> 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])
 
The above isn't completely true.  The NSFNET Backbone Service is being
discontinued and the regional networks have been connecting to other
providers.  This has been a long time coming and is far from a
surprise.  In general a regional network connects to its new provider
and, when that is deemed to be working well, is supposed to disconnect
from NSFNET.  It sounds like several regionals were slow in
disconnecting from NSFNET so a bulk disconnect was scheduled last
weekend, but there were some problems in making such a large
reconfiguration all at once, so some of it was delayed.
 
We are on SURAnet, which was the first to go over to MCI, as many of
the other regionals also did.  SURAnet switched once, backed off, and
switched again later.  The second time stuck and they dropped the
NSFNET connection some time ago.  We are on SURAnet and did not see a
lot of problems, although there were some reported.
 
The NSFNET Backbone Service