTransPORT, please visit http://www.aarnet.edu.au/news/sxtransport.pdf

About the University of Washington
Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is a public research university with over 41,000 students on campuses in Seattle, Tacoma and Bothell, Wash. For more information about the University of Washington, please visit the web site at http://www.washington.edu.

About Intel
Intel Corporation is an industry leader in supplying the computing and communications industries with the "ingredients" of computers, servers and networking and communications products. For more information about Intel Corporation, please visit their web site at http://www.intel.com.

About AJA Video
AJA Video is a leading manufacturer of digital video solutions for the professional broadcast and post-production markets. For more information about AJA, please visit their web site at http://www.aja.com.

About National LambdaRail
National LambdaRail, Inc.'s (NLR) fundamental mission is to provide a network infrastructure for new forms and methods for research in science, engineering, health care and education, as well as for research and development of new Internet technologies, protocols, applications and services. For more information about NLR, please visit their web site at http://www.nlr.net.

About Northwest Gigapop
Pacific Northwest Gigapop is a state-of-the-art, advanced high-speed Internet service provider based in Seattle, Wash., and a next-generation network interconnector for Pacific Rim research, education and development networks. For more information visit
http://www.pnw-gigapop.net.

HDTV and other high bandwidth applications supported

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS - September 19, 2002 -- The first long-term, transatlantic 10 gigabit per second wavelength circuit dedicated to research and education, provided by Tyco Telecommunications to the Internet Educational Equal Access Foundation (IEEAF) and provisioned from the U.S. to Europe through the efforts of Internet2 and SURFnet, will be inaugurated at iGrid2002 with a demonstration of uncompressed HDTV over IP sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Gigapop and the Research Channel.

The connection is provided as part of a long-term commitment by Tyco Telecommunications to the research networking community through an agreement with the non-profit organization IEEAF. Internet2, the consortium led by U.S. universities focused on accelerating the development of the Internet, and SURFnet, the Dutch national research network and hosts of iGrid2002, have put the 10 gigabit per second circuit into operation between their networks in New York and Amsterdam.

The transatlantic connection was established in time to support iGrid2002, the biennial International Grid applications-driven testbed event being held this week in Amsterdam. iGrid2002 showcases how extreme networks combined with application advancements and middleware innovations can advance scientific research. One of many applications showcased, the 1.5 Gbps uncompressed HDTV stream from Seattle to Amsterdam used the new Tyco Telecommunications link.

The 10 Gbps connection is made possible by a five-year commitment by Tyco Telecommunications to the IEEAF, a non-profit organization whose mission is to realize the opportunities in the global telecommunications marketplace on behalf of the research and education community. "Our goal is to enable 'The Global Quilt,'" says IEEAF Board Chair Don Riley, VP and CIO, University of Maryland. Tyco Telecommunications has also provided a companion 622 Mbps packet over SONET (POS) circuit to the IEEAF.

Geographic Network Affiliates International (GEO), which has played a pivotal role in the Tyco Telecommunications donation to the IEEAF, will be present at iGrid2002 promoting the Global Medical Research Exchange (GMRE) initiative, a worldwide application that exemplifies the collaborative capabilities of the Grid for high bandwidth utilization of IP for medical purposes.

The Internet Educational Equal Access Foundation (IEEAF) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to obtain donations of telecommunications capacity and equipment and make them available for use by the global research and education community. Through partnerships and alliances between government, private sector entities, educational institutions, and other non-profit organizations, IEEAF fosters global educational collaboration and equitable access to network resources, calling this "The Global Quilt." IEEAF's member institutions include the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC), represented by California State University at Hayward, California Politechnic University at San Luis Obispo, and University of Southern California; the Pacific Northwest Gigapop, represented by University of Washington; the Pacific Internet2 Coalition, represented by University of Hawaii; University of Maryland; the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID); Indiana University; and Geographic Network Affiliates, Inc. (GEO). For more information about IEEAF, visit www.ieeaf.org

Tyco Telecommunications (a Tyco Electronics Company) of Morristown, New Jersey is one of the world's largest providers of advanced broadband communications solutions. The company deploys and sells secure city-to-city capacity and collocation and data center services on its global fiber optic network (TGN). The company's portfolio of network services ranges from international city-to-city broadband capacity to collocation and data center services. Tyco Telecommunications is also the world's only fully integrated supplier of transoceanic optical networks. For more information on Tyco Telecommunications and TGN, contact Andy Kowalik at 973-656-8331 or visit the Tyco Telecommunications Web site at: www.tycotelecom.com Tyco Electronics is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tyco International Ltd. (NYSE: TYC; LSE: TYI; BSX: TYC).

