[1611] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
From Business week Dec 9 1991 Page 79
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (David J. Farber)
Wed Dec 4 16:19:13 1991
Date: Wed, 4 Dec 91 16:09:21 EST
From: farber@central.cis.upenn.edu (David J. Farber)
To: route@central.cis.upenn.edu
While the article has some errors, it tracks the wording of the NSF
release -- at least the one I saw.
Dave
The Information Highway May Go Four-Lane
"For years, federal agencies have been laying the groundwork for a
$400 million "information highway" that would like scientists and
schools to far-flung supercomputers and libraries. That vision got a
boost on Nov 22 when Congress passed a supercomputer bill, adding its
stamp to the Bush Administration's plans for such a network.
Instead of starting from scratch, the idea is to expand an existing
science network called NSFnet into the world's highest capacity
information superhighway, dubbed the National Research and Education
Network. Currently NSFnet is managed by a joint venture between IBM
and MCI Communications Corp, under National Science Foundation
auspices. But critics say this monopoly could hamper innovation and
offers an unfair edge on potentially lucrative spin-offs. So, also on
Nov 22, the National Science Board approved a plan to put management
of the network up for bid again early next year -- with two
operators, not one. "It will give us two avenues for infusions of new
technology and new ideas aout management and operation" says NSF
networking chief Stephen S. Wolff."
