Russell Beattie

From Europemedia.net last week:

Spain gets world�s fourteenth root server

The Spanish Minister of Science and Technology, Josep Piqu�, has inaugurated in downtown Madrid the world�s fourteenth root server. Europe now has three root servers, located in England, Sweden and Spain. The Spanish root server will increase the speed of internet traffic and, since it is a �copy� of another planetary server, an attack in another �root� will not affect the internet in Spain.

The non-profit organization Espanix serves as a host for this root server, whose purpose is to translate internet domain names to IP addresses (numeric sequences). The manager of Espanix, Crist�bal L�pez, explained, "to have a root server (in Spain) will mean that we�ll be able to browse the internet faster. We will also be able to reduce some costs since we will not need to go abroad in order to access a root server, and, most of all, Spain becomes a centre for the world internet transactions, which is a boon for internet growth in our country."

Wow! I don't have much of a comment besides just a goggle at how much has changed here in Spain in JUST the short time I've lived here. This is definitely a society on fast foward - I know that from a historical sense, but seeing it with my own eyes is amazing. When I got here, there was already a decent internet presence in the country, but it was far from common. Now suddenly one of the major backbones of the internet is sitting right here in Madrid. Very cool.

Now all we're waiting for is an Amazon.es... ;-)

-Rus