SURFnet operates and innovates the Dutch national research network, to which over 150 institutions in higher education and research in the Netherlands are connected. To remain in the lead, SURFnet puts in a sustained effort to improve the infrastructure and to develop new applications to give users faster and better access to new Internet services. SURFnet is partner in GigaPort, a project of the Dutch government, trade and industry, educational institutions, and research institutes which aims to give the Netherlands a head start in the development and use of advanced and innovative Internet technology. Established within GigaPort, the advanced optical infrastructure NetherLight is used by researchers to investigate novel concepts of optical bandwidth provisioning and to gain experience with these new techniques. For more information, see www.surfnet.nl/en/ and www.gigaport.nl

Led by 200 U.S. universities working with industry and government, Internet2 develops and deploys advanced network applications and technologies for research and higher education, accelerating the creation of tomorrow's Internet. Internet2 recreates the partnerships among academia, industry, and government that helped foster today's Internet in its infancy. For more information about Internet2 see www.internet2.edu

ResearchChannel is a collaborative partnership of research universities and centers dedicated to broadening the access to and appreciation of their individual and collective activities, ideas, and opportunities in basic and applied research. ResearchChannel uses content, content creation, and manipulation processes as a workbench to test materials for their future analog and digital broadcast and on-demand multimedia offerings, providing an unusual opportunity to experiment with new methods of global distribution and interaction. ResearchChannel distributes research information 24x7 via satellite, direct-broadcast satellite (EchoStar's DISH Network), cable TV, webcast, and an on-demand library. For more information, see www.researchchannel.org

Pacific Northwest Gigapop is the Northwest's Next Generation Internet, Internet2/Abilene applications cooperative, testbed, point of presence, and home to the Pacific Wave International Peering Service. PNWGP and Pacific Wave connects together high-performance international and federal research networks with universities, research organizations, and leading edge R&D and new media enterprises throughout Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Canada, Australia, and Japan. For more information, visit www.pnwgp.org

Unprecedented Demonstration Validates Next-Generation Internet Technology

DENVER, Nov. 12, 2001 - Working in collaboration with the University of Washington, the University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute (USC/ISI) and Level 3 Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq:LVLT), Tektronix, Inc. (NYSE:TEK), a market leader in video and telecommunications test equipment, last night successfully demonstrated the first transmission of uncompressed real-time gigabit high-definition television (HDTV) signals over an Internet Protocol (IP) optical network. The demonstration was conducted as part of SuperComputing 2001 at the National Coordination Office for Information Technology Research and Development booth.

The HDTV transmission demonstration proved that Universal Network Access System (UNAS) technology has met the critical requirements to distribute challenging high-speed streaming data (which requires that the entire data stream be sent together), such as uncompressed HDTV signals, over IP networks. Although large amounts of data are sent over proprietary or ATM networks today, IP transmission is expected to be the preferred method of delivery as it becomes the most cost-effective method of rapidly sending information - including voice, video and data - over the Internet. The UNAS project is supported by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency Information Technology Office's (DARPA/ITO) Next-Generation Internet (NGI) program.

"By participating in the Universal Network Access System project, Tektronix is not just enabling, but also creating next-generation Internet technologies," said Rick King, vice president, Optical Business Unit, Tektronix, Inc. "This successful demonstration incorporates Tektronix-developed technologies that are a springboard to the measurement and monitoring tools needed for tomorrow's optical networks and the Internet."

Joint Technology Development Key to Achievement
The technologies for the demonstration were jointly developed by Tektronix, USC/ISI, and the University of Washington (UW). These developments are a part of the DARPA NGI supported projects that include the UNAS project and USC/ISI's Next-Generation Internet Multimedia Applications and Architecture project. This demonstration builds on the work of UW who first pioneered real-time HDTV over IP at an unprecedented, record-setting demonstration at SC1999.

Leading up to the demonstration, the key enabling technologies were tested and refined using the high-performance networks of the Pacific Northwest Gigapop and Mid-Atlantic Crossroads, as well as the Internet2 Abilene backbone network. During the demonstration, the digital video content was sent from UW's laboratories in Seattle, Washington, to the receiver at the SuperComputing 2001 exhibition hall in Denver via Level 3's advanced IP fiber-optic network. The demonstration set a new standard for Internet performance by streaming digital video at 1.5 Gb/s--more than 25,000 times faster than a typical computer modem.

