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Telecommunications industry

AT&T Invests in Canadian Telecommunications Technology through TR Labs Partnership

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

AT&T, in its commitment to advancing Canadian telecommunications technology, has provided the world's fastest ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) switch to TR Labs, a not-for-profit consortium of industry, universities, and governments dedicated to telecommunications research. The GlobeView 2000, installed at TR Labs in Winnipeg, is the highest capacity switching system in Canada, designed to make broadband networks of the future more efficient and cost-effective. This partnership aims to push the boundaries of high-speed networking technology, enabling the efficient handling of multimedia communications and paving the way for real-time voice, images, and data transmission.

Key Takeaways:

  • The GlobeView 2000 switch, developed by AT&T, is the fastest in Canada, operating at 20 gigabits per second and capable of handling the equivalent of 1,600 copies of Herman Melville's Moby Dick in one second.
  • The GlobeView 2000 allows one switch to handle all data and voice, phone and images that used to require several networks, resulting in significant economies of scale.
  • The switch's design has been done with AT&T-developed switches to create the next generation of communication systems, enabling research into asynchronous transfer mode traffic analysis, network management, and new broadband application concepts.
  • The partnership aims to create a platform for high-speed networking technology research, making broadband networks more efficient and cost-effective.
  • The GlobeView 2000 has already been upgraded to 20 gigabits per second, with plans to upgrade to 80 gigabits per second in the near future.

Statistics:

  • The GlobeView 2000 switch operates at 20 gigabits per second.
  • It can handle the equivalent of 1,600 copies of Herman Melville's Moby Dick in one second.
  • The switch takes up the space of a couple of refrigerators.

Sources:

  • AT&T press release (no exact date provided)
  • Dr. Clint Gibler, chief scientist for data networking at TR Labs (no exact date provided)
  • Jim Schram, AT&T Network Systems Canada executive vice-president (no exact date provided)
  • Herman Melville, Moby Dick (no relevance to the current context)

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