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<NIC.MERIT.EDU> 12 March 1992
/internet/legislative.actions/hearing.12mar92/traxler.testimony
statement of
HONORABLE BOB TRAXLER
HOUSE SCIENCE, SPACE AND TECHNOLOGY
COMMITTEE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON SCIENCE
MARCH 12, 1992
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity
to appear before your Subcommittee today. This hearing
is an important step in the process of our fully
understanding and appreciating the various factors that
should be considered as we chart the future of computer
networking in this country.
I appear before you today as Chairman of the VA-HUD and
Independent Agencies Subcommittee of the House Appropriations
Committee. My Subcommittee has jurisdiction over the
National Science Foundation, an important player in the
creation and nurturing of NSFNet. I want you to know that
as Chairman of the Subcommittee that has recommended millions
of dollars for the creation of our nation's six federally
funded supercomputer centers and for NSFNet itself, I feel
extremely proud of the way in which that network has evolved.
The litany of accomplishments of the NSFNet is long and
impressive and, I believe, those accomplishments reflect
exactly what the Congress and NSF intended when setting up
the network. Virtually all observers agree that NSFNet has
been a resounding success. It is a stellar example of
cooperation between the federal government, the academic
research community and the private sector.
It is a homegrown system, if you will, that has given the
United States clear leadership in computing networking, while
at the same time providing boundless opportunities for
students, scientists, the business community--individuals
from virtually every walk of life--to access resources ranging
from electronic bulletin boards to supercomputers across this
continent and around the world.
NSFNet links our nation's institutions of higher education,
including some 65% of all universities, government and
research laboratories, representing a significant portion
of the larger Internet system, and also representing the
forerunner for the National Research and Education Network
(NREN). As such it has truly become an invaluable asset
critical to our nation's competitiveness. NSFNet, however,
is no monolith. Rather it is a "network of networks," with
its backbone now being tied into by some 5,000 individual
networks, an estimated 1,500 of them from outside the United
States, linking us to 36 other nations in Europe and the
Pacific Rim.
I am pleased with the evolution of NSFNet to date because I
believe it has provided one of the most outstanding examples
of inter-agency cooperation and it has thus effectively made
maximum use of our increasingly scarce federal resources.
Importantly, federal investment in NSFNet has leveraged private
investment. Merit Network, Inc., through its corporate
partners has invested four dollars for every federal dollar
expended. The regional education networks have invested many
times more. As a result, the network that has been created
continues to grow and to spread into all sectors of our nation's
daily commerce and educational experience.
I believe that through its practical development and
demonstration of networking techniques and capabilities, NSFNet
has put us many years ahead of where we otherwise would have
been in this endeavor. It has opened numerous commercial
opportunities and has paved thw way for the day when a neteork
of this enormity can in fact be sustained by the private
sector. In fact, through the efforts now underway to develop
and demonstrate networking technologies, business opportunities
have been created and will continue to emerge as we move toward
broader and broader "mass service" markets.
Are we there yet? I think that is one excellent question for
your hearings today. My personal feeling is that, even as
commercial opportunities grow, NSFNet has much work still to
be done. I would hope that we can keep the momentum and the
leadership we have in this area. I believe government
involvement can and should continue to be used to insure that
the breakneck pace of advancement in the field of computer
networking can be martialled to our further benefit.
Rather than impeding commercial opportunities, I believe NSFNet
has fostered them. That is just what I believe the Congress
intended. Likewise, I believe NSFNet is our best hope for
staying at the leading edge of networking technology worldwide.
Its work in creating networking standards and developing
technology transfer systems will continue to stimulate new uses
of the network and, therefore, further new commercial opportunities.
I congratulate you on your hearings today and I look forward
to working with you on this critically important project and
these important issues.