BOSTON, MA. and CAPETOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - October 12th, 2005 (Joint Announcement) - Earlier this year, OCCAID and the Tertiary Education Network (TENET), decided to join forces in a strategic partnership for the development of IPv6 resources in the tertiary education and research sectors in South Africa.

With the growth in IPv6 world wide, and the current trends clearly showing that the global community is starting to embrace this technology, it became apparent that in order to continue providing world class services, IPv6 would eventually need to be deployed and implemented.

TENET therefore approached OCCAID, which operates the leading IPv6 research and development network in the world, and a partnership was born. OCCAID initially granted peering status to TENET, and this was later upgraded to complete transit status.

At present there are two peering links between OCCAID and TENET, terminating in London and Ashburn, VA respectively.

OCCAID and TENET have agreed to work together on future IPv6 initiatives in South Africa, in line with OCCAID's commitment to provide service to all NREN's within the Afrinic zone.

It is the view of both OCCAID and TENET that this relationship is in the interests of both organizations, and will benefit the higher education and research sectors in all areas, allowing for resources on the TENET network to be accessible over IPv6, and at the same time allowing the institutions on the TENET network to access the resources held by OCCAID and its customers, as well as other IPv6 resources on the Internet.

OCCAID and TENET therefore look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship.

About OCCAID

OCCAID is collaboration between research communities and ISPs, working to deploy next generation network technologies for enrichment of commercial and advanced internet applications. Through OCCAID, ISPs, carriers and researchers work together through partnership to develop and experience leading-edge internet technologies. For more information, please visit http://www.occaid.org.

About Tertiary Education Network (TENET)

Serving the higher education sector of South Africa, TENET is a non-profit organization founded in August 2000 with mission to secure, for the benefit of South African Universities and Technikons, internet and information technology services, involving, inter-alia, (a) the management of contracts with service providers; (b) ancilliary operational functions in support of service delivery; and (c) the provision of other value-added services as may from time to time be needed in support of the higher educational sector in South Africa. For more information, please visit http://www.tenet.ac.za.

Media Contact:
Chris Johnson
(617) 459-4051
pr [at] occaid.org