FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHOULD PAVE THE WAY FOR THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHOULD PAVE THE WAY FOR THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY
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NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL




NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES


NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING


INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE


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Office of News and Public Information


2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W.,


Washington, D.C. 20418


(202) 334-2138




Date: May 25, 1994


Contacts: Lee Tune, Media Relations Associate, Jennifer Cooke, Media
Relations Assistant, (202) 334-2138.




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FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHOULD PAVE THE WAY FOR THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY


WASHINGTON -- Achieving the vision of the "information superhighway" will
require that the federal government guide development of the technologies
and services used to create it says a new report* from a committee of the
National Research Council. The broad educational, scientific, and economic
goals espoused for the superhighway are unlikely to be reached if its
development is directed by the private sector alone, the report says.


"The Clinton Administration has elaborated an admirable vision of the
national information infrastructure that emphasizes social and economic
concerns, such as ensuring universal access, improving education, and
boosting economic competitiveness," said committee chair Leonard Kleinrock,
chair of the computer science department at the University of California,
Los Angeles. The administration now needs to address the many technical
issues that in fact are critical to achieving this vision, Kleinrock said.


The committee's report recommends that the federal government expand its
plan for the national information infrastructure to embrace what it calls
an open data network architecture. This architecture would be the technical
framework for developing and deploying the information superhighway.


The report also recommends that the government work with telephone and
cable television companies, as well as other relevant interests, to find
economic incentives for connecting homes, businesses, and public
institutions to the superhighway in open and interactive ways. These
hookups should allow two-way information transfer and the ability to carry
information in different forms, for example in both video and data formats.
These features are unlikely to be rapidly incorporated without federal
involvement because they may be more costly than single-application hookups
and less attractive to companies seeking a short-term competitive
advantage.


The open data network will not be a single monolithic technology, but a set
of interconnected technologies, the committee noted. Without a framework,
the pieces of the emerging communications infrastructure may not fit
together and people will not be able to combine the use of different kinds
of services or to switch among them with ease.


As envisioned by the committee, the open data network would build on the
strengths of the worldwide Internet. It would be easy to change and expand
and would be open to everyone who is linked into the system through their
computer, interactive television, or other device. It would also be open to
all providers of information, video, and other services. These services
would be carried in a seamless fashion by all kinds of network service
providers, such as America Online and CompuServe.


The result, the committee said, would be a smoothly interconnected web of
information networks, computers, databases, and consumer electronics that
could accommodate virtually any way of creating, transporting, and using
digitized information. The network would eventually link together homes,
workplaces, and public institutions in the United States and around the
world. The potential benefits of such an open data network can be glimpsed
in the experiences of the research and education communities where access
to high-speed networks through the worldwide Internet has begun to
radically change the way researchers work, educators teach, and students
learn.


However, the committee emphasized that achieving such an open network is
not automatic, but will require new approaches to networking and
information-handling technologies and standards. Cooperative efforts
between industry and government will be needed to fully develop and deploy
the kind of architecture required for this open data network.




A PIVOTAL JUNCTURE


1994 is a critical time in the evolution to a national information
infrastructure, the committee noted. Federal funding arrangements and
management responsibilities are being defined, commercial service providers
-- who ultimately will be the major funders of the information
infrastructure -- are playing an increasingly significant role in the
Internet, and non-academic use of the Internet is growing rapidly. "Wiring
up" the nation for an open data network will depend not only on defining
the purposes that the national information infrastructure should serve, but
also on ensuring that critical technical issues are considered and
appropriate hardware and software is put in place.


Drawing on its considerable expertise, the U.S. government should act
quickly to designate a federal body responsible for overseeing the
technical and policy aspects of this evolution. This body should
effectively blend the technical competence of the National Science and
Technology Council, which oversees the administration's high-performance
computing project, with the policy capabilities of the White House's
Information Infrastructure Task Force. This body needs to be able to
provide leadership for the extended period of time required to develop and
deploy an infrastructure with an open data network architecture, the report
says.


A vital aspect of this body's leadership would be to spearhead continued
federal involvement in the development of technical standards for the
national information infrastructure. The federal government should be an
advocate for the public interest and for standards that will help establish
a truly open and flexible infrastructure, the report says. The federal
government should not set the standards, but should participate in and
support the ongoing process of standards development more effectively than
it currently does.


Recognizing that, like the Internet, the national information
infrastructure will be fundamentally an international framework and not
just a national one, the federal government should encourage the
development of standards and policies that will facilitate international
communication.


"The government cannot build the information superhighway or dictate the
architecture for the national information infrastructure, but it can guide
the development of a framework and of standards that will foster common
interests and approaches among the many companies and institutions that
will build the superhighway," Kleinrock said.




