30 Sep
1996
30 Sep
'96
1:53 p.m.
This was to keep the old NSF mid-level networks from losing connectivity with each other if they happened to choose different NSPs. I'm guessing the NSF connection program has wound down by now, so this isn't that much of a factor any more.
Erm, rather a large number of entities still receive NSF connection funding. It's rather amusing what some of them do with it. :-) -alan