Commercialization of the Internet

Introduction

"The networks of Stages 2 and 3 will be implemented and operated so that they can become commercialized; industry will then be able to supplant the government in supplying these network services." -- Federal Research Internet Coordinating Committee, Program Plan for the National Research and Education Network, May 23, 1989, pp. 4-5. "The NREN should be the prototype of a new national information infrastructure which could be available to every home, office and factory. Wherever information is used, from manufacturing to high- definition home video entertainment, and most particularly in education, the country will benefit from deployment of this technology.... The corresponding ease of inter-computer communication will then provide the benefits associated with the NREN to the entire nation, improving the productivity of all information- handling activities. To achieve this end, the deployment of the Stage 3 NREN will include a specific, structured process resulting in transition of the network from a government operation a commercial service." -- Office of Science and Technology Policy, The Federal High Performance Computing Program, September 8, 1989, pp. 32, 35. "The National Science Foundation shall, in cooperation with the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and other appropriate agencies, provide for the establishment of a national multi-gigabit-per-second research and education computer network by 1996, to be known as the National Research and Education Network, which shall: (1) link government, industry, and the education community;

.... (6) be established in a manner which fosters and maintains competition and private sector investment in high speed data networking within the telecommunications industry; .... (8) be phased out when commercial networks can meet the networking needs of American researchers." -- S. 1067, 101st Congress, 2nd Session, as marked up April 3, 1990 ["High-Performance Computing Act of 1990"], Title II, Section 201.

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