Merit's History

The NSFNET Backbone Project, 1987 - 1995

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NSFNET Partnership - ftp://nic.merit.edu/merit/archive/nsfnet/ - index_files/nsfnet-small.gif

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NSFNET: A Partnership for High-Speed Networking

Final Report 1987 - 1995

Introduction

Coming Together

Merit and the Community to Serve: Research & Education
The Role of Industry: IBM and MCI
The Role of Government: The National Science Foundation
The Vision: Networking the Research and Education Community
The Solicitation
Drafting the Proposal and Winning the Award
The Partnership

Building a National Backbone Service
Transition to T-3: Challenges and Opportunities
Milestones in Technology
The NSFNET Phenomenon
Education and Outreach: To the Academic Community and Beyond
Realizing the Vision: Lessons and Insights from the Project Team

Transition to the Future

A New Architecture for the NSFNET

Conclusion

Acknowledgements