I have submitted a paper for INET'95 that might be of interest: <URL:http://inet.nttam.com/HMP/PAPER/178/html/paper.html> ###################################################################### "Future Prospects for NSF's International Connections Program Activities" Steven N. Goldstein <sgoldste@nsf.gov> Abstract The National Science Foundation's (NSF) plans for ensuring that the U.S. research and education (R&E) communities will continue to be able to interact over the Internet with colleagues and resources abroad are discussed. NSF has recently transitioned from the custom-provided NSFNET Backbone national transit service for mid-level networks to service provision by several interconnected general purpose ("commercial") Internet service providers. It is anticipated that the plan for international services will be to "ratchet" up the capacity of transoceanic links well beyond the current T1/E1 levels, while minimizing NSF's role in direct service provision, much as NSF has done in the case of domestic service. In addition, NSF's role in facilitating the Internet connectivity of other countries in support of the R&E communities is likely to continue, and demonstration projects in advanced international-scale telecommunications technologies may also be supported. ... At this writing, the precise path to those ends is far from clear. However, a new solicitation for International Internet Services (IIS) has been drafted and is undergoing internal review. Regarding the IIS solicitation, NSF is considering multiple awards in as many as four categories: High-Bandwidth (at least 34 Mbps) Production-Quality Services, International Internet Connectivity Services, High Bandwidth (at least 155 Mbps) Experimental Service & Demonstrations, and Emerging Technology Experimental Service & Demonstrations. The following sections provide a glimpse into NSF's thinking about the new IIS, but it should be understood that these thoughts are preliminary and unofficial. ^^ ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^ ... ###################################################################### There is no way of knowing how long it will take to complete the management reviews and to issue the solicitation, or if the solicitation(s) will emerge in one or in several separate pieces (i.e., subsets of the four categories of services above). We are _targeting_ late May/early June for issuing the solicitation in hopes of being able to make an award, following receipt and review of proposals, by the end of CY1995. cheerz, Steve G. ================================================================ Steven N. Goldstein Program Director, Interagency & International Networking Coordination Div. of Networking and Communications Research & Infrastructure National Science Foundation 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Room 1175 Arlington, VA 22230 Tel: +1-703-306-1949 (Extension 1119) FAX: +1-703-306-0621 sgoldste@NSF.GOV ================================================================