here is another internet already operational-where users are receving connections up to 100 times faster than eople at home. Its is a network so swift and so powerful its advocates are claiming it has already changed the way we will iteract with the internet in the future.

This new internet is being developed in universities and research laboratories across the globe. And although its usage might be confirmed to academics, its benefits could spill over into the mainstream in a few years.

Until now the race to build the next generation of the internet has been dominated by the United States, and by one project. Internet is a consortium of 180 universities backed by the National Science Foundation and the US Federal government.

But from December 1-for the first time in the history of the net- Europe's academic and research communities will be able to hook up to a faster net work, covering more people and more institutions than its rival in the US.

Geant, the new pan-European network serving more than 3,000 of the continent's academic and research institutions, will operate in 32 countries. It has a budget of 200 million euros over the next four years-80 million of which has come from the European Commission.

Each of the 32 member countries already has its own national research network. But now, with universities and research institutions increasingly collaborating across borders, they need a high-performance network that crosses those borders too.

Geant provides a pan-European network at such high speeds it completely dwarfs the internet as we know it today.