The ResearchChannel provided the streaming HD content via Pacific Northwest Gigapop's ultra-high performance 'Pacific Wave' exchange facilities, and along with the UW, the custom high performance multimedia server. Level 3 provided the network over which the transmission occurred. The Tektronix technology allowed video processed as data packets to be sent, received and compiled into play-out

-more-

streams. Tektronix technology was used to compare packets at the input and output
to determine if packets were lost or reordered during the transmission.

HDTV Transmission One of Many Uses for Universal Network Architecture
The DARPA/ITO UNAS project fosters the development of new rapidly-deployable, reconfigurable broadband interfaces for network-edge applications. UNAS is envisioned as a configurable network element that resides at the Internet's edge and adapts to the network's myriad protocols, hastening the deployment of new applications and services. UNAS technology will provide Internet "on-ramp" capability for applications ranging from distributed computing to telemedicine.

Tektronix took a primary engineering/design role in developing the Universal Network Access Engine (UNAE) for the system. The UNAE is a key building block for network edge devices such as terminal adapters, service multiplexers, edge switches, and Quality of Service monitoring equipment. The flexibility of the UNAE will aid Internet architects in designing and testing new protocols that are better optimized for optical networks.

HDTV signals in SMPTE-292M format were chosen to represent the many types of demanding broadband content that will be sent over IP-enabled wide area optical networks. While the data rate of the transported video payload and encapsulation was greater than 1.5 Gb/s, the current UNAS architecture can support rates up to 2.5 Gb/s.

About the Companies
Tektronix, Inc. is a test, measurement, and monitoring company providing measurement solutions to the telecommunications, computer, and semiconductor industries worldwide. With more than 50 years of experience, Tektronix enables its customers to design, build, deploy, and manage next-generation global communications networks and Internet technologies. Headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, Tektronix has operations in 25 countries worldwide. Tektronix' Web address is www.tektronix.com.

The University of Washington is one of the world's top research universities. Perennially among the top three American institutions in peer-reviewed research activities and related competitive contracts and grants, and with numerous top-ranked programs, UW is a university which truly embodies the ideals of "Learning @ the Leading Edge" ^(TM) and economic development through research and active technology transfer programs. For more information visit www.washington.edu.

Established in 1972 and widely regarded as one of the birthplaces of the Internet, the Information Sciences Institute is part of USC's School of Engineering. More than 325 staff, including faculty and post-doctoral researchers, graduate students and staff work on two campuses in Marina del Rey, Los Angeles, California and Arlington, Virginia. They carry on basic and applied research on all aspects of computing, including chip design, software design, artificial intelligence, natural language and networking. USC/ISI's designs and programs are found in numerous devices and applications worldwide.

ResearchChannel is a collaborative partnership of research universities and centers dedicated to broadening the access to, and appreciation of, our individual and collective activities, ideas, and opportunities in basic and applied research. ResearchChannel uses content, content creation, and manipulation processes as a workbench to test materials for our future analog and digital broadcast and on-demand multimedia offerings, thus providing an unusual opportunity to experiment with new methods of distribution and interaction on a global basis. ResearchChannel distributes research information 24x7 via satellite, direct-broadcast satellite (EchoStar's DISH Network), cable TV, webcast, on-demand library. www.researchchannel.com.

Pacific Northwest Gigapop (PNWGP) is the Northwest's Next Generation Internet, Internet2/Abilene applications cooperative, testbed, and point of presence. PNWGP connects together high-performance international and federal research networks with universities, research organizations, and leading-edge R&D and new-media enterprises throughout Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Canada, Australia and the Pacific rim. 'Pacific Wave' is a ultra high performance exchange/peering service of the PNWGP. For more information visit http://www.pnw-gigapop.net/.

Level 3 is a global communications and information services company offering a wide selection of services including IP services, broadband transport, collocation services, and the industry's first Softswitch-based services. Its Web address is www.Level3.com.



