CompuServe traffics overseas

CompuServe Network Services struck deals with four major international networks today to carry Net traffic throughout Europe and Asia.

It is another example U.S. ISPs' march into foreign markets, where the growth rate often is faster than at home. A foreign expansion of ISPs and Net companies, including CompuServe, America Online, Prodigy, and Microsoft Network is quickly materializing, according to a recent report by Hambrecht & Quist.

CompuServe Network, a unit of CompuServe (CSRV), announced so-called peering relationships today with Ebone, a backbone with access to 76 networks in Western and Eastern Europe; DE-CIX, which connects to 15 networks in Germany; MAE-Paris, with connections to 7 networks in France; and Internet Initiative Japan, parent of A-Bone, which connects with networks in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan. A connection in Stockholm, Sweden, is planned later this year.

Peering agreements let ISPs exchange traffic headed for each other's networks. Network connections will carry at least 2 mbps of data.