On the other hand network use is increasing rapidly for teaching and learning and new applications such as video conferencing, particularly desk top video, are emerging. Unfortunately the funding shortfall arises next year and the funding bodies have taken the view that the JISC top slice should not be increased in times of financial stringency. The Dearing recommendation was made in the light of the need to avoid dampening or damaging the use of the network for learning and teaching which is less likely to be affected by charges on transatlantic bandwidth. A cache service stores repeatedly used information so that it only needs to be carried across the international lines once in order to be shared by many users. Data from the service is being carefully stored and analysed in order to determine the most efficient means of managing usage through the cache.
Institutions can consider caching and mirroring important international data within their Intranets.
Student access to the World Wide Web can be controlled. The responses to Malcolm Read's letter of 22 September have also been considered. The group is making the following recommendations to the ACN but in some cases their decisions are subject to technical considerations which will require further investigation. Charging should be based on incoming transatlantic network traffic only from 1 August 1998. Therefore a simple algorithm was preferred over more complex ones that offered only marginal differences.