# # #


Tektronix is a registered trademark of Tektronix, Inc. All other trade names referenced are the service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Media Contact:
Jayne Scheckla
503/627-5741
jayne.scheckla@tektronix.com

LAS VEGAS, NAB (BOOTH #L12107), April 10, 2000 -- Broadcasters, telecommunication, and Internet experts celebrated today when the first live high definition television newscast produced over the Internet successfully reached television viewers in Seattle on KING 5's digital television channel. Attendees at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Convention in Las Vegas watched the live production in progress as four simultaneous HDTV streams were sent from Seattle over new high speed Internet networks to the Sony exhibition booth at the Convention Hall, switched on site for the live newscast, and streamed back over the Internet to Seattle for KING 5 viewers.

The demonstration required the use of high performance "Internet HDTV" software developed by a team of engineers at the University of Washington sponsored by the ResearchChannel. Internet HDTV software is compatible with both Sony HDCAM compression and HD switching technologies, as well as Internet protocols.

The first live long distance production over Internet networks was made possible using long-haul Internet transport from Enron Broadband Services and Internet backbone routers provided by Juniper Networks. Electric Lightwave Inc. provisioned the local loop from the KING 5 studios to the Pacific/Northwest Gigapop in Seattle.

"We've demonstrated a successful convergence at the pinnacle of the telecommunication and broadcast industries," said Amy Philipson, executive director of the ResearchChannel. "The quality and speed of this live production are unsurpassed, and we see this demonstration as a model and springboard for future collaborations and experiments."

The team of engineers from the broadcast, Internet, and telecommunications industries represent the new synergy that is pioneering the next generation of video/Internet technologies. For this demonstration, more than a billion bits per second of HDTV data flowed through Internet networks - without the use of ATM or video-only networking.

"High-quality video transmission using Internet technology is exactly the kind of application our new infrastructure supports," said E. Ted Seitz, Vice President for Wholesale, Enron Broadband Services. "The work that Sony and the University of Washington/ResearchChannel have been doing in this area proves the feasibility of applying Internet approaches to high-end multimedia distribution challenges."

At the demonstration, NAB attendees had the opportunity to see the convergence in action as HDTV streams arrived from Seattle in Sony's exhibition booth, were directed to commodity PCs where they were decoded and then fed into Sony's HD-Switcher for live production and compression for Internet travel back to Seattle for KING 5's live broadcast.

According to Hugo Gaggioni, Vice President of Technology for Sony Electronics' Broadcast and Professional Company, "This demonstration is significant in that it shows that digital convergence can happen at the high-end of professional broadcast services and we also see a fast adoption towards consumer-level implementation."

The joint demonstration will continue through the NAB Convention. For more information about the technology used in this demonstration, see www.washington.edu/hdtv.

HDTV Over Internet Project Participants:

ResearchChannel/University of Washington
ResearchChannel sponsors University of Washington experiments to pioneer new methods of Internet based distribution for broadcast quality video programming, ResearchChannel is building high quality channels of direct communication about research news, discoveries, and applications with the public and between institutions. For more information see: www.researchchannel.com or write researchchannel@washington.edu

Sony Electronics' Broadcast and Professional Company (BPC) provides advanced products and systems for a variety of professional and broadcast markets, including production, corporate, industrial, government, security, medical and education. BPC products, systems and applications are designed to facilitate the transition to digital technologies and the emerging broadband network era, while managing current assets. Sony BPC products and services include those for broadcast and professional acquisition, production, storage, data management, system integration, digital imaging, digital printing, large and small venue display and projection needs. BPC is a division of Sony Electronics Inc., a U.S. company that had record sales exceeding $11 billion for fiscal year 1999. For more information, visit www.sony.com/professional. For information regarding the nearest Sony authorized dealer or service location, call 1-800-686-SONY. Press releases and digital images are available online at www.sel.sony.com/news.

Enron Broadband Services is a leading provider of high quality, broadband Internet content and applications. The company's business model combines the power of the Enron Intelligent Network, Enron's Broadband Operating System, bandwidth trading and intermediation services, and high-bandwidth applications, to fundamentally improve the experience and functionality of the Internet. Enron introduces its Broadband Operating System to allow application developers to dynamically provision bandwidth on demand for the end-to-end quality of service necessary to deliver broadband content. Enron has also created a market for bandwidth that will allow network providers to scale to meet the demands that are required by increasingly complex applications. A wholly owned subsidiary of Enron Corp., Enron Broadband Services can be found on the Web at www.enron.net. Enron is one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas and communications companies. The company, which owns approximately $34 billion in energy and communications assets, produces electricity and natural gas, develops, constructs and operates energy facilities worldwide, delivers physical commodities and financial and risk management services to customers around the world, and is developing an intelligent network platform to facilitate online business. The stock is traded under the ticker symbol (NYSE:ENE)

Juniper Networks, Inc. is a leading provider of purpose-built systems that meet the scalability, performance, density, and compatibility requirements of rapidly evolving, optically enabled IP networks. The company's purpose-built systems provide new IP infrastructure solutions for the world's leading service providers. Juniper Networks service, manufacturing teams, and IP engineers work closely with customers to build and support customer networks. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California. www.juniper.net.

