FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Nov. 30, 1998

Contact: Mark Bello
                (301) 975-3776

Agenda

Demonstration of SIMnet--a pilot, Internet-based measurement network to speed free trade in the Americas.

The U.S. Department of Commerce and the Organization of American States will inaugurate this NIST-initiated effort to strengthen measurement systems that support trade in the Americas. Efficient trade requires measurements made in one American nation to be equivalent to those made in another. Measurement comparability is an essential component of the planned Free Trade Area of the Americas, envisioned to extend from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego by the year 2005.

Through SIMnet, NIST and 11 other national measurement institutes initially participating in the pilot will collaborate remotely on measurement activities. When fully implemented, SIMnet will speed progress toward the Interamerican Metrology System (abbreviated as SIM, for the Spanish translation, Sistema Interamericano de Metrologiá) goal of harmonizing measurements among the 34 nations participating in SIM.

Typically, multinational, round-robin comparisons to establish measurement equivalence span several years. SIMnet should greatly reduce the time and cost involved.

The demonstration will illustrate how information technology--PCs, videoconferencing technology, and software for remote control of equipment--simplifies complex collaborations required to build the global economy's technical infrastructure. At NIST for training, measurement scientists from participating countries will help to demonstrate how SIMnet will be used first to realize consistent electrical measurements needed for many products and processes.

Invited guests include OAS officials; ambassadors and NMI directors from the participating nations; representatives of the U.S. Departments of Commerce and State, U.S. Trade Representative, the President's Office of Science and Technology Policy, and National Science Foundation; and several members of Congress and their staff.