Wintel platform leaders Microsoft, Intel and Compaq have helped assemble a high-traffic Hong Kong Web server to cover the handover ceremonies later this month, showcasing new networking and Web-hosting technology.
AT&T is also contributing to the joint Windows NT Web project, managed by the South China Morning Post, which will feature mirror sites for the newspaper's expanded Web site in the United States and Singapore, as well as replicated servers with leading Internet service providers in Hong Kong.
Chris Justice, manager of SCMP PostNet, said anticipated high demand for access to information relating to the handover had prompted a search for the most cost-effective and manageable technology to widen the reach of the site.
'The bottlenecks would not be on the servers,' he said. 'Bandwidth is basically the critical element to make sure that this event can be seen by as many Internet subscribers as possible.
'We are taking advantage of AT&T's links to the Internet backbone in the United States to create a distributed network to solve that problem.' AT&T is providing a dedicated T3 line to the US, which allows high-speed transmission of broadcasts to mirror sites.
The US mirror site will be hosted at AT&T's Californian node in San Francisco.
