But on the other hand, even though 'technically or administratively' MAE_WEST RA was of named status 'not-production'; when it crashed if it effected the daily production operation of networks, then questions and introspection are expected.
Yo, Timster, Please reread the solicitation again carfully. I am not aware of any language that indicates MAE-WEST, housed at NASA-AMES or MFS-SanJose was part of the agreement. These systems were put there out of the good graces of ISI and MERIT. No-one was paying for them or thier on-going operations. When folks wanted to peer, they were explicitly told these were not production machines. Something that the RA team did on the side, with spare cycles, BECAUSE it was/is important. Now, lets look a bit more into that high dollar award, shall we? Reread that soliciation again. No where does it state that the RA gets a free ride at any of the NAPS. We have to pay, just like everyone else. And we have two connections, where most everyone else has one. And who is the RA paying, with our award dollars? Your right! Its your local telco/NAP operator. Just as a datapoint, one of them had set inital pricing at $60,000.00 per MONTH per connection. They have been talked down from that number, but it still would eat that paltry 10M award in much less than 5 years. -- --bill