The $50M Internet Connection

NEW YORK: Want more bandwidth? You'll be able to get it soon, if you happen to have a spare $50 million. The federal government is financing university research into a new Internet technology called the gigapop, that will connect at a screaming speed 1 million times faster than a 28.8 modem. But considering the cost of the traffic-sorting gigapops, only the giant telcos such as MCI will be able to afford them when they arrive, in approximately 2002. Small-time service providers will most likely be left to wither on the slower-connection vine: One analyst predicts the gigapop could kill most small ISPs within five years.