3Com boss warns of networking brain drain

NEWS Europe's IT experts could be tempted to the US if the network infrastructure here is not improved. The claim comes from Barry Castle, head of European public affairs at 3Com, who says Europe is being left behind in technical developments because WAN suppliers here refuse to collaborate on traffic handling. Speaking in a Silicon WAN channel interview, Castle advocated peering arrangements so that data traffic - particularly on the Internet - can pass efficiently across Europe, rather than going via the US. He said that unless the infrastructure is made more efficient, "it will put Europe at a serious disadvantage in the world market. It could even encourage IT professionals to start looking to the US as a place to work and live". 3Com was promoting the Alliance for the Internet in Europe, which aims to get WAN services to change the switches on their networks, so that data can pass in all directions. Worldcom's head of international communication, Mark Weeks, had not even heard of the initiative, but Castle says it is Europe's last hope of keeping up. Jean-Louis Previdi, European program director for global networking strategy at the Meta Group, supports the alliance, but says success is still two or three years off.