Don Nolan-Proxmire
Headquarters, Washington, DC     August 17, 1995
(Phone:  202/358-1983)

Cam Martin
Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA
(Phone:  805/258-3448)

Michael Finneran
Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA
(Phone:  804/864-8150)

Michael Mewhinney
Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA
(Phone:  415/604-3938)


RELEASE:  95-141

LOW-COST NETWORKING TECHNOLOGY OPENS INTERNET ACCESS FOR THE 
NATION'S K-12 SCHOOLS

    A revolutionary low-cost networking technology developed 
by NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, will soon make 
it possible for remotely located kindergarten through grade 12 
(K-12) schools to gain affordable access to the Internet.  
NASA's Information Infrastructure Technology and Applications 
program, IITA, (part of the High Performance Computing and 
Communications initiative) recently connected two high schools 
in California's Mojave desert to the Internet under this 
program. 

    This unique networking solution is based on high-speed 
asynchronous modems using data compression and World Wide Web 
disk caching to emulate a high-bandwidth connection.  High-
bandwidth connections are generally so costly that they are 
beyond the reach of K-12 schools.  Data services over phone 
lines that emulate high-bandwidth connections should bring 
these services within their reach. 

    NASA's effort in this area demonstrates that the 
educational benefit of a National Information Infrastructure 
(NII) can be extended to all Americans regardless of their 
geographic location or economic circumstances.  Silver Valley 
High School (Yermo, CA) and Barstow High School (Barstow, CA) 
were chosen as the initial sites for this technology based on 
their remote location in the Mojave desert and their proximity 
to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA, which 
collaborates with Langley.  This project demonstrates that 
remotely located schools can economically be placed "next 
door" to the rest of the nation's schools as they plug in to 
the NII.

    NASA provided the funds for the computer hardware, 
software, training, Internet connections, and systems 
development for this project.  NASA also will provide 
expertise and limited consultation.  The schools have been 
outfitted with a premiere network solution that is inexpensive 
by contemporary terms, upwardly compatible for new network 
infrastructures and can be duplicated across the country.  
Silver Valley and Barstow will immediately broaden their 
outreach to the entire educational community on the Internet, 
which reaches all 50 states and over 170 countries around the 
world.  Teachers from the two high schools will attend 
Internet training workshops where they will develop computer 
proficiency and network literacy.  They will be instructed on 
computer system administration, security and ethics. 

    The World Wide Web home pages for these schools can be 
viewed at http://www.svhs.svusd.k12.ca.us and 
http://www.bhs.barstow.k12.ca.us, respectively.

    "NASA believes that through well designed, executed and 
publicized pilot programs such as the one planned for Silver 
Valley and Barstow, new NII technologies will be accelerated 
and made affordable for the K-12 community," said Mark Leon, 
deputy program manager for NASA's IITA Program.  "In this era 
of very tight public school budgets, NASA believes that unless 
the federal government supports the 'pathfinding' role of 
demonstration pilot projects, the technology will not make its 
way into America's schools for decades to come."

    The IITA program is managed by NASA's Ames Research 
Center, Mountain View, CA, and is coordinated with the 
Education Division at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

                    -end-

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