Alcatel announced that it is part of a multi-party consortium, including Deutsche Telekom (DTAG), and that it will provide key optical and IP technologies for project VIOLA (Vertically Integrated Optical test bed for Large Applications). Through the VIOLA project that is led by DFN, the German research network provider, a computer grid will be developed to link research center computers as well as to help generate new ideas for advanced applications and services. VIOLA will be a multi vendor and multi layer, integrated data and optical network. The VIOLA network will connect a new Supercomputer with more than 8 TeraFlops of computing power (eight trillion operations per second) located in Julich, near Bonn, to several other computing clusters supporting different applications and requirements. Alcatel will provide most advanced equipment from its optical and data portfolio and will also research and develop new concepts to meet the specific bandwidth demands required by GRID computing. Many research organizations, including Research Center Julich, the Fraunhofer Institutes for Scientific Computing and for Media Communication, caesar (Center for Advanced European Studies and Research), the University of Bonn and the FH Bonn Rhein Sieg are partnering in the consortium. They will contribute to the evolution of the converged data and optical network. "VIOLA means another important step for the high performance broadband network for science in Germany. The Federal Government will support VIOLA with 10.5 million Euros," said Wolf-Dieter Dudenhausen, the German Federal State secretary for Research and Education in Berlin. "The German research community in science and industry will join efforts to sustain a worldwide leadership in network and communication technology. Entering into GRID-based e-science is crucial and I appreciate the commitment from Alcatel and its project partners. It opens the doors for GRID communication computing as the next generation of the networked innovation systems even across the German border."