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Business Keen to Help Pay for New Scientific Network

 

A new high-speed research link is on the way – more than a thousand times faster than the present Internet and aimed at a research world hungry for greater speed.

The US government has wisely decided to allow the private sector to raise a significant portion of the $1bn needed for a new high-performance Internet. It will be used by US universities and research centers. Through Department of Defense funding, the US government was largely responsible for the original Internet. At the time the Internet was being built, more than 20 years ago, there was little interest from the private sector. Companies failed to see the importance of what is now commonly called the ‘Information Superhighway.’

But now with the Internet a key commercial component in new markets such as electronic commerce, information services, and even telephone applications, the commercial value of a much faster Internet is easily seen. Internet 2, like the Internet, is designed primarily to offer highspeed communications between more than 100 universities and research centers within the US.

Offering potential speeds of more than a thousand times that of the current Internet, Internet 2 will aid collaboration among researchers for which the Internet is just too slow. Recruiting the private sector was easy. The government promised to award large contracts to participants in the project. And it was able to secure large contributions from key industrialists. Cisco Systems, which makes network equipment for Internet use, pledged $15m and other IT companies have also promised large sums. US private sector companies not only win good publicity from such a high profile project, but learn from the process and apply those lessons and technologies to their bread-and-butter markets.

So far, Internet 2 has made good progress. The first stage of the highspeed Internet 2 network was demonstrated recently at a conference in San Francisco. About 500 representatives of US research organizations and corporations involved in building the network witnessed a demonstration of a key part of the Internet 2 called Abilene. At a cost of $500m, Abilene will handle the communications between different sectors of Internet 2.

Although a private network, Internet 2 may be opened up to public use at some time in the future when its performance lags behind the needs of its users. In this way, the US government will ensure that a critical national resource, a high speed digital network, provides the infrastructure for future businesses and services.

 

Answer the following questions:

1. What has the US government wisely decided to allow?

2. Why was there little interest from the private sector 20 years ago?

3. Where is the commercial value of a much faster Internet easily seen?

4. What is Internet 2 designed for?

5. Recruiting the private sector wasn’t easy, was it?

6. Where was the first stage of the high-speed Internet 2 demonstrated?

7. What will the US government ensure in the future?.