From: cherry@OPAL.MGH.HARVARD.EDU
Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.genbank,bionet.software
Subject: Re: This is a question to bionet.software, commercial issue.
Date: 8 Jan 93 01:13:52 GMT
Reply-To: cherry@OPAL.MGH.HARVARD.EDU
Organization: Molecular Biology - Mass Gen Hospital

kristoff@net.bio.net (David Kristofferson) writes:
>BIOSCI/bionet is funded by NSF. When I get an instruction from my
>funding agency I attempt to carry it out. I place a call to Steve
>Wolff this morning and, as usual, had to leave a message because he is
>on the road until next Monday. I will also send him e-mail once
>again.
>
>What most of you who don't deal with these issues on a daily basis
>don't realize is that there appears to be a great reluctance for
>decisions to actually be finalized in this area for several reasons.
>Debates in Washington on these issues have dragged on for a long time
>and the rules are still being drafted. Because of the fact that many
>different networks with conflicting restrictions are all
>interconnected now, the regulations are a ruddy mess and all kinds of
>conflicting events happen. I am no happier about it than anyone else
>and frankly far less so than others because I am put in a position to
>defend what I think is a bad policy.

The included message below indicates that NSFnet (and thus the
Internet, most all of us use the NSFnet because it is the backbone)
will go commercial within a few years. At one point below 15 months
is stated as the goal for having the commericalization design
formulated. I would guess that with big business now running part of
the NSFnet services that commerical use of "the network" in general
will increase.

Mike Cherry

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From: Susan Estrada <estradas@nic.cerf.net>
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 93 10:38:01 -0500
Subject: NIS Manager Award Announced

January 5, 1993

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.

###

National Science Foundation Contact
Don Mitchell
(202) 357-9717
dmitchel@nsf.gov

Network Solutions Contact
Mary Bloch
(703) 742-4740
maryb@netsol.com

AT&T Contact
Shelly London
(908) 221-4355
london@attmail.com

General Atomics Contact
Susan Calcari
(619) 455-3900
calcaris@cerf.net