>    Has anyone else seen this? And what exactly does it mean?
 
It means that NSFnet is being replaced by privately owned networks.
SURAnet, the part of the net that includes the Southeastern US, was
the only segment that had already made the switch as of last weekend,
when I happened to have occasion to be talking to a SURAnet representative.
He said that the transition of SURAnet had been glitch-free, that nobody
had noticed even the slightest blip, but that he wondered how things were
going to go these next couple of weeks as the other segments of the net
start the transition here at the 11th hour.  Apparently there will be no
trial period when both the new systems and the old are working -- i.e.,
no period when the old system is there as a backup if the new system has
problems.  On April 30 (I think), NSFnet will go poooofffff and be gone --
or at least gone from what it has been -- I think AOL is buying it.
   --Natalie ([log in to unmask])