Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: ?End of Internet as we know it
From: Aaron Nabil <nabil () world net>
Date: Thu, 3 Jun 1993 17:07:13 -0700 (PDT)
Vigdor Schreibman - FINS writes...
On Tue, 1 Jun 1993, Stephen Wolff wrote:->According to Science (21 May, v. 260, p. 1064) the NSF will quit providing ->the internet for everyone to use in the near future. The network service ->will become a commercialized affair which will be taken over by private ->companies. Doe anyone know when this will happen and who is responsible ->for this decision? -> ->R.N. DuBois, Vanderbilt University Medical Center Dick - While the Science article *could* be read that way, it shouldn't be. What it means is that, under the new solicitation, the NSF will not provide Backbone services as a free good to regional networks but will instead entertain proposals to provide funds for those networks to buy those services on the open market. Today's CoREN announcement illustrates quite graphically that the regional nets are doing this *even without NSF funds*.Don't you buy that spin on this story, Dick. . . .
And what a spin it is! Steve, exactly who did you think was going to foot the bill for COREN? The regionals? Nah-uh. You. In about a month you are going to get 8 very nicely bound, very similarly worded proposals that basicly ask the NSF to pay for COREN as "inter-regional connectivity" or maybe "as a connection to a NSP for transit to a NAP". Below is a question, well, maybe I should use quotes. A "question" I was going to send in as a response to the solicitation, but didn't (I didn't think it would go over too well ;) This was before the COREN announcement, so replace the word "syndicate" with "organization", otherwise it tracks well. . . . Hypothesize that a group of regional networks, say 8, form a syndicate to provide NSP-like transport to the NAPs and/or other inter-regional connectivity. The syndicate would "sell" this service to member regionals at a rate that exceeds the actual costs of providing it, or it could bundle the NSP-like services into a package so as to render the NSP-like component inseparable from any other projects or services of the syndicate. Since the members own the syndicate any disparity between what it costs to provide NAP/inter-regional connectivity and what the syndicate charges isn't a issue, because in sum and substance by purchasing services from the syndicate they are simply transferring money from themselves to what amounts to a "Swiss bank account" in their collective names. This money they are "spending" with the syndicate would of course be the fruits of an NSF grant in response to this solicitation with the amount on the check being whatever they tell the NSF the syndicate is going to "charge". So what this scenario proposes is a device for the regionals to solicit NSF money under the banner of buying "inter-regional connectivity" from a NSP when in actuality they would be buying the services from themselves at whatever price they set. The syndicate could use any surplus funds to bankroll projects that wouldn't knowingly be funded by the NSF, such as pursuing commercial and "enterprise" connectivity, offsetting the general operating losses of it's members, or simply saving up any surpluses to pay for inter-regional connectivity for the member regionals as the NSF phases out its support. Since the syndicate wasn't the recipient of an NSF grant it wouldn't be subject to NSF oversight, and the regionals who would be subject to said oversight can plead ignorance. "We just write them a check, we don't control what they do with the money." One would at a minimum expect that this scenario would result in the syndicate pricing its NSP-like service that they bill the regional for as high as they thought they could get away with. If the regionals get the expected NSF grants, great, more money to spend on whatever they want now, and maybe some to keep for later. And if they don't, no problem since there isn't any rule that says the syndicate can't "re-evaluate" its pricing if they lose out on the solicitation. You can bet the syndicate will "re-evaluate" its pricing during the four-year taper down over the life of the program. I predict the magnitude of the "adjustment" in pricing to exactly equal whatever the NSF is willing to cough up that year. -- Aaron Nabil nabil () world net
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- Re: ?End of Internet as we know it Aaron Nabil (Jun 03)
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- Re: ?End of Internet as we know it David Farber (Jun 06)