Large-Scale IP Network Solutions (CCIE Professional Development)

The Internet Today

From July 1988 until NSFNET was officially shut down in April 1995, the network grew from 217 networks to more 50,000 networks, and truly established itself as the Internet core. So many users existed at this point—many of them pursuing commercial interests over the Internet—that privatization was inevitable.

The Very High Speed Backbone Network

However, the NSF believed that certain functions could not be fulfilled by a commercial Internet. Infrastructure was one—in particular, the stringent requirements of the supercomputer centers and their associated research community. NSF awarded MCI a $50 million contract to design, operate, and maintain a backbone network connecting the same supercomputer centers as the original ...