Pacific Northwest Gigapop (P/NWGP)
The Pacific/Northwest Gigapop is the Northwest's Next Generation Internet applications cooperative, testbed, and point of presence. P/NWGP connects universities as well as research institutions and R&D; enterprises throughout Washington, Alaska, Montana, Idaho and Oregon, to one another, to the Next Generation Internet backbones (including Internet2/Abilene and the High Speed Connectivity Consortium), federal research networks, and to super-high-performance commodity internets. For more information, see www.pnwgp.net

KING 5, the first television station to ever broadcast in the Northwest, made high definition history on October 29, 1998 with the live HD broadcast of the John Glenn space launch. On April 26, 1999 KING 5 broadcast the first regularly scheduled network program in HDTV, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, followed by an Evening Magazine special on April 29, 1999, which was shot entirely in high definition. On June 24, 1999 KING 5 News began broadcasting all newscasts in high definition from a studio redesigned specifically for the new technology. KING 5 continues its legacy of pioneering television by expanding on high definition efforts and exploring new digital technologies. www.king5.com/

Electric Lightwave Inc. (NASDAQ: ELIX) is a broadband integrated communications provider of Internet, data, voice and dedicated access services to communications-intensive businesses and the growing online business community. The company owns and operates high-speed fiber optic networks that interconnect major markets in the West and operates a nationally acclaimed Internet and data network. Headquartered in Vancouver, Wash., the company employs 1,167 and generated revenues of $187 million in 1999, up 85 percent from 1998. Additional information about Electric Lightwave is located on the Web at www.eli.net. The company is 82 percent owned by Citizens Utilities (NYSE:CZNPr).

PORTLAND, Oregon, November 15, 1999 -- Seven high technology leaders collaborated at SC99 today to set a number of internet speed records, demonstrating that long-distance gigabit-per-second networking is ready for prime time and that next generation Internet technologies and capabilities are emerging in applications, in end-systems, and in network infrastructure.

To set the stage, at the network infrastructure level, the DARPA-sponsored National Transparent Optical Network (NTON), the University of Washington-led Pacific/Northwest Gigapop (P/NWGP), and Nortel Networks joined forces to deliver 2.4 gigabits per second (Gbps) of packet-over-SONET based standard Internet capacity from the Microsoft Corporation and University of Washington (UW) campuses, through a shared point of presence at the Pacific/Northwest Gigapop in Seattle, to the SC99 exhibition hall in Portland.

Microsoft, the National Computational Science Alliance (Alliance), the University of Washington (UW) and Sony (in support of the ResearchChannel consortium) demonstrated two working, real-time gigabit applications in their coordinated SC99 exhibits. Further, the UW, Microsoft, the Alliance and Sony were able to run these applications concurrently, setting a record of 2 Gbps in aggregate throughput -- by a wide margin clearly the fastest real-time applications ever run over a wide area network.

Earlier this year, the UW and Sony were the first to demonstrate live studio quality, High Definition Television (HDTV) broadcasts over Internet2/Abilene. Today, in another record-breaking effort, they and the partnership successfully transmitted a real-time gigabit HDTV stream of five simultaneous channels of minimally-compressed, studio-quality HDTV over the internet, using industry-standard HDTV video, 'Wintel' computer systems, and networking equipment from leading vendors such as Juniper. Each channel within the overall stream consumed more than 200 million-bits-per-second (Mbps), for a total of well over a billion-bits-per-second in concurrent throughput in a state-of-the-art real-time application.

