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NRC RELEASES NII REPORT
From: David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 15:10:32 -0400
COMPUTING RESEARCH ASSOCIATION BULLETI NRC RELEASES NII REPORT =========================================================================== The National Research Council released a new report on the National Information Infrastructure on May 25th. The report, "Realizing the Information Future," was written by the Committee on National Research and Education Network Issues (also know as the NRENAISSANCE Committee), chaired by Prof. Len Kleinrock, chair of the computer science department at UCLA. Although the 265 page report presents a lengthy and wide-ranging look at NII issues, Kleinrock highlighted two major themes of the report in his prerelease press briefing: (1) technology and network architecture and (2) the particular needs of the Research, Education, and Library (labeled REL in the report) communities. The committee acknowledged that the NII was clearly to be built and operated by the private sector, but it felt that these two areas needed continual federal attention. In particular, while praising the work of the administration's Information Infrastructure Task Force (IITF), an cabinet level interagency group chaired by Ron Brown, secretary of Commerce, the Committee noted two problems, lack of authority and long term commitment and that system architecture was not well represented, even though, as Kleinrock said in his press briefing, "Technology really matters." Kleinrock argued that the fundamental architecture of the NII **could** either present great new potential or severely restrict future applications, **depending on how it evolves.** The report develops a proposed high level network architecture **intended to ensure maximum flexibility**, defining a so-called "bearer layer" that draws a sharp line between transport services and applications. In the committee's view, this approach will provide for maximum competition and innovation on either side of the layer, while isolating each from affecting the other. Government attention should be focused on encouraging the development of standards for that layer. The committee goes on to discuss the particular needs of education research and libraries, arguing that these institutions have been at the forefront to date of exploring the potential benefits of an advanced information infrastructure and should continue to play that role. But, as publicly funded institutions, they can only continue to do so with continued government support and policies that guarantee affordable access. The report concludes with several recommendations for government action. It deliberately avoided current regulatory and legal questions. When questioned about why it did so, Kleinrock said that the committee felt that the most important and most needed contribution it could make was to focus on network architecture and the needs of the REL communities. This report is a vitally needed contribution to the NII debate. It should be required reading for anyone concerned about the NII, especially those in the research and education and libraries. The printed version will be available from the National Academy Press in about two weeks, and it will also be made available on the Academy's web server (http://www.nas.edu/).
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- NRC RELEASES NII REPORT David Farber (May 27)