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The
Internet was once the preserve of academics, and the academic
and industrial world remains a significant driver of advanced
networking technologies. By developing trans-European broadband
interconnections between national research, education and training
networks, the IST programme will both encourage the development
of the next generation of these technologies and improve Europe's
ability to pool its human, scientific and industrial resources.
A second objective is to support the provision of experimental
interconnection of testbeds for the integration of leading-edge,
collaborative activities from all key actions in the programme.
European
Testbeds
The most advanced Information Society research facilities
across Europe will also be linked together, creating a powerful
resource for research into the most advanced technologies.
These
facilities are where Europe's top academic and industrial scientists
develop and demonstrate the fruits of their research, so the interconnections
themselves will be a series of advanced experiments.
The result will be much more than a series of interesting exercises
in hooking up advanced research labs, however. Linked together,
these facilities will provide a practical basis for collaborative
research efforts into areas as diverse as photonic networks, service
configuration protocols or mobile broadband services.
More importantly, it will create the infrastructure Europe needs
to test highly advanced, high bandwidth applications and services,
such as remote high-volume data visualisation, meta-computing
or networked immersive virtual reality. It will also enable Europe
to play a leading role in defining, standardising and validating
the next generations of network protocols and other emerging broadband
services.
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