EBONE
Encyclopedia
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an Internet backbone
Internet backbone
The Internet backbone refers to the principal data routes between large, strategically interconnected networks and core routers in the Internet...
. It went online in September 1992 and was deactivated in July 2002. Some portions of the EBONE were sold to other companies and continue to operate today.
Formation
The first meeting to discuss the formation of EBONE occurred on September 1, 1991. The final link in the initial backbone design of EBONE was made on Sunday September 26, 1992, between LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Montpellier
Montpellier
-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....
.
Ebone had a variety of offices around Europe, with technical center and control center in Hoeilaart Belgium and Sales & Management offices in London.
Operation
EBONE became one of Europe's leading broadbandBroadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
optical and IP network service providers, a Tier 1 network
Tier 1 network
A tier 1 network is an Internet Protocol network that participates in the Internet solely via settlement-free interconnection, also known as settlement-free peering.-Definition:...
. On 12 July 1999, Global TeleSystems Group, Inc. (GTS) became full owner and operator of EBONE.
Shutdown
In October 2001, KPNQwestKPNQwest
KPNQwest was a telecommunications company equally owned by the Dutch national telecom operator KPN and Qwest Communications International Inc., the Internet communications company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado....
acquired EBONE and the Central Europe businesses of GTS and completed their EuroRings network.
Following the Dot com crash and various investigations, KPNQwest declared bankruptcy. In June 2002, it was announced that the EBONE Network Operations Center
Network Operations Center
A network operations center is one or more locations from which control is exercised over a computer, television broadcast, or telecommunications network....
would be shut down, and the EBONE would be deactivated.
Employees in the EBONE Network Operations Center and elsewhere attempted to keep the network running for many weeks after the last possible sale of the company fell through, but eventually were told to shut down the network and abandon the building, which they did on July 2, 2002.
Emails
TO: xxxCUSTOMER CONTACT: XXX
FROM: customer at ebone.com
DATE: 06/JUN/2002 19:12:17
ATTN: XXX
KPNQWEST TT NUMBER: 179256
KPNQWEST CONTACT: Walker
CSC PHONE NUMBER: Any Queries please contact theCSC.
BROADCAST MESSAGE
Hoeilaart 6th of June 2002 / Message to all Ebone customers / The
Administrators have not found any additional funding to continue Ebone
operators and have asked personnel
to evacuate the building and close down the network. Ebone employees
have refused to do so and are motivated to keep the network up and
running as long as possible.
Ebone employees have requested the Belgian Government to help out
finding a solution for the immediate future.
TO: xxx
CUSTOMER CONTACT: XXX
FROM: customer at ebone.com
DATE: 02/JUL/2002 08:44:48
ATTN: XXX
KPNQWEST TT NUMBER: 180969
KPNQWEST CONTACT: Walker
CSC PHONE NUMBER: Any Queries please contact theCSC.
BROADCAST MESSAGE
To all our customers despite the Efforts of the 40 people at Ebone NOC
these last few months to keep the network up and running our efforts
have been in vain, as finally
the banks and other parties concerned have stopped the proposed sale
of Ebone happening.As a result of this we have now been ordered by the
curators to shut down the Network.this will happen today 2nd July 1,
2002 at 11:00AM CET.
I wish to thank our entire customers for their support over these last
few months and only wish that things could have turned out
differently.