NSFNET: The Partnership that Changed the World

Internet2, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

From its inception in 1987 as a part of NSF's overall inventory of high speed computing and communications infrastructure development, the NSFNET program was a pioneering force in academic computing infrastructure development and in the enhancement of research efforts through advanced network services. The NSFNET backbone, in its support of the broader set of NSFNET programs, linked scientists and educators on university campuses nationwide to each other and to their counterparts in universities, laboratories, government agencies, and research centers throughout the world. By design, NSFNET backbone made high speed networking available to national supercomputer centers and to inter-linked regional networks, which in turn worked to extend network availability to other research and educational organizations. Previously, only specific communities in computer science had limited access to networks such as CSNET, BITNET, and ARPANET, so the introduction of the NSFNET backbone represented a significant development in creating a unified and more comprehensive network infrastructure. By combining high-speed networking and connections between the supercomputing centers and regional networks, NSF created a "network of networks" that served as the focal point of nationwide networking during a critical period of development and that formed the foundation of an immediate precursor to today's Internet. The project has had a lasting and significant impact over the intervening twenty years on the technology of network science, the revolution in communication, the fostering of global and multidisciplinary scientific interaction, and the practice of public and private partnership. To recognize this impact, Internet2 and Merit Network, Inc. propose a workshop to celebrate NSFNET's history and impact and to discuss and anticipate future applications and infrastructure development. The workshop is timed to mark the twentieth anniversary of the cooperative agreement, initiated in 1987, that advanced the NSFNET backbone to a truly high speed network. As one of the most significant parts of the Internet's development, the history and celebration of NSFNET represents a tool to help understand the future while learning from the past. The intellectual merit of this workshop lies in its contributions to the advancement of knowledge in advanced networking; reflection on historic perspectives; impact on science, research, education, and industry; international implications; and consideration of the future. Because the workshop will include pioneers in advanced networking development and because its proceedings will be widely available, it is likely to have broad impact in education, and in enhancing the long-term study of network architecture and management. By gathering key individuals together to reflect on this key history and to determine how it can inform the future, a greater understanding of the development of the Internet and the role of advanced networking in society will be realized beyond the higher education community. The archived information will provide a resource for a broad spectrum of people, including students, scholars, and the public at large and will help illustrate the role of federally funded research in national economic development. The project has an extensive educational component including the participation of a group of K-12 students at the meeting and attending remotely from eight mega-conference centers and via real-time webcast.