There are three connection categories included in NSF's vBNS program:
a) connections for K-12 institutions, libraries, and museums that utilize innovative technologies for Internet access;
b) new connections for higher education institutions;
c) connections for research and education institutions and facilities that have meritorious applications with special network requirements (such as high bandwidth and/or bounded latency) that cannot readily be met through commodity network service providers.
In the process of implementing the vBNS, higher education researchers and network service providers are learning how to make networks faster, more flexible and more reliable. For example, the ability of network users to specify different "levels of service" for differing applications, is being investigated.
The NSF Division of Networking and Communications Research and Infrastructure (NCRI) accepts applications for funding under the "Connections to the Internet" program in January and July. The program announcement offers complete information about elibibility and requirements.
As the vBNS continues to grow and evolve, it is believed that in some aspects it will become integrated with the newly announced Internet II Project.
For more information about the vBNS, including technical details and maps, see the vBNS Web site or the National Laboratory for Applied Network Research (NLANR) Web site.
Internet II:
The Internet II project is a collaborative effort between higher education, the
private sector, and federal research agencies to develop a leading edge network
capability for the national research community . Development efforts will focus
on a new generation of applications that fully exploit the capabilities of
broadband networks, such as media integration, interactivity, and real time
collaboration. Internet II will enable the delivery of multimedia teaching
materials as well as foster distance education, and high speed data transfers
between national labs.
The concept of the next generation Internet for research and education was discussed at a workshop sponsored by Educom Networking and Telecommunications Task Force (NTTF), in June of 1995 in Monterey. The concept was further developed at a second workshop sponsored by FARNET and NSF in Cheyenne in August of 1996. The intitial project announcement was released at the Educom conference in Philadelphia on October 8, 1996.
The Internet II project has thirty-seven university charter members collaborating with several leading computer and telecommunicatons companies, including Cisco Systems, Sun, IBM, AT&T, MCI. The new network will support much higher data rates, and differentiated levels of service so that projects requiring high bandwidth can get the connectivity they require. The work is developmental and pre-competitive in nature. Internet II will allow for proof-of-concept testing for these new network technologies that will eventually benefit the general Internet community.
Forming the backbone of the Internet II design is a series of GigaPOP connection points between participating institutions and network service providers. Each GigaPOP will support:
For more information on the project, the member institutions and working committees, and the architecture, see the Internet II Project announcement that was released at the Educom conference in October.
An official Web site for the Internet II Project is under development, and a link will be available here as soon as it is announced.
Information Sites:
NSF Program Announcement - Connections to the Internet (vBNS)
NLANR (vBNS support group)
Monterey Workshop - June 1995 Educom NTTF
Cheyenne Workshop - August 1996 FARNET