RFC 1192 (rfc1192) - Page 1 of 13

Commercialization of the Internet summary report

Network Working Working Group                           B. Kahin, Editor
Request for Comments: 1192                                       Harvard
                                                           November 1990


                   Commercialization of the Internet
                            Summary Report

Status of this Memo

   This memo is based on a workshop held by the Science, Technology and
   Public Policy Program of the John F. Kennedy School of Government,
   Harvard University, March 1-3, 1990.

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
   not specify any standard.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Introduction

   "The networks of Stages 2 and 3 will be implemented and operated so
   that they can become commercialized; industry will then be able to
   supplant the government in supplying these network services."  --
   Federal Research Internet Coordinating Committee, Program Plan for
   the National Research and Education Network, May 23, 1989, pp. 4-5.

   "The NREN should be the prototype of a new national information
   infrastructure which could be available to every home, office and
   factory.  Wherever information is used, from manufacturing to high-
   definition home video entertainment, and most particularly in
   education, the country will benefit from deployment of this
   technology....  The corresponding ease of inter-computer
   communication will then provide the benefits associated with the NREN
   to the entire nation, improving the productivity of all information-
   handling activities.  To achieve this end, the deployment of the
   Stage 3 NREN will include a specific, structured process resulting in
   transition of the network from a government operation a commercial
   service."  -- Office of Science and Technology Policy, The Federal
   High Performance Computing Program, September 8, 1989, pp. 32, 35.

   "The National Science Foundation shall, in cooperation with the
   Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Department of
   Commerce, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and
   other appropriate agencies, provide for the establishment of a
   national multi-gigabit-per-second research and education computer
   network by 1996, to be known as the National Research and Education
   Network, which shall:

        (1) link government, industry, and the education



Kahin