National Science Foundation Network

The National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) was a program of coordinated, evolving projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) from 1985 to 1995 to promote advanced research and education networking in the United States.^[1] The program created several nationwide backbone computer networks in support of these initiatives. It was created to link researchers to the NSF-funded supercomputing centers. Later, with additional public funding and also with private industry partnerships, the network developed into a major part of the Internet backbone.

National Science Foundation Network

Data

USA

TCP/IP and OSI

Merit Network with IBM, MCI, the State of Michigan, and later ANS

1985 (1985)

Decommissioned April 30, 1995, superseded by the commercial Internet

National Science Foundation

NSFNET history

The National Science Foundation permitted only government agencies and universities to use the network until 1989 when the first commercial Internet service provider emerged. By 1991, the NSF removed access restrictions and the commercial ISP business grew rapidly.^[2]

at Princeton University

John von Neumann Center

at Cornell University

Cornell Theory Center

(PSC), a joint effort of Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Westinghouse

Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center

(NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

National Center for Supercomputing Applications

(SDSC) on the campus of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD)

San Diego Supercomputer Center

BARRNet, the Bay Area Regional Research Network in ;

Palo Alto, California

California Education and Research Federation Network in San Diego, California, serving California and Nevada;

CERFnet

CICNet, the Network via the Merit Network in Ann Arbor, Michigan and later as part of the T-3 upgrade via Argonne National Laboratory outside of Chicago, serving the Big Ten Universities and the University of Chicago in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin;

Committee on Institutional Cooperation

JVNCNet, the John von Neumann National Supercomputer Center Network in , connected the universities that made up the Consortium for Scientific Computing as well as a few New Jersey Universities. There were 1.5 Mbit/s (T-1) links to Princeton University, Rutgers University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh, Yale University, The Institute for Advanced Study, Pennsylvania State University, Rochester Institute of Technology, New York University, The University of Colorado and The University of Arizona.^[25]

Princeton, New Jersey

in Ann Arbor, Michigan serving Michigan, formed in 1966, still in operation as of 2013;^[26]

Merit/MichNet

in Lincoln, Nebraska the first NSFNET regional backbone to become operational in the Summer of 1986, serving Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and South Dakota, later acquired by Global Internet, which was acquired by Verio, Inc.;

MIDnet

the New England Academic and Research Network in Cambridge, Massachusetts, added as part of the upgrade to T-3, serving Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, established in late 1988, operated by BBN under contract to MIT, BBN assumed responsibility for NEARNET on 1 July 1993;^[27]

NEARNET

NorthWestNet in , serving Alaska, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, and Washington, founded in 1987;^[28]

Seattle, Washington

New York State Education and Research Network in Ithaca, New York;

NYSERNet

SESQUINET, the Sesquicentennial Network in , founded during the 150th anniversary of the State of Texas;

Houston, Texas

the Southeastern Universities Research Association network in College Park, Maryland and later as part of the T-3 upgrade in Atlanta, Georgia serving Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, sold to BBN in 1994; and

SURAnet

Westnet in and Boulder, Colorado, serving Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.

Salt Lake City, Utah

In addition to the five NSF supercomputer centers (which operated regional networks, e.g., SDSCnet^[22] and NCSAnet^[23]), NSFNET provided connectivity to eleven regional networks and through these networks to many smaller regional and campus networks. The NSFNET regional networks were:^[11]^[24]

that the NSFNET Backbone Service was not diminished;

that ANS CO+RE recovered at least the average cost of the commercial traffic traversing the network; and

that any excess revenues recovered above the cost of carrying the commercial traffic would be placed into an infrastructure pool to be distributed by an allocation committee broadly representative of the networking community to enhance and extend national and regional networking infrastructure and support.

stating that "[i]n general we were favorably impressed with the NSFNET program and staff";

finding no serious problems with the administration, management, and use of the NSFNET Backbone Service;

complimenting the NSFNET partners, saying that "the exchange of views among NSF, the NSFNET provider (Merit/ANS), and the users of NSFNET [via a bulletin board system], is truly remarkable in a program of the federal government"; and

making 17 "recommendations to correct certain deficiencies and strengthen the upcoming re-solicitation."

For much of the period from 1987 to 1995, following the opening up of the Internet through NSFNET and in particular after the creation of the for-profit ANS CO+RE in May 1991, some Internet stakeholders^[49] were concerned over the effects of privatization and the manner in which ANS, IBM, and MCI received a perceived competitive advantage in leveraging federal research money to gain ground in fields in which other companies allegedly were more competitive. The Cook Report on the Internet,^[50] which still exists, evolved as one of its largest critics. Other writers, such as Chetly Zarko, a University of Michigan alumnus and freelance investigative writer, offered their own critiques.^[51]

On March 12, 1992 the Subcommittee on Science of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives, held a hearing to review the management of NSFNET.^[31] Witnesses at the hearing were asked to focus on the agreement(s) that NSF put in place for the operation of the NSFNET backbone, the foundation's plan for recompetition of those agreements, and to help the subcommittee explore whether the NSF's policies provided a level playing field for network service providers, ensured that the network was responsive to user needs, and provided for effective network management. The subcommittee heard from seven witnesses, asked them a number of questions, and received written statements from all seven as well as from three others. At the end of the hearing, speaking to the two witnesses from NSF, Dr. Nico Habermann, Assistant NSF Director for the Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate (CISE), and Dr. Stephen Wolff, Director of NSF's Division of Networking & Communications Research & Infrastructure (DNCRI), Representative Boucher, Chairman of the subcommittee, said:

Subsequently, the subcommittee drafted legislation, becoming law on October 23, 1992, which authorized the National Science Foundation

This legislation allowed, but did not require, NSF to repeal or modify its existing NSFNET Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)^[30] which restricted network use to activities in support of research and education.^[33]

The hearing also led to a request from Rep. Boucher asking the NSF Inspector General to conduct a review of NSF's administration of NSFNET. The NSF Office of the Inspector General released its report on March 23, 1993.^[36] The report concluded by:

History of the Internet

National Science Foundation

The Internet - the Launch of NSFNET

Karen D. Frazer, Merit Network, Inc., 1995

NSFNET: A Partnership for High-Speed Networking, Final Report 1987-1995

National Science Foundation, December 2007

NSF and the Birth of the Internet

from Hans-Werner Braun, Co-Principal Investigator for the NSFNET Project at Merit Network, and later, Research Scientist at the University of California, San Diego, and Adjunct Professor at San Diego State University

NSFNET notes, summary, photos, reflections, and a video

Jay P. Kesan and Rajiv C. Shah, Washington University Law Review, Volume 79, Issue 1 (2001)

"Fool Us Once Shame on You—Fool Us Twice Shame on Us: What We Can Learn from the Privatizations of the Internet Backbone Network and the Domain Name System"

one of IBM’s 100 Icons of Progress, by Stephen Grillo, February 11, 2011, highlights IBM's contribution to NSFNET as part of its celebration of IBM's centennial year

"The Rise of the Internet"

Merit Network: A history

NSFNET Link Letter Archive

National Science Foundation Network