ARCHITECTURE FOR AN OPEN DATA NETWORK


The key to achieving an open data network lies in reaching agreement among
all providers on an appropriate architecture. The report advocates one with
four levels of organization. The lower and middle levels serve to make the
underlying equipment and technologies (such as switches, direct broadcast
satellites, and wire-based or wireless circuits that actually form
networks) support the applications level. The applications level is
composed of the services individuals actually use, such as e-mail or
financial transactions systems, teleconferencing, or audio and video
services.


A critical benefit of this framework is that the first level is defined in
a way that separates network services from information services to better
allow a marketplace of service providers to flourish, the committee said.
Under this architecture the same company could be both a network service
provider and an information service provider. However, competitors would be
allowed to enter the marketplace at either level.


Another advantage of this architecture is that keeping the levels of
service distinct will allow for changes to be made at one level, such as
replacing copper wire to homes with fiber-optic wire or introducing new
kinds of services, without affecting other levels.




ROLE IN EDUCATION


The committee recommended that the U.S. Department of Education develop
technical competence in the role of information networking in K-12
education so that the department can take a leadership role in making kids
and teachers major beneficiaries of the information superhighway.


The department should articulate the objectives and the benefits of
information networking in schools to other federal agencies, state
departments of education, and other members of the education community. It
should set an aggressive agenda for research on the use of information
networking technology in education and should define a national plan for
the educational use of this technology that can guide efforts at the state
and local level. The department should immediately begin developing the
technical competence it will need for this leadership role, and in the
meantime should pursue collaborations with the National Science Foundation
and other research agencies.


The Education Department should continue, and if possible expand, federal
matching grants for local community, state, and industrial funds, to
stimulate grass-roots deployment of networks in the schools, the committee
said.




ADDITONAL RECOMMENDATIONS


The last decade has seen a powerful transformation in the work done at
colleges, universities, libraries, and other institutions where information
networking using the Internet has become integral. The report also
recommends that the federal government consider temporary subsidies for
those education and research institutions where the commercialization of
the Internet generates exceptional financial hardships.


"It is important to ensure that this country maintains its clear technical
leadership and competitive advantage in information infrastructure and
networking," the committee said. It recommended that the current federal
program for research in information networks be maintained or expanded. The
National Science Foundation and the other federal agencies that are
currently funding this research should place a strong focus on network
architecture, information management, and other emerging issues relating to
large-scale, complex, and flexible networks. Such research can contribute
to network development, to new concepts for network services, and to new
principles and designs in key areas such as security and adaptability.


The study was sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The National
Research Council is the principal operating agency of the National Academy
of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. It is a private,
non-profit institution that provides science and technology advice under a
congressional charter. A committee roster is overleaf.


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*The report, Realizing the Information Future, is expected to be available
in June from the National Academy Press at the mailing address in the
letterhead; tel. (202) 334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242. Reporters only may
obtain pre-publication copies from the Office of News and Public
Information at the letterhead address (contacts listed above).




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National Research Council


Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications


Computer Science and Telecommunications Board


Committee on National Research and Education Network Issues:


Leonard Kleinrock* (chair), Chair, Computer Science Department, School of
Engineering and Applied Science, University of California, Los Angeles




Cynthia H. Braddon, President of Washington Affairs, McGraw-Hill Publishing
Co., Washington, D.C.




David D. Clark, Senior Research Scientist, Laboratory for Computer Science,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge




William J. Emery, Professor, Colorado Center of Astrodynamics Research,
University of Colorado, Boulder




David J. Farber, Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunication
Systems, Computer and Information Sciences, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia




A.G. Fraser, Executive Director, Research Information Sciences Division,
AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, N.J.




Russell D. Hensley, Executive Director, Center for Telecommunications and
Information Systems Management, Christian Brothers University, Memphis,
Tenn.




Lawrence H. Landweber, Professor, Department of Computing Science,
University of Wisconsin, Madison




Robert W. Lucky*, Vice President, Applied Research, Bell Communications
Research, Red Bank, N.J.




Susan Nutter, Director of Libraries, North Carolina State University, Raleigh




Radia Perlman, Novell Corp., Acton, Mass. (current residence)




Susan Schweizer, Manager, Telecommunications Strategy and Service
Management, Digital Equipment Corp., Littleton, Mass.




Connie D. Stout, Director, Texas Education Network, Texas Education Agency,
Austin




Charles E. Taylor, Co-Director, Cognitive Science Research Program,
University of California, Los Angeles




Thomas W. West, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Information Resources and
Technology, California State University, Long Beach




SPECIAL ADVISER


Robert E. Kahn*, President, Corp. for National Research Initiatives, Reston, Va.


* Member, National Academy of Engineering




Research council Staff


Marjory Blumenthal, Study Director


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