Playing a central role in GLORIAD's development As an industry pioneer in the field of information and telecommunications, Dacom Corp. has once again demonstrated its technical prowess. Since its inception in 1982, Dacom has performed a leading role as a network operator in a number of monumental projects, like the Seoul Olympics. In keeping the tradition alive, the company has successfully completed, on August 1, a project to lay down the world's first Global Ring Network for Advanced Applications Development (GLORIAD), linking the nation with the United States and Hong Kong with two 10Gbps lines. GLORIAD, a high-speed optical fiber network linking Korea with five other countries -- the United States, China, Russia, Canada, and the Netherlands -- is operated at a link speed of 10Gbps, which is equivalent to 10 billion bytes per second and which is said to be 10-times faster than the previous ones. Due to such speediness, it is anticipated that joint operations will be possible with research arms overseas in various hightech fields. For some time, Dacom has played a central role in providing international services in a similar Korea Research Network. Starting with interconnection services with the STAR-TAP-connected networks of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI), with a link speed of 45Mbps in June 2002, and STAR LIGHT connections pegged at 155Bps in 2003 and 1.2Gbps in 2004, Dacom is at the forefront of gathering technologies and know-how for providing global research network connectivity. Having accumulated such highly-valued experience, the company takes pride in the fact that it could beat other rivals and be selected as the nation's overseer of the global project. "Based on our technical expertise accumulated over many years and deep understanding of the project that we believe are unrivalled, we were able to successfully open the nation's first 10 gigabyte GLORIAD service on time," said Choi Sung Won, vice president of Dacom. Dacom could achieve, as a company spokesperson noted, the timely opening of the service by meticulously carrying out the whole process, from the signing of a contract to testing, in close cooperation with such overseas partners as FLAG Telecom and Tyco Global Network. During the process, the spokesperson added, Dacom could also reinforce its stature in the international arena as shown in the case of wiring and setting up of necessary facilities for KISTI-POP servers in Seattle in the United States. Likewise, Dacom is determined to provide first-rate services in the future by doubling its efforts in the operation of global research networks. Adding that the company is grateful to the Korean authorities for giving it the opportunity to take part in the GLORIAD project, Vice President Choi stressed, "Concurrently, we will make sure to do our best in return so that the recent opening of global lines can contribute to the nation's research projects on a grand scale, such as nuclear fusion energy development and high energy physics that know of no boundaries separating nations."