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<NIC.MERIT.EDU> 12 March 1992
/internet/legislative.actions/hearing.12mar92/habermann.testimony
Testimony of
Dr. A. Nico Habermann and Dr. Stephen S. Wolff
Committee on Science, Space and Technology
Subcommittee on Science
March 12, 1992
Part 1: Testimony of Dr. A. Nico Habermann
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to appear before your committee
today to provide information about the exciting program in networking
supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and several other
agencies of the U.S. government. I am privileged to serve as the Assistant
Director of the NSF for the Computer and Information Science and
Engineering Directorate, which has responsibility for broad national
research, infrastructure and facilities programs in computer,
communications, and information sciences and engineering. Included among my
responsibilities is leadership of the overall NSF High Performance
Computing and Communications(HPCC) Program with its important components in
national Supercomputer Centers and the NSFNET, the subject of our
discussion today.
In this latter respect, I am pleased to be accompanied by my colleague Dr.
Stephen S. Wolff, Director of the Division of Networking & Communications
Research & Infrastructure (NCRI). Dr. Wolff has provided leadership for
this division since its inception and in this capacity has lead the
creation and development of the NSFNET and the emerging NREN program.
Before turning to Dr. Wolff, to elaborate on the NSFNET, I would very much
like to place this activity in the larger context that it impacts.
Background
The President's High Performance Computing and Communications Program,
which was announced on February 5, 1991, consists of four components, one
of which is the National Research and Education Network (NREN). The NSFNET
activity is part of the NREN component. The NREN is also a major subject of
the High Performance Computing Act of 1991 (P.L. 102-194) that was signed
by the President this past December. This Act, that your Committee was
instrumental in drafting, provides important impetus to the presidential
HPCC initiative.
Leadership and direction for the HPCC Program is provided by the Office of
Science and Technology Policy, through the FCCSET Committee on Physical,
Mathematical, and Engineering Sciences (PMES). The High Performance
Computing, Communications, and Information Technology (HPCCIT) subcommittee
is chartered under the PMES and is composed of an executive council and
four task groups to coordinate science and engineering computing, computer
research and development, Federal networking and communications, and
education. Since October 1991, I have
served as the Co-Chairman of this Networking activity.
As described in the Supplement to the President's FY 1993 Budget, "Grand
Challenges 1993: High Performance Computing and Communications", NSF is
designated as the coordinating agency for the NREN program. As the NREN
title indicates, to quote from the Grand Challenges report, "The NREN
program is both a goal of the HPCC Program and a key enabling technology
for success in the other components. The NREN is the future realization of
an interconnected gigabit computer network system supporting HPCC." If we
are successful in deploying this technology for the research and education
community, then aside from supporting current science and technology Grand
Challenge Applications that are important to federal mission agencies, it
will broadly influence communications technology development. However, it
is important to bear in mind, that the government program, as its name
implies, primarily supports computer and communications networking for
research and education, not general purpose usage. Nonetheless, the NREN
component incorporates important testbeds and research for new
communications technologies.
The NREN component is dedicated to promoting communications among
researchers, educators, and students in the U.S. The NREN activities
contribute directly to the goals of the High PerformanceComputing and
Communications Program in three ways:
1) by extending U.S. technological leadership in computer communications;
2) by enhancing the dissemination and application of computer and
communications technologies to enable advances on applications such as,
Grand Challenges; and
3) by demonstrating innovative new means of communication to spur gains in
U.S. productivity.
In order to achieve these goals, the NREN program consists of two
sub-components: one that supports the development and enhancement of
network backbone services, which serves the purpose of connecting a large
number of regional research and education networks - the Interagency
Interim NREN; and a second sub-component, which supports basic and
experimental research in the design of large-scale, high-speed networks for
future use (gigabit networks R&D).
The first NREN sub-component, developing connections between existing and
growing regional networks, includes three network backbones supported by
NSF, DOE and NASA. The backbone currently supported by NSF is the NSFNET,
which connects a large number of regional networks at a variety of
educational and research institutions throughout the U.S. The NSFNET
backbone, all of whose services are competitively procured from the private
sector, provides a networking superstructure that enables scientists and
educators to communicate across the boundaries of their regional networks.
The second NREN subcomponent, supporting networking research, includes a
collection of five gigabit testbed networks, connecting experimental sites
across the entire nation.
At each step of the development of the NSF NREN program, we must ask
ourselves why the government should continue to be involved with the
private sector in developing computer network infrastructure to support the
research and education community. Although the private sector plays an
increasingly important role, there are indeed cogent reasons why the
government should stay involved in important aspects of a host of
activities in network development and research. In order to put further
discussion regarding NSF's role in networking in perspective, it seems
proper to list here the main reasons, as we see them, for NSF's continued
involvement in support of technology development and deployment.
The proper and effective use of very high speed computer networks, and
the connection between networks will require innovative research across
various disciplines and technologies that government, industry, and
academia working together are uniquely capable of providing.
It is certain that the capabilities of networks can be increased at least
a hundred-fold to support a mode of interaction we can only dream of today.
(Imagine, for example, the impact of a hundred-fold increase in both
aircraft speed and passenger capacity on travel, military, and on airports,
etc!). To meet these challenges, industrial and academic R&D, coordinated
and focused by the Federal Government, will concentrate on the advanced
generic technologies required to realize a very high speed network.
Since there is practically no limit to further development of networking
technology, the research and education community should be stimulated to
find and explore innovative ways of communicating with each other and with
growing information sources. At this time, we think that the development
will lead to the use of networks for remote, interactive, real-time
computing. However, experience with the ARPANET, designed in the
mid-seventies, has shown that the outcome may well be both broader and
richer than our original expectations.
Networks help broaden the participation for the entire country by
providing equal access to advanced computer facilities, such as, the
supercomputer centers, for remote and relatively isolated parts of the
country and similarly help increase the involvement of minorities and
under-represented groups in the research and education enterprise. This
enables all scientists and students to more fully participate in
leading-edge research and education opportunities that otherwise might not
be affordable.
My final point supporting NSF involvement in this technology development
and deployment relates to the need to encourage all educational
institutions, including K-12, to explore the networking capabilities that
allow them to access and use the tools that researchers develop and utilize
in the work on the Grand Challenges. This can lead to more excitement in
education and may stimulate more students to enter science and engineering.
NSF welcomes the opportunity to work with the private sector on these and
all other aspects of networking to the benefit of our science and education
community in the interest of the Nation's future. And now with your
permission, I would like to turn to my colleague Dr. Stephen Wolff to
provide an overview of the current state of NSF's networking program and
summarize the management and development plan and associated policy issues.