Global access to APS research journals (February 20, 2001)

We are removing the distinct servers "mirror.publish.aps.org" and "mirror.prola.aps.org"; for all access please go directly to the research journals web site publish.aps.org, prola.aps.org, or one of the individual journal pages: pra.aps.org, prb.aps.org, prc.aps.org, prd.aps.org, pre.aps.org, prl.aps.org, prst-ab.aps.org, rmp.aps.org, or focus.aps.org.

We have continuously tested and monitored access speeds to our web servers from around the world since October 1997. At that time the median download rate was about 1 kB/sec for all users, and much worse than that for some overseas users; the Digital Island service we implemented at that time increased international access speeds for those countries served to the 2-5 kB/sec level, through the "mirror.publish.aps.org" and related web pages. In the three years since then, however, overall internet capacity and our own local connectivity have improved considerably; in February 2001 the median download rate from our servers had risen to 13.6 kB/sec. Except for our users in Russia and China, the international access provided by the Digital Island service is no longer an improvement over what can be obtained through our traditional ISP (SAVVIS), and as of February 20, 2001 we are closing down the server "mirror.publish.aps.org" and related links.

If you have any questions or concerns about this change, please send feedback to help@aps.org.