The owners of CICNet are the Big 10 Universities plus the University of Chicago. The staff has grown from 3 to 20-25. There are offices in Ann Arbor and Evanston. CICNet operates NetIllinois with CICNet employees. CICNet also provisions connectivity for the Iowa state network.
Viability is anticipated to come from value-added services in addition to connectivity.
A change in philosophy is represented by a new arrangement with the University of Minnesota. CICNet is provisioning Minnesota via MCI directly rather than with CICNet circuits. CICNet is still providing services and support, which is worth the membership to Minnesota. NetIllinois, Inc. is established with a Board of Directors having fiduciary responsibilities. This corporation is used to issue grant requests.