[2273] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Self-supporting networks
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Ellen.Hoffman@ub.cc.umich.edu)
Tue Feb 4 07:51:10 1992
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 92 07:38:12 EST
From: Ellen.Hoffman@ub.cc.umich.edu
To: drw@BOURBAKI.MIT.EDU, com-priv@psi.com
I think we at Merit have the longest record of being self supporting.
MichNet (called the Merit Computer Network in the old days) was started
in the late 60s with small grants from NSF and the state of Michigan.
Back then you couldn't buy routers of any sort off the shelf, so the
funding paid for the development of a new technology rather than the
actual deployment of a network. MichNet has been self-supporting for
over 20 years! Our funding for our state network comes entirely from
user/member fees. (Of course, like many mid-levels we have our connection
to the NSFNET funded by NSF although that subsidy does not flow directly
through MichNet. We would have to be honest and admit that T3 connectivity
in Ann Arbor would be very difficult to cover at this time using only
member and user fees. Were it required, however, we could probably find
ways to budget a lower speed connection to some national infrastructure.)
Merit is a non-profit corporation which is a consortium of nine public
universities in Michigan. We provide connections to several dozen other
"affiliates" which are colleges, hospitals, government offices and research
businesses. We also have nodes in Washington DC and Boston.
