NSB GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO NSFNET'S NEXT STEPS:
NEW ARCHITECTURE AND A CUTTING-EDGE NETWORK

February 14, 1994 -- Two major developments toward the information
superhighway received green lights Friday from the National Science Board
(NSB).

At its meeting in Arlington, Va., the board gave its administrative
approval for the National Science Foundation (NSF) to proceed with
arrangements for a new architecture for the NSFNET computer network
services, including an experimental expressway -- called a very high-speed
Backbone Network Service (vBNS).  NSFNET currently links more than 1,000
U.S. universities and other research and educational institutions to the
Internet.

The NSB, a 24-member board that governs major policy decisions of the NSF,
approved a proposal that the agency's networking division award the
operation of the vBNS to MCI Communications Corp. of Washington, D.C., for
a total not to exceed $50 million over five years.

The NSB also approved a plan by the networking division to establish two
five-year collaborative cooperative agreements to offer routing arbiter
(RA) services for NSFNET and the Internet. Merit Network, Inc., a
consortium of Michigan universities, will receive up to $11,099,743 to
provide overall RA management and to take the lead responsibility for a
registry database, an operations center, and software development. The
University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute,
working with IBM, will receive up to $9,235,847 to develop route servers,
advanced routing techniques, a testbed, and routing engineering.

According to Stephen Wolff, director of NSF's Division of Networking and
Communications Research and Infrastructure, "The board's action gives us
the license and the framework to negotiate with the parties involved. The
decisions to work with MCI, Merit, and USC followed an exhaustive review
process."

Today's developments, Wolff said, are among the first steps in what will be
an orderly transition from the current NSFNET architecture to a new
arrangement that, while advancing both, will distinguish more clearly
between cutting-edge experimental efforts and widely used public
"commodity" networks.

"The vBNS will be a physically separate network," said Wolff, "one to push
the parameters of high-speed networking and to connect NSF's supercomputer
centers, without affecting general network services."

The routing arbiter will be one of three major components of the new,
advanced "general-use" network services. The other two components, which
have not yet been awarded, are projects calling for network access point
managers and for regional network providers.

With transmission capability of 45 million bits of data per second, the
current NSFNET backbone makes the connections over commercially leased
lines by linking 19 sites called nodes throughout the U.S. At these sites,
mid-level or regional networks are attached and thus interconnected. These
regional networks, in turn, reach out to and from thousands of local
networks at schools, universities, libraries, research laboratories,
government facilities and supporting commercial organizations. This web of
computer conduits allows its users to exchange electronic mail, avail
themselves of massive computers, and search libraries and databases, all
at distant sites almost instantaneously.

Developed by NSF in 1985, the NSFNET program long ago outgrew its initial
vision: to provide broadband access to NSF's five supercomputing centers
for researchers with data- or algorithm-intensive projects. The program
now supports not only the expanding backbone services, but also directory
and information services, operations for regional networks, and
connections for universities.

The new architecture calls for the regional networks to secure backbone
services from commercial network providers, with a five-year phasing out
of NSF's backbone funding for the regionals.

NSFNET Program Director Priscilla Huston said, "Our first priority as we
make this transition is to ensure that the new infrastructure is robust
and dependable before we shut down what has become a legendary national
backbone service among the networking community. The new architecture will
allow the research and education communities to take advantage of the
excellent services available from commercial suppliers while it provides
the interconnectivity that's essential for a vibrant national
infrastructure."

"The transition," said Wolff, "recognizes the changing nature of the
networking marketplace."

"In 1987 you couldn't buy high-bandwidth Internet services," said Wolff.
"There were neither suppliers nor market.  So we commissioned a
high-bandwidth backbone; and, in the seven years since, a number of
comparable commercial services have arisen, catalyzed in part by the
market generated by the NSFNET backbone. So now we can give backbone
funding to the regionals and let them buy that connectivity from the
suppliers of their choice."

The National Science Foundation is an independent agency of the federal
government established in 1950 to promote and advance scientific progress
in the United States.  NSF accomplishes its mission primarily by
competitively awarding grants to educational institutions for research and
education in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering.

This and other information is available electronically on STIS, NSF's
Science and Technology Information System.  For more information about
STIS contact the Publications Section at (703) 306-1130 and request the
"STIS Flyer," NSF Publication #91-10, or send an E-mail message to
stisinfo@nsf.gov (INTERNET) or stisinfo@NSF (BITNET).

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