About SIM and SIMnet: SIMnet is an Internet-based, interactive system that will support real-time comparisons of measurements performed at laboratories throughout the Americas. Ultimately, this project will enable collaboration among all National Metrology Institutes that make up the 34-nation Interamerican System of Metrology (abbreviated as SIM, for the Spanish translation, Sistema Interamericano de Metrologiá). With support from the Organization of American States, SIM is essential to accomplishing two major objectives set at the 1994 Summit of the Americas: increasing cooperation in science and technology, and promoting prosperity and free trade by eliminating technical barriers to trade. In particular, measurement comparability is critical to the planned Free Trade Area of the Americas, envisioned to extend from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego by the year 2005.

SIMnet will speed progress toward these goals. Organized by NIST and conducted under the auspices of SIM, SIMnet will be pilot-tested in a 12-nation intercomparison of high-precision digital multimeters. Participating nations are: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, and Uruguay.

U.S. Department of Commerce
Technology Administration
National Institute of Standards and Technology