The lab facilities will be tailored to the requirements of individual institutions, as defined by the plans and curriculum content defined in their proposals. Up to ten awards may be made in a round. Proposals not selected in the first round may be resubmitted in round 2. Any United States college or university faculty member who will be teaching networking courses during the academic year may submit proposals for Phase I of the solicitation. Sample lab configurations are provided with the solicitation for illustrative purposes.
Proposals require a letter of commitment of staff and facilities from the institution.
During Phase I of the ITL project, equipment to support a total of approximately 15 Internet Teaching Labs will be available. The ITL equipment is to be used for teaching and research purposes only, and is not to be incorporated into any production networking efforts at the receiving institution. Transfer of routers and associated equipment will be directly from Cisco Systems to selected universities. Shipment of routers to recipient schools is expected to occur within three to eight weeks following notification of awards. Illustrative lab exercises are also being developed and will be made available on the IEC Web site.