Vol. 16, No. 38	Aug. 7, 1997

Agreement to significantly upgrade Internet access

VoiceNet, one of the region's leading Internet service providers (ISPs), on July 30 announced an agreement with UD to effect a significant upgrade to the school's methods of access to the Internet.

VoiceNet will install a high bandwidth Internet hub that will bring dual DS3 fiber optic lines with divergent entrances directly onto the campus. It will also expand its national DS3 Internet backbone with the addition of a backbone router, also on the ma in campus.

The system will decrease dramatically the time its takes University teachers, students and staff to link to the Internet, and the time it takes for graphic images transmitted over the Internet to appear on their computer screens. According to a VoiceNet o fficial, those times will decrease "by a factor of 4.33."

In addition to upgrading connectivity at the University, this upgrade will have the effect of providing the entire state of Delaware with its first and only Internet backbone. The addition will provide significant savings to businesses and individuals thr oughout the state who subscribe to VoiceNet, compared to what costs would have been without the backbone.

In making the announcement, VoiceNet president and chief executive officer Carmen DiCamillo said, "We are proud to be adding a prestigious institution like the University of Delaware to our client roster. Within academic circles, the University has been a t the forefront of Internet technology for some time, and we're happy to join them in forging even further ahead. This is an exceptional opportunity for us to excel on behalf of an extremely valued client, and to showcase our abilities in a high-profile s ituation. We're eager to meet the challenge."

"The University of Delaware is pleased to have found a partner to work with us to meet our higher speed Internet needs in a highly reliable and innovative fashion," Susan Foster, UD vice president for information technologies, said. "VoiceNet has demonstr ated a determination to understand our requirements and to meet them within our budget."

The system has a built-in safety net in the form of the "intelligent" backbone router that, should a portion of the system experience an interruption, will select alternate routes and "steer" the data to its intended destination. Overall, the system is de signed to offer extremely high redundancy, or protection against interruption, and reliability. VoiceNet is distinguished from other regional ISPs by the fact that its DS3 backbone is national in scope. "DS3" or "T3," are industry designations which indic ate an information transmittal rate of 45 megabits per second.

VoiceNet was founded in 1990 by DiCamillo and now serves more than 75,000 subscribers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and New York. The company is enjoying tremendous growth; in each of the past three years, gross revenues have increased by 300 perc ent. VoiceNet is privately held and is headquartered in Ivyland, Bucks County, Pa.

Further information about the company is available via the Internet (http://www.voicenet.com) or by telephone at 800-835-5710.