Bell Canada and Nortel have launched a technology showcase in the Township of Chapleau, Ontario, designed to trial communications technologies in rural committees to determine their social and economic benefits.

The showcase will include a wireless mesh network and an upgraded optical network along with multimedia and enterprise communications technology to link the roughly 3000 residents of Chapleau, which is known as the gateway to the world's largest nature preserve, the Chapleau Crown Game Preserve.

For 14 months, Bell Canada and Nortel then will work with researchers from Laurentian University, the University of Toronto and others to study the impact of broadband technologies and applications on the community.

As part of the project, the two companies have opened the Chapleau Innovation Centre to enable residents to access and learn about new technologies, and to give them a place to connect to the Bell-Nortel Innovation Centre in Ottawa. There is also now a portal--www.chapleau.ca--for the technology showcase.

Improving education and health care are among the primary areas of concern in the project.