The China Internet Corp. and Bay Networks plan to build
Ray Van Eng (01/17/97)
Initially, the first cities to be connected are Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou starting in February. By the end of 1997, a total of 20 cities will be served by the China Wide Web (CWW), as the intranet system is known. CWW will rely on the satellite network system that China's state run Xinhua News Agency uses for news and data communication. The CWW project will build on the experience CIC have gained in offering a similar service for business users in Hong Kong more than a year ago. Bay Networks will be responsible for network hardware and software installation, system integration and staff training for the CIC which is controlled by the Xinhua News Agency. The mostly Chinese language web site will feature domestic business information and foreign content from such sources as Reuters and Dun & Bradstreet. Of the 20 million registered businesses in China, officials expected about 10% (or 2 million) would be interested in using the service. Some critics have suggested that the CWW can actually be used by the Chinese government to filter out undesirable information (especially those coming through the Internet) from flooding into the country, but others have applauded China's move to open itself up to the world on the information superhighway. There are plans to make at least part of the content (e.g. web pages of domestic corporations) at the China Wide Web available to the outside Internet community through this URL - http://china.com. |
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© Copyright Ray Van Eng 1997 - 1999. All Rights Reserved.
The
China Internet Corp. (CIC) and the U.S. based Bay Networks Inc. are implementing
a nationwide intranet (a private internal network that makes of Internet
technologies) that will eventually link up 50 cities in China.