How will Internet2 benefit current Internet users?

Just as today's Internet arose from the academic and federal research networks of the 1980's, Internet2 is helping to develop and test new technologies, such as IPv6, multicasting, and quality of service (QoS), that will enable a new generation of Internet applications. This will ultimately benefit all sectors of society. The wisdom of this approach has been proven by the rise of today's Internet from the academic and federal research networks of the eighties. Internet2 will replicate this success for the new millennium by engaging the university community in pre-commercial networking development.

Is Internet2 a separate network? Will Internet2 replace the current commercial Internet?

Internet2 is not a physical network that will replace the Internet. Rather, Internet2's goal is to bring together institutions and resources to develop new technologies and capabilities that can then be deployed in the global Internet. Universities will maintain, and continue to experience substantial growth in the use of, existing Internet connections, which they will still obtain from commercial providers.

In fact, the commercial sector is a full partner in this project, and will benefit from applications and technology developed by Internet2 members. The Internet2 project has over a dozen leading companies as partners in this effort. Just as email and the World Wide Web are legacies of earlier investments in academic and federal research networks, the legacy of Internet2 will be technologies adopted by, and deployed in, commercial networks.

What is the relationship between the Next Generation Internet (NGI) and Internet2?

The university-led Internet2 effort and the federally-led NGI initiative are complementary and are already working together in many areas. For example, the Internet2 program is in partnership with the National Science Foundation (NSF)  merit-based High Performance Connections program. Over 90 Internet2 universities have received competitively awarded grants to support connections to advanced backbone networks such as UCAID's Abilene and the very high performance Backbone Network Service (vBNS) developed by the NSF and MCI/Worldcom.

Internet2 is also participating in the NGI Joint Engineering Task Force (JET) to ensure the cohesiveness and interoperability of the technologies Internet2 is developing. Additional cooperative relationships are being planned as part of NGI implementation. As Internet2 develops among university members, NGI programs go forward at federal agencies, and commercial vendors and other organizations continue to create new backbone networks, it will be crucial to ensure the interoperability of these networks and the widest possible availability of advanced services and applications.

Why are universities taking the lead in Internet2?

Universities are a principal source of both the demand for advanced networking technologies and the talent needed to implement them. University research and education missions increasingly require the collaboration of personnel and hardware located at campuses throughout the country. These are exactly the types of tasks that are not possible on today's Internet and which need the technologies Internet2 seeks to create. At the same time, the level of computer networking expertise at Internet2 member universities is unsurpassed. Universities have a long history of developing advanced research networks and putting them to work. This combination of needs and resources provides a perfect setting for developing the next generation of Internet capabilities.

How much will Internet2 cost, and where will the money come from?

Internet2 member universities have committed over $70 million per year in new investment on their own campuses for the I2 project. Internet2 corporate members have committed more than $30 million over the life of the project. In addition, Internet2 member institutions may receive funding in the form of competitively awarded grants from the NSF and other federal agencies participating in the federal Next Generation Internet initiative. Substantial related federal R&D funding will be awarded through related agency applications initiatives such as the NSF's Knowledge and Distributed Intelligence (KDI) program.

What about educational institutions that are not Internet2 members?

Participation in Internet2 is open to any university that commits to providing on-campus facilities that will allow advanced applications development. The investment this requires may be more than many institutions can manage right now. However, Internet2 intends to rapidly transfer the results of its work to the broader networking community. The cost of the technologies used and developed by Internet2 will soon drop within the reach of any institution that has a commodity Internet connection. Fifteen years ago, connecting to the Internet could be as expensive as participating in Internet2 is today. As the technology dropped in price, the entire academic community benefited from the efforts of the initial research participants. Deployment of Internet2 technology will follow a similar pattern.

What are some of Internet2's long-term goals?

A key goal of this effort is to accelerate the diffusion of advanced Internet technology, in particular into the commercial sector. In this way, Internet2 will help to sustain United States leadership in internetworking technology. Internet2 will benefit non-university members of the educational community as well, especially K-12 and public libraries.

Internet2 and its members aim to share their expertise with as wide a range of computer users as possible. This is the approach that characterized the first Internet and it can work again today.

How will Internet2 duplicate the success of today's Internet?

Over the past decade, federal government R&D agencies, the university community, and private companies have worked together to develop many of today's Internet technologies. That partnership created a multi-billion-dollar industry.  By renewing this partnership, Internet2 will develop and diffuse new technology needed by all network users, helping to ensure continued United States leadership in computers and communications.