🚀 go-pugleaf

This may be of general interest to those of you wondering what's coming (and
why) with the NSFNET and NREN.             /   Jim
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Finally a clear statement of what they want and why the NSF is planning
changes to the backbone funding and usage.



For Release: March 23, 1993


LEADING TELCO CEOs JOINTLY SUPPORT
CLINTON-GORE TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE


The Chief Executive Officers of the nation's leading local and
long-distance telecommunications companies today announced that
they have signed a landmark public policy position statement
(attached) -- signaling strong industry-wide support for the
communications technology initiatives envisioned by the Clinton-
Gore Administration.


The statement was signed by the CEOs of Ameritech, AT&T, Bell
Atlantic, Bellcore, BellSouth, Cincinnati Bell, Inc., GTE, MCI,
NYNEX, Pacific Telesis, Southern New England Telephone Company,
Southwestern Bell Corp., Sprint,
U S WEST.


The policy statement provides a set of principles consistent with
the Administration's initiative, "Technology for America's Economic
Growth, A New Direction to Build Economic Strength," and
articulates the roles government and industry should play.


The CEOs suggest the Administration and Congress adopt these
principles as a framework for cooperation among federal, state and
local governments, key users communities -- such as schools,
libraries and health care providers -- and the private sector
(including telecommunications, computer, information, and related
industries.)


In addition, the set of principles recommends that government
support research on applications and services that benefit schools,
health care, and industries crucial for U.S. competitiveness, as
well as research that will make it easier for people to connect to,
and use, information networks.


Benefits to come from following these principles would include:


* Increased private sector investment in, and continued development
of, a national information infrastructure as a result of
government serving as a catalyst.


Partnerships among government, academia, industry and key user
communities will focus on development of experimental technologies
that leverage limited government funds.


Transferring experimental technologies to commercial (production)
networks will provide new capabilities to users, meet their
expanding needs, and increase industry's investment in the
infrastructure.


* Alternative visions of the national information infrastructure
can be integrated into a common vision which provides interactive
multi-media and other advanced networking capabilities to all
Americans.


* Industry's incentive to invest in the infrastructure will remain
strong because the government will not subsidize commercial networks
and because commercial services will not be provided on government-
supported experimental networks.


* Selected user communities will be provided support for access to,
and use of, networks and information through government funding.


Supporting these communities represents a shift of emphasis from
government's direct support of networks.  These funds,
predominantly grants, would be carefully targeted by the government
to meet urgent societal needs by communities which otherwise could
not afford to take advantage of the benefits that the
infrastructure can provide -- for example, innovative math and
science programs for children in public schools with limited
budgets and resources.


* Alternative network suppliers will be able to interconnect
seamlessly with each other, resulting in a wide array of
competitive choices that will spur innovation and result in
competitive prices to users.


According to George Heilmeier, President and CEO of Bellcore, "The
telecommunications industry looks forward to the challenge of
evolving information networks to meet urgent societal needs, spur
economic growth, and strengthen America's competitive position in
the global economy."




.



Policy Statement


1.  The High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC)
vision should be expanded to foster the emergence of services and
applications that will serve the urgent societal needs of a broad
range of users and industries, such as K-16 education, health
care delivery and cost containment, manufacturing productivity
and job creation, and the general public through telecommuting
and access to libraries and other databases.  This imperative is
shared with the recommendations of the Computer Systems Policy
Project (CSPP).


2.  This expanded vision can be most effectively served by a
target structure comprised of separate Experimental and
Production Networks.  Experimental Networks should consist of
government supported testbeds (for example, the Gigabit testbeds)
and high performance national testbeds (for example,
interconnecting major supercomputer research sites) for leading
edge networking technology and applications requiring such
technology.  Experimental Networks supported by the government
should be used only:


a)  To carry traffic directly related to the experimental goals
of these networks, and


b)  By those researchers who need to perform applications that
require the advanced technological capabilities of these
networks, and which cannot be performed on Production Networks.


These Experimental Networks will be developed by partnerships
among government, academia, private industry and  target  user
communities.  These  partnerships, which can build upon the  long
and successful collaboration between industry, academia and
government, can leverage the government's limited resources to
maximize social return.


Production Networks should consist of present and future
commercially available communications networks.  Production
Networks would:


a)  Be built, managed and operated by multiple providers from the
private sector;


b)  Provide a vehicle for technology transfer from their
experimental counterparts;


c)  Offer commercial networking capabilities to the business and
residential population; and


d)  Serve all users, including the Research and Education
Community, for those applications that can be supported by
commercially available network services.




The government, private sector and key user communities should
jointly implement transition steps to achieve this target
structure.


3.  The government should encourage maximum interconnectivity and
interoperability among Production Networks as an important goal
of public policy.


4.  The following four activities should be supported by the
government and given the highest priority for achieving broad
societal benefits:


a)  Research into applications and services that will provide for
the urgent needs of the broad range of users in K-16 education,
health care and industries critical for U.S. competitiveness.


b)  Research into user-friendly access and use of the networks to
promote broad utilization by all members of society.


c)  Direct subsidies to the Research and Education communities to
support their access to and use of Production Networks.


d)  Technical development of the Experimental Networks, including
continued support of the Research and Education community's
contributions in developing these networks.


5.  Full consideration should be given to the present and future
developments of the computer, telecommunications, information and
related industries when planning, designing, and implementing the
technology and standards for the Experimental Networks.  Giving
full consideration to the developments in all these industries
will help ensure the maximum transfer of the best and most
effective technology from the Experimental to the Production
Networks.


6.  Decision making processes-relative to government programs
associated funding should be open to the target user community,
including K-16 educational institutions, libraries, the health
care industry, and industries critical to U.S. competitiveness.