[2530] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Mike Roberts' Testimony
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OFFICE MEMO Mike Roberts' Testimony Date:3/13/92
1
United States House of
Representatives
Committee on Science, Space and
Technology
Subcommittee on Science
Hearing on National Science
Foundation Network
March 12, 1992
Statement of Michael M. Roberts, Vice
President, EDUCOM
Chairman Boucher and members of the
Committee, I am pleased to present testimony
today on behalf of the EDUCOM Networking and
Telecommunications Task Force, a group of
forty-eight universities with joint interests
in the development of advanced computer
networks to support research and education.
NSFNET Success. Over the past five years,
NSFNET has compiled one of the most remarkable
success stories in the history of American
science. In this short period of time,
through a partnership of government, industry
and higher education, an advanced production
network with the highest level of bandwidth
available anywhere in the world has been
designed and deployed in the research and
education community in the United States. At
the same time, the network has been
transformed from one serving a narrow group of
supercomputer centers and federally supported
research sites into one with connections to
more than six hundred colleges and
universities and over a thousand public and
private research sites. The global Internet
family of research and education networks, of
which NSFNET is a part, is growing equally
rapidly and now reaches more than three-
quarters of a million computer systems in more
than one hundred countries. On the campuses
of the members of the EDUCOM networking task
force alone, more than one million students,
faculty and researchers have gained access to
NSFNET and the Internet. Of special note is
the fact that NSFNET now connects more than a
thousand high schools and several hundred
libraries as a result of an effort by NSF and
the regional networks to reach all levels of
education.
In addition to the benefits within research
and education, the success of NSFNET has
materially aided the growth of a commercial
market for Internet products and services
which it is estimated will exceed four billion
dollars in 1992, with growth at the rate of
seventy-five percent a year.
This progress - in advanced network
services, in access provided to the research
and education community, and in technology
transferred to the private sector - far
exceeds the levels planned five years ago and
is a tribute to the commitment of the NSFNET
partners and to the able leadership of the
Foundation and its Networking Division.
In the remainder of this statement, I would
like to focus on three key issues - a new
cooperative agreement for NSFNET, a commitment
to a common infrastructure with participatory
governance for the NREN, and the linkage of
the NREN program to establishment of a
broadband communications network for all
Americans. We are submitting additional
EDUCOM background material on NSFNET and the
NREN for the record.
NSFNET Competition for New Cooperative
Agreement. Last November, the National
Science Board approved a proposal by the
Networking Division of NSF that it conduct a
competition leading to new cooperative
agreements for continuation of NSFNET for the
period 1993-1996. In developing its proposal,
NSF drew on studies and recommendations from a
number of organizations within the networking
community, including EDUCOM.
We believe that the plan for new cooperative
agreements is an excellent one that not only
provides stability of network service but
promises to continue the progress in
technology that has been an important feature
of the current agreement. However, we wish to
comment on the aspect of the intended plan
that deals with competition for the award
within the private sector and a related issue,
raised in recent press articles, that NSF
should be obligated, in a spirit of fairness,
to provide a level playing field for
competitors.
First, it should be understood that the new
award will not be for standard commercial
telecommunications services. It will be a
cooperative agreement among partners in an
effort to maintain and improve a leading edge,
state of the art computer network which
continues to meet the demands of the best
science of which the United States is capable.
That is the stated goal of the NREN
legislation sponsored by your committee last
year and of the program under development by
the Administration. We should set our sights
no lower.
Second, with respect to levelness of playing
field, it is not and has never been the
responsibility of a federal agency to
guarantee market entry for a private sector
firm. Nor is it the responsibility of federal
agencies to transfer technology to the private
sector in a manner which guarantees market
entry. What NSF has done very successfully in
the current award, and proposes to do again,
is establish the criteria under which firms,
or joint ventures of firms with public sector
participation, may join with the Foundation in
designing, testing, and deploying advanced
network technology. The greater the size of
the funding and resource commitment that is
made by private sector firms in competing for
the award, the greater the likelihood of rapid
progress in advancing network technology. It
is important to distinguish between
competition for the new cooperative agreement,
and the creation of a competitive market in
the private sector for network services based
on NSFNET/NREN technology. Progress made
during the course of the next agreement will
support and strengthen an already impressive
level of commercial network services that has
developed in the last several years.
