And now they were all going to get together and build their own backbone. They seemed to be moving back to the stage where they had a Net to themselves. The promise surrounding the new network held a definite appeal for those who joined. The hope was that you build the infrastructure, make it available, and there will be applications. Astronomers use the network to send huge data sets from telescopes and to manipulate those faraway telescopes.
Medical researchers use it to view complex anatomical models from many miles away.
Successful demonstrations of high-definition television transmissions have taken place over the network. And network specialists at several universities are using the Internet2 project to conduct experiments in computer networking itself. Internet2 is similar to the Internet in its earlier days in that its use is limited to those universities and a handful of corporate research centers that pay for the high-speed connection. If a researcher at an institution wants to send data to a researcher elsewhere over Internet2, both institutions must belong to the network. The cost to universities is high.