BMUG Revelations/BMUG Revelations.toast/Telecom/InterNet/Net.Providers2

Text File | 1992-12-10 | 6.8 KB | 144 lines | [TEXT/SNTE]

Subject: NSF NIS Manager Award Announced



For Immediate Release

January 5, 1993


National Science Foundation Contact
Don Mitchell
[phone]
[e-mail]

Network Solutions Contact
Mary Bloch
[phone]
[e-mail]

AT&T Contact
Shelly London
[phone]
[e-mail]

General Atomics Contact
Susan Calcari
[phone]
[e-mail]


NSF NETWORK INFORMATION SERVICES AWARDS

In cooperation with the Internet community, the National Science
Foundation developed and released, in the spring of 1992, Project
Solicitation NSF92-24 for one or more Network Information Services
Managers (NIS Manager(s)) to provide and/or coordinate (i)
Registration Services, (ii) Directory and Database Services, and (iii)
Information Services for the NSFNET.  As a result of this solicitation,
three separate organizations were competitively selected to receive
cooperative agreements totalling over $12 million in the three areas
of (i) Registration Services, (ii) Directory and Database Services, and
(iii) Information Services.  Together, these three awards constitute
the NIS Manager(s) Project, named the INTERNIC.  Network Solutions
will provide registration services, AT&T will provide directory and
database services, and General Atomics will provide information
services.  It is important that the three project participants work
closely together to provide a seamless interface for users in need of
services.  For this reason, the three awardees, at the request of the
Foundation, have developed a detailed concept and plan to provide
this seamless interface called the "INTERNIC" and have agreed to the
structuring of their three separate awards as one collaborative
project.

Steve Wolff, Director of NSF's Division of Networking and
Communications Research and Infrastructure says, "We all feel
intuitively that the domestic Internet and the distributed
collaboration that it facilitates are rapidly creating a national
"workplace without walls".  These three awards to geographically
dispersed organizations for Network Information Services, which
require a high degree of coordination and collaboration, will both
exploit and demonstrate the success of the network in enabling such
distributed collaboration."

Consistent with FNC guidelines on obtaining reasonable cost recovery
from users of NREN networks, the NSF has determined that the
INTERNIC Information Services provider may charge users beyond
the U.S. research and education community for any services
provided.  Also, the INTERNIC Directory and Database Services
provider may charge a fee for maintenance of special databases, for
extensive directory listings and may charge users beyond the U.S.
research and education community. Finally, because the registration
function provided by the INTERNIC Registration Services applies to
domestic and international, commercial and individual users in
addition to research and educational users, it is expected that an
appropriate registration fee structure will take time to develop. NSF
expects to engage in an extensive discussion with the domestic and
international Internet community of the motivation, strategy and
tactics of imposing fees for these services during the next fifteen
months. Decisions will be implemented only after they have been
announced in advance and an opportunity given for additional public
comment.

Network Solutions will provide registration services as the IP
registrar, issue IP numbers worldwide using delegated registries
under the guidance of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority and
also register domain names, and track points of contact.
Applications for assignment will be accepted via email or facsimile.
The information from these assignments will be provided to the
directory and database services provider to be made available to the
entire Internet community.  As a part of the Domain registration
efforts Network Solutions will periodically release the top level zone
files to be used by all root Domain Name servers.

AT&T will develop and maintain a Directory of Directories, including
lists of FTP (File Transfer Protocol) sites, lists of various types of
servers available on the Internet, lists of white and yellow page
directories, library catalogs and data archives. AT&T will also
provide white and yellow pages type Directory Services. Access to
these services will initially be provided through several currently
popular in-use interface methods while migrating to the use of X.500
technology, the current standard specification for distributed
information storage and retrieval.  The database services which
AT&T will provide include the establishment of Database Services to
extend and supplement the resources of the NSFNET, such as
databases of contributed materials of common interest to the user
community.  AT&T will also offer database design, management, and
maintenance to institutions and groups for inclusion in the Internet.

General Atomics will provide Information Services acting as  the NIC
of first and last  resort and the NIC of NICs.  The INTERNIC
information services will include a full-service Reference Desk, a
database of comprehensive networking materials called the Info
Source, training classes and documentation, and coordination services
among all appropriate groups in the community.  In keeping with the
innovative spirit of the Internet, several new approaches to
distributing services will be implemented. Among these innovations
is NICLink, a user-friendly hypermedia interface offering access to
the Info Source and all the information it contains.  NICLink will be
distributed on both standard computer diskettes and CD-ROM.
Another is the concept of the Info Scout, an individual who will scout
out new resources and innovative uses of the network for inclusion
in the Info Source.

Network Solutions is a 400-person telecommunications analysis and
integration company headquartered in Northern Virginia.  Its
mission is to support its customers in achieving their missions
through the mastery and application of networking technology.
Network Solutions currently operates the DDN NIC.

AT&T is the leading provider of global information movement and
management products and services.  AT&T offers a wide array of
data communications services that includes private line, X.25, frame
relay, TCP/IP, protocol conversion, and electronic mail services.

General Atomics is a San Diego-based high-technology research and
development company and operates CERFnet and the San Diego
Supercomputer Center.  CERFnet is an Internet network service
provider that operates throughout the state of California and
nationally.  CERFnet was launched in the spring of 1989 with a $2.8
million grant from the National Science Foundation.  The San Diego
Supercomputer Center is a five year cooperative agreement funded
by the National Science Foundation to support high performance
computing.