The contractor providing the NAP's. State networks and other government agencies are on their own. NSF does not wish to clog the VBNS with low speed aggregate traffic unless additions are made to the network. Most of the existing NSFnet traffic would go over these commercial networks which would have to be paid for by the users. The usefulness of super computer systems has been grossly reduced by the technological advances associated with very powerful Unix work stations.
Super computers fill a diminishing niche in science and industry.
NSF is looking for potential users that can use more than one super computer center and use the VBNS to make the application work. Applications of this nature are a bit obscure. There are no specifications for commercial providers. NSF is asking the NSF super computer centers to develop demonstration applications which show how the network might be used. These applications would demonstrate, and not necessarly do anything useful.