The gateway is basically a building with telecommunications equipment that will let users connect to the developing I2 network services. Various government-run networks are not yet fast enough to support public use. Adding public access would slow the network's development, said officials at an NSF I2 demonstration in Washington last month. GTE and Bell Atlantic officials have said they will eventually sell gateway access to the public. George Strawn, director of NSF's Advanced Networking Infrastructure and Research Division, said the foundation's goal of sending data a thousand times faster than via the Internet now seems possible for I2.
Similar gateways are under construction around the nation.
MAX project officials said that every major city in the United States will likely have its own I2 gateway within the next five years. All rights reserved.