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YEREVAN, DECEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS:The ancient Silk Road was not only a trade route but also an all-important road for the transfer of information and knowledge between major regions of the world. A new multi-year NATO computer networking project plans to bring highly cost effective, global Internet connectivity to the Caucasus and Central Asia through state-of-the-art satellite technology, thus creating a modern information network. Consequently, the project has been called the °Virtual Silk Highway°, and for short - the °SILK Project°. The aim of the SILK Project is to increase significantly the exchange of information with, and between, academic and educational institutions in the Caucasus and Central Asia regions. Connection to the Internet is the most effective tool available today to access and release the research potential of talented, highly educated people, trained in science and technology. The Southern Caucasus countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, and the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are located on the fringe of the European Internet arena and will not be in reach of affordable optical fibre connections for a good number of years. The academic and educational communities in the eight countries concerned will be connected to the Internet by way of a common satellite beam. New technology makes it possible for each of the countries to have its own minimum bandwidth capacity and at the same time make use of unused bandwidth of other participating countries. In addition, the use of modern data caching techniques, enabled by the choice of satellite technology, should allow further improvement in the effective bandwidth achieved.-0-/39/