RFC 1259 (rfc1259) - Page 1 of 23

Building the open road: The NREN as test-bed for the national public network

Network Working Group                                           M. Kapor
Request for Comments: 1259                Electronic Frontier Foundation
                                                          September 1991


                        Building The Open Road:
          The NREN As Test-Bed For The National Public Network


Status of this Memo

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

Introduction

   A debate has begun about the future of America's communications
   infrastructure.  At stake is the future of the web of information
   links organically evolving from computer and telephone systems.  By
   the end of the next decade, these links will connect nearly all homes
   and businesses in the U.S.  They will serve as the main channels for
   commerce, learning, education, and entertainment in our society.  The
   new information infrastructure will not be created in a single step:
   neither by a massive infusion of public funds, nor with the private
   capital of a few tycoons, such as those who built the railroads.
   Rather the national, public broadband digital network will emerge
   from the "convergence" of the public telephone network, the cable
   television distribution system, and other networks such as the
   Internet.

   The United States Congress is now taking a critical step toward what
   I call the National Public Network, with its authorization of the
   National Research and Education Network (NREN, pronounced "en-ren").
   Not only will the NREN meet the computer and communication needs of
   scientists, researchers, and educators, but also, if properly
   implemented, it could demonstrate how a broadband network can be used
   in the future.  As policy makers debate the role of the public
   telephone and other existing information networks in the nation's
   information infrastructure, the NREN can serve as a working test-bed
   for new technologies, applications, and governing policies that will
   ultimately shape the larger national network.  Congress has indicated
   its intention that the NREN

      would provide American researchers and educators with the computer
      and information resources they need, while demonstrating how
      advanced computer, high speed networks, and electronic databases
      can improve the national information infrastructure for use by all



Kapor