1. Guy Almes <galmes@tamu.edu> Texas A&M University
Comments on the NSFnet
Guy Almes
Texas A&M University
Copyright 2008 Guy T. Almes Permission is given to redistribute for non-profit purposes, provided that this copyright notice is included.

2. Sesquinet
The narrow NSFnet mission: connecting scientists at 200 research universities to the five NSF supercomputer centers
So the first thanks go to:
Mary Wheeler
Ken Kennedy
and their students

3. Implementing this in Texas
Spring ’86 visit by Dennis Jennings of NSF
Initial leadership from Houston-area schools
Then close (if imperfect) cooperative relationship with THEnet
The ‘ride’ from 56 kb/s to 1.5 Mb/s to 45 Mb/s over five years
Oh, and let’s connect the students also

5. Key Sesquinet Contributors
Farrell Gerbode
Paul Milazzo
Evan Wetstone
Cathy Foulston
Stan Barber
Bill Manning

7. The Role of Architecture
“Health of Science” was evident to all
TCP/IP gave a clear basis of interoperability
We could all “think global and act local”
Today, with the dynamic circuit network, we suffer for the lack of such a basis of interoperability

8. Our Relationship with NSF
In the NSFnet program, NSF led with sustained funding for the backbone, seed funding for the mid-levels, and no funding for the campus networks
But by clear leadership, the “whole” was vastly greater than the sum of the parts
Could we do the same with Cyberinfrastructure?