Common Infrastructure for the NREN. At
the present time, federal agencies
participating in the HPCC program are
preparing an NREN technical and management
plan under the aegis of the Federal Networking
Council (FNC). It is premature to comment on
specifics of the plan until it has been
released and reviewed. However, the view has
been expressed by some that it is sufficient
for the NREN to be just a family of largely
independent networks, with connectivity and
services under the control of individual
agencies. This is clearly an unsatisfactory
approach. It fragments the available federal
resources. It confuses industry, which will
be unsure of which agency approach will win
out over others. It will reduce the rate at
which the common infrastructure can be
developed and implemented.
Some federal officials have the opinion that
full support for the NREN would jeopardize
mission critical network applications such as
real time satellite data collection and
nuclear energy experiments. These special
applications have never been part of the NREN
as envisoned by the universities and
constitute a small fraction of total agency
use of computer networks for research and
education.
The universities, having made major
investments in their campus networks and
NSFNET connections, and having joined together
to create and sustain the regional networks,
believe that their federal agency partners in
the NREN should make a similar commitment to a
common networking infrastructure. Such a
commitment must include agreement on
mechanisms for participation in the creation
and application of standards and policies for
the network. When your committee continues
its review of the Administration's NREN
program later in the year, we believe this
matter deserves further inquiry.
NREN Linkage to National Information
Infrastructure (NII). As the revolution in
computer networking has gained momentum in
recent years, the potential value of NREN
technology is being recognized in areas beyond
the original leading edge, Grand Challenge
research objectives. Mr. Chairman, you and
Representative Oxley have taken the
Congressional initiative in the House with the
introduction of HR2546, which calls for rapid
deployment of broadband technology in the
national communications infrastructure. In a
related development, the Computer Systems
Policy Project (CSPP) has called for a broader
vision of the NREN and specifically
recommended that the Administration "establish
a technology and policy foundation for an
information and communications infrastructure
for the future." The FCC has also taken note
of these developments in holding future
network hearings last spring and issuing a
Notice of Inquiry into Intelligent Networks
last December.
The university community believes that both
the NREN and a broadband communications
infrastructure for America are important,
perhaps critical, national objectives.
However, they are not the same, and neither
should be treated as hostage or servant to the
other. EDUCOM recommends that an explicit
linkage be created between the two objectives.
The NREN, guided by a government, industry and
education partnership in developing and
deploying advanced network technology, should
be the means by which the country supports its
research and education goals, and at the same
time develops, tests, and transfers to the
private sector its successes in technology.
The NII, guided by new federal and state
communications legislation, should be the
means through which a revitalized
communications industry, utilizing digital and
fiber optic technology, brings the benefits of
the Information Age to every American.
Forging a new national communications policy
which protects the public interest and
enhances the private sector role in providing
advanced communications services is a
difficult challenge. We in higher education
have a major stake in the creation of a
broadband communications infrastructure to
help us fulfill our educational mission. We
are prepared to assist the Congress in
achieving this vision, which will assure
continued U.S. leadership in a world which is
rapidly becoming a global information society.
Summary. In conclusion, I would like to
reiterate five key points:
First, NSF leadership in the development
and delivery of NSFNET has been outstanding.
Research and education are being
extraordinarily well served by the NSFNET
program, the sucess of which is obvious from
every measure of network connectivity and use.
Second, the NSFNET program has positively
stimulated the marketplace and there are a
growing number of commercial providers of
network services based on this technology
where there were none only three or four years
ago.
Third, we in the research and education
networking community believe that the planned
"recompetition" for a new NSFNET cooperative
agreement is an appropriate and manageable
compromise between conflicting objectives. It
increases participation from the private
sector while continuing a successful
management structure proven during the current
agreement.
Fourth, we urge the Congress to insure that
the infrastructure and governance of the NREN
reflect an effective partnership between the
broadly based research and education community
and the federal agency establishments so that
standards and policies for the network will be
formulated for the broadest applicability and
greatest good.
Fifth, we recommend that the National
Information Infrastructure and implementation
of broadband communications envisoned in
HR2546 be explicitly linked to the NREN
program, though in no way merged, so that the
NREN may take early advantage of broadband
infrastructure to support research and
education goals while leading in the
advancement of the technology.
