FYI: US NIC changes or non-changes

The NCC will get in touch with the appropriate people a.s.a.p. to 
ensure smooth interoperation.

Daniel

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Date:     Tue, 5 Jan 1993 07:08:05 -0800 (PST)
From:     Susan Estrada <estradas at nic.cerf.net>
To:       com-priv at psi.com
cc:       Eric Grimmelmann <egrimmelmann at attmail.com>, mitchel at nic.cerf.net,
	  Scott Williamson <scottw at nic.ddn.mil>,
	  Susan Estrada <estradas at nic.cerf.net>
Subject:  NIS Manager Award Announced


For Immediate Release 
 
January 5, 1993
 
 
National Science Foundation Contact
Don Mitchell
(202) 357-9717
dmitchel at nsf.gov
 
Network Solutions Contact
Mary Bloch 
(703) 742-4740
maryb at netsol.com
 
AT&T Contact 
Shelly London
(908) 221-4355
london at attmail.com
 
General Atomics Contact
Susan Calcari             
(619) 455-3900
calcaris at cerf.net
 
 
NSF NETWORK INFORMATION SERVICES AWARDS
 
In cooperation with the Internet community, the National Science 
Foundation developed and released, in the spring of 1992, Project 
Solicitation NSF92-24 for one or more Network Information Services 
Managers (NIS Manager(s)) to provide and/or coordinate (i)  
Registration Services, (ii) Directory and Database Services, and (iii) 
Information Services for the NSFNET.  As a result of this solicitation,  
three separate organizations were competitively selected to receive 
cooperative agreements totalling over $12 million in the three areas 
of (i) Registration Services, (ii) Directory and Database Services, and 
(iii) Information Services.  Together, these three awards constitute 
the NIS Manager(s) Project, named the INTERNIC.  Network Solutions 
will provide registration services, AT&T will provide directory and 
database services, and General Atomics will provide information 
services.  It is important that the three project participants work 
closely together to provide a seamless interface for users in need of 
services.  For this reason, the three awardees, at the request of the 
Foundation, have developed a detailed concept and plan to provide 
this seamless interface called the "INTERNIC" and have agreed to the 
structuring of their three separate awards as one collaborative 
project.   
 
Steve Wolff, Director of NSF's Division of Networking and 
Communications Research and Infrastructure says, "We all feel 
intuitively that the domestic Internet and the distributed 
collaboration that it facilitates are rapidly creating a national 
"workplace without walls".  These three awards to geographically 
dispersed organizations for Network Information Services, which 
require a high degree of coordination and collaboration, will both 
exploit and demonstrate the success of the network in enabling such 
distributed collaboration." 
 
Consistent with FNC guidelines on obtaining reasonable cost recovery  
from users of NREN networks, the NSF has determined that the  
INTERNIC Information Services provider may charge users beyond  
the U.S. research and education community for any services  
provided.  Also, the INTERNIC Directory and Database Services  
provider may charge a fee for maintenance of special databases, for  
extensive directory listings and may charge users beyond the U.S.
research and education community. Finally, because the registration  
function provided by the INTERNIC Registration Services applies to  
domestic and international, commercial and individual users in  
addition to research and educational users, it is expected that an 
appropriate registration fee structure will take time to develop. NSF  
expects to engage in an extensive discussion with the domestic and  
international Internet community of the motivation, strategy and  
tactics of imposing fees for these services during the next fifteen  
months. Decisions will be implemented only after they have been  
announced in advance and an opportunity given for additional public  
comment.
 
Network Solutions will provide registration services as the IP  
registrar, issue IP numbers worldwide using delegated registries 
under the guidance of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority and 
also register domain names, and track points of contact.  
Applications for assignment will be accepted via email or facsimile.  
The information from these assignments will be provided to the 
directory and database services provider to be made available to the 
entire Internet community.  As a part of the Domain registration 
efforts Network Solutions will periodically release the top level zone 
files to be used by all root Domain Name servers.
 
AT&T will develop and maintain a Directory of Directories, including  
lists of FTP (File Transfer Protocol) sites, lists of various types of  
servers available on the Internet, lists of white and yellow page  
directories, library catalogs and data archives. AT&T will also  
provide white and yellow pages type Directory Services. Access to 
these services will initially be provided through several currently 
popular in-use interface methods while migrating to the use of X.500  
technology, the current standard specification for distributed  
information storage and retrieval.  The database services which  
AT&T will provide include the establishment of Database Services to  
extend and supplement the resources of the NSFNET, such as  
databases of contributed materials of common interest to the user  
community.  AT&T will also offer database design, management, and  
maintenance to institutions and groups for inclusion in the Internet.  
 
General Atomics will provide Information Services acting as  the NIC 
of first and last  resort and the NIC of NICs.  The INTERNIC  
information services will include a full-service Reference Desk, a  
database of comprehensive networking materials called the Info  
Source, training classes and documentation, and coordination services  
among all appropriate groups in the community.  In keeping with the  
innovative spirit of the Internet, several new approaches to  
distributing services will be implemented. Among these innovations  
is NICLink, a user-friendly hypermedia interface offering access to  
the Info Source and all the information it contains.  NICLink will be  
distributed on both standard computer diskettes and CD-ROM. 
Another is the concept of the Info Scout, an individual who will scout 
out new resources and innovative uses of the network for inclusion 
in the Info Source.
 
Network Solutions is a 400-person telecommunications analysis and 
integration company headquartered in Northern Virginia.  Its 
mission is to support its customers in achieving their missions 
through the mastery and application of networking technology.  
Network Solutions currently operates the DDN NIC. 
 
AT&T is the leading provider of global information movement and 
management products and services.  AT&T offers a wide array of 
data communications services that includes private line, X.25, frame 
relay, TCP/IP, protocol conversion, and electronic mail services.
 
General Atomics is a San Diego-based high-technology research and 
development company and operates CERFnet and the San Diego 
Supercomputer Center.  CERFnet is an Internet network service 
provider that operates throughout the state of California and 
nationally.  CERFnet was launched in the spring of 1989 with a $2.8 
million grant from the National Science Foundation.  The San Diego 
Supercomputer Center is a five year cooperative agreement funded 
by the National Science Foundation to support high performance 
computing.
 
                               ###
 
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