[855] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: "Schools Mull T-3 Network"
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lloyd W. Taylor)
Tue Jun 18 22:00:40 1991
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 91 21:59:51 -0400
From: lloyd@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu (Lloyd W. Taylor)
To: sac@apple.com
Cc: com-priv@uu.psi.com, lloyd@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu
My company is a member of the ICA. I was at the recent Annual Conference
where they announced TERN. Perhaps the following will offer some insight.
The ICA is a end-user only association of telecommunications professionals
from the Fortune 1000. One's company must spend at least $1M/year on
Telecomm to become a member. They advertise that the total telecomm
expenditures for all member companies exceeds $17 *billion* per year.
In the recent years, the ICA has taken to funding various Universities that
have telecommunication degree programs. They have been successful in getting
member companies, as well as vendors, to contribute both money and equipment
to these programs.
The purpose of TERN is to provide a testbed for the development of
telecomm-related technologies, including BISDN, Frame and Cell Relay,
SONET, Multi-megabit switched services, and whatever else is coming
down the pike that is of interest. It is not intended to be an
NREN-like system at all.
The funding for this is *not* expected to come from the Government. My
suspicion is that the ICA expects member companies, and especially
vendors such as MCI/AT&T/Sprint/etc. to come up with the ncessary
leased lines and equipment as contributions "for the good of the
Telecommunications Industry as a whole".
Will this ambitious plan succeed? It's hard to tell. The ICA member
companies have a great deal of clout with equipment manufacturers and
long-lines providers. If you were a long-lines provider, would you be
interested in donating a few measly T3 lines for a tremendous play in
the ICA literature?
-- Lloyd Taylor
Telcomm/Networking Manager
The Johns Hopkins University
Applied Physics Lab
