Torchbearer: Summer 1997

New Internet, New Speed

UTK is one of 35 institutions sharing a $12.3 million National Science Foundation grant to help develop a new high-speed computer network.

Over the next two years, UTK will receive $350,000. The project will connect campuses to NSF's very high speed Backbone Network Service. The new network will be the foundation of the Next Generation Internet.

UTK faculty, who were instrumental in helping earn the grant for the campus, will be able to connect to more than 100 research institutions-other leading research universities, the national laboratories, and a few federal agencies such as NASA-at speeds up to 1,000 times faster than with today's Internet.

Vanderbilt University in Nashville also was in the group of 35 institutions receiving the grants. Twenty-nine organizations had received grants for the network earlier.

The new Internet will supplement, not replace, the existing Internet. Dr. Sue Mettlen, UTK vice chancellor, said the two will be as different as a country road and an interstate highway.

Principal investigator for the grant is Ed Mahon, UTK director of telecommunications and network services.

"Our faculty's descriptions of their research and their need for this type of network was very important in our winning this grant," Mahon said.

Being part of the network should help the campus attract more research funding.