"More than just showing the stunning quality and immediacy that next generation internet capabilities can bring to the desktop computers, TV's and HDTV's around the world, this demonstration illustrates the feasibility of regularly using Internet transport technology for the real-time delivery of extraordinarily high quality video, virtual reality, tele-medicine, and other imaging streams" said UW Vice President Ron Johnson. He added that the demonstration shows "it is now possible to run distributed broadband applications over high-speed, next generation Internet WANS using hardware and software available in the consumer market". The demo used broadcast and Internet standards, Sony's suite of HDTV gear, off-the-shelf networking equipment, and commodity PCs with Microsoft NT running custom high performance software the UW C&C; group developed using Microsoft Visual Studio and other tools.

By way of comparison, the UW/Sony/ResearchChannel demonstration is the equivalent of the simultaneous transmission of the entire channel lineup of a 150 channel cable TV system, or of 50 channels of broadcast quality HDTV, five feature movies, or interactions among a large number of high-resolution video walls, shared virtual realities, &/or immersive environments. And, it shows that the internet is capable of speeds and quality impossible to achieve with traditional broadcast technologies.

Microsoft and the Alliance and the partners demonstrated that it is now possible to send a gigabit-per-second TCP/IP stream from one Windows 2000 workstation to another over a WAN. Microsoft teamed with the Alliance's NT cluster development team and with the National Laboratory for Applied Network Research (NLANR) to verify that Windows 2000 TCP/IP software performance scales at Gbps rates on long-distance networks. This work demonstrates speed breakthroughs in end-to-end workstation internetworking and shows the capabilities of Windows 2000 TCP/IP.

"Our role in NLANR is to work with application teams to help them harness the capabilities of high performance networks," said Larry Smarr, director of the Alliance and NCSA, the leading-edge site for the Alliance. "Because many of these applications involve Windows workstations, gigabit per second performance of Windows over wide area networks is a capability that impacts the entire high performance computing community."

Jim Allchin, senior vice president of the Platforms Division at Microsoft Corporation, said this demonstration showed that distributed computing over high-speed, long-distance networks is a major part of the future for the Windows OS. "This exhibition shows that Windows 2000 truly is a broadband operating system prepared for the next millennium. Microsoft is thrilled that Windows 2000 is able to display its gigabit-readiness through such a tremendously innovative engineering feat."

Ed Lazowska, Chair of UW's Computer Science & Engineering Department, added that "enabling gigabit networking capabilities on what will eventually be tens of millions of desktops is the first step in unleashing developers worldwide to create the next generation of applications, architectures and content."
Together, these collaborative demonstrations show that the era of gigabit-per-second networking and the next generation of Internet applications and content is at hand.

The joint demonstrations will continue throughout the rest of SC99. For demonstration times, visit the Alliance research booth (R300) or the joint demo booth (RE602), or to see the demonstrations go to the UW research booth (RE602) where the suite of coordinated demos are being run.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software - any time, any place and on any device. Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

About the Alliance/NCSA

The National Computational Science Alliance is a partnership to prototype an advanced computational infrastructure for the 21st century and includes more than 50 academic, government and industry research partners from across the United States. The Alliance is one of two partnerships funded by the National Science Foundation's Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (PACI) program, and receives cost-sharing at partner institutions. NSF also supports the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (NPACI), led by the San Diego Supercomputer Center. The National Center for Supercomputing Applications is the leading-edge site for the Alliance. NCSA is a leader in the development and deployment of cutting-edge high-performance computing, networking, and information technologies. The National Science Foundation, the state of Illinois, the University of Illinois, industrial partners, and other federal agencies fund NCSA. For more information, see www.ncsa.uiuc.edu

About The University of Washington (UW)

The University of Washington is one of the world's leading research institutions. While the UW has great strength in a comprehensive array of disciplines and professions in technical and non-technical realms, it is especially well known for its world class programs in computer science and the health sciences, and for its long and continuing role in the evolution of the Internet, Internet messaging technologies, software agents, and digital convergence in new media. For more information, see www.washington.edu/hdtv/sc99

About ResearchChannel

ResearchChannel is a consortium of many of the world's leading research institutions that is dedicated to providing greater, much more timely, and far broader access to progress in, and the findings and outcomes of university, government and corporate R&D; efforts. In partnership with University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID), ResearchChannel also conducts core Internet2 (www.internet2.edu) broadcast and high speed demand video initiatives. For more information, see www.washington.edu/researchtv

About Sony

Sony Electronics is the premier provider of leading-edge digital video technology for broadcast, production and HDTV, as well as exceptional quality consumer electronics, computer, and display products. The University of Washington and Sony have partnered successfully to pioneer HDTV over Internet capabilities. For more information, see www.sony.com/professional

