internet for the rest of the universe

[James Helman]

Right vision (universal access), wrong method (vendor sponsored link
to a government funded WAN).

Regulations prohibit the commercial use of the Internet.  Regulations
change, but currently, SGI is not in a position to offer Internet
access to its customers.  They're not in the network business anyway.
But companies such as PSI (profit) and UUNET (non-profit) are.  Both
offer Internet access (subject to the usage guidelines).  If you've
got the money, they've got the connection.  And the Internet (or
rather it's successor, the National Research and Education Network)
will eventually be commercialized (although how to best do it is
non-obvious, see RFC1192).  Being phased out when commerical services
can meet the country's networking needs is actually part of NREN's
mandate.  We're just using the prototype (Internet) of the prototype
(NREN) of a commericial network.

   "The NREN should be the prototype of a new national information
   infrastructure which could be available to every home, office and
   factory.  ....  The corresponding ease of inter-computer
   communication will then provide the benefits associated with the
   NREN to the entire nation, improving the productivity of all
   information- handling activities.  To achieve this end, the
   deployment of the Stage 3 NREN will include a specific, structured
   process resulting in transition of the network from a government
   operation a commercial service."  -- Office of Science and
   Technology Policy, The Federal High Performance Computing Program,
   September 8, 1989, pp. 32, 35.

Jim Helman
Department of Applied Physics			Durand 012
Stanford University				FAX: (415) 725-3377
(jim at KAOS.stanford.edu) 			Work: (415) 723-9127