Such a system would provide enough data transfer capacity to allow supercomputers to effectively converse or for multimedia video conferencing to take place. Proponents argue that federal investment in high-speed networking for scientists will be a key to United States competitiveness in the information age.
The National Science Foundation and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have been designated the lead agencies to create, in collaboration with five other government agencies, the gigabit network, to be called the National Research and Education Network (NREN). And, to that end, federal support for networking rose from $65 million in 1991 to $93 million in 1992 and is to be funded at a proposed $123 million in 1993.
Freeman Gilbert, a seismologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, Calif., says gigabit networking will offer new ways to conduct research in many fields. Citing an example, Gilbert says, "It's not ...