About the Pacific/Northwest Gigapop (P/NWGP)

The Pacific/Northwest Gigapop is the Northwest's Next Generation Internet applications cooperative, testbed, and point of presence. P/NWGP connects universities as well as research institutions and R&D; enterprises throughout Washington, Alaska, Montana, Idaho and Oregon, to one another, to the next generation Internet backbones (including vBNS, Internet2/Abilene and now NTON), to federal research networks, and to super-high-performance commodity internets. For more information, see www.pnw-gigapop.net

About National Transparent Optical Network (NTON)

The National Transparent Optical Network links government, research and private sector labs and provides the ability to interface with most of the broadband research networks in the U.S. NTON is a 2000 km 10-20 Gbs Wavelength Division Multiplexed network deployed using in-place commercial fiber. NTON provides direct access to nearly all of the major universities on the West Coast at data rates up to, and potentially beyond, 2.5 Gbs. For more information, see www.ntonc.org

About National Laboratory for Applied Network Research (NLANR)

The National Laboratory for Applied Network Research is an NSF-supported collaboration to provide technical, engineering and traffic analysis support for NSF's High Performance Connections sites and the broad vBNS user community. NLANR major activities are performed by three teams: a distributed applications support team based at the University of Illinois' National Center for Supercomputing Applications; a measurement and analysis team based at the San Diego Supercomputer Center; and a networking engineering support team based at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center.

Contacts
Jennifer Todd
Waggener Edstrom/Microsoft
jtodd@wagged.com
425-637-9097

David Richardson
University of Washington
drr@u.washington.edu
206-543-2876

Karen Green
NCSA/Alliance
kareng@ncsa.uiuc.edu
217-265-0748

Susan Brandt
ResearchChannel
sbrandt@u.washington.edu
212-414-4672

Lisa Young
Sony Electronics
lisa.young@am.sony.com
408-955-5683

Jacqueline Brown
P/NWGP
jbrown@cac.washington.edu
206-685-6238

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - October 10, 1999

Efforts at the University of Washington (UW) to send studio-quality High Definition Television (HDTV) over the Internet paid off on September 9, when computer engineers and television experts celebrated their first successful demonstration of HDTV video transmission over the Internet2 network.

Working in support of ResearchTV, a consortium of leading research institutions creating greater access to research information, engineers from UW and the Pacific Northwest Gigapop teamed with colleagues at Sony Electronics and Stanford University to demonstrate the first-ever streaming of High Definition Television (HDTV) using only Internet transport technologies, rather than ATM networks or dedicated circuits.

The experimental transmission originated at the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, and was carried across the new "Abilene" Internet2 backbone to the Pacific/NorthWest Gigapop in Seattle, which is the interconnection point for high-performance networks in the Northwest. From there the HDTV signals were delivered to the University of Washington campus network using Gigabit Ethernet technology. On October 12, this demonstration will be repeated at a meeting of Internet2 developers at the University of Washington.

"HDTV over the Internet brings us closer to a more perfect transfer of visual data," said Amy Philipson, executive director of the ResearchTV consortium, "Particularly in the case of the accessing vivid images that are important to the progress of research activity. This is one of the highest speed applications ever run over the Internet."

University of Washington and Sony developers were extremely pleased as they viewed the success of their work that culminated in a 40 minute stream of HDTV video sent from Stanford to the University of Washington at over 200 megabits/sec, which is more than ten times faster than 19.2 Mbps "consumer grade" HDTV streams. The demonstration used the highest quality industry standards with Sony HDCAM/HDVS equipment to capture, encode, and compress HDTV video. The success in the transfer of data is a result of original software written by UW programmers that handled error correction and encapsulated the data into packets which were transferred across Internet2 and reassembled as HDTV video in Seattle. This is a significant achievement as currently most television broadcasts on the commercial Internet are constrained to 20 to 200 kilobits per second using short clips of video shown in small windows on PC screens.

"The challenge of these demonstrations is to be able to sustain a continuous stream of high definition video with perfect HD picture quality over Internet2," said Michael Wellings, ResearchTV chief engineer at the University of Washington, "The demanding data streams required by high definition video have significantly tested the performance characteristics of Internet2 and pushed the boundaries of HDTV video distribution over the Internet. With these tests we have seen the future and we know that with more work this quality can be something everyone will be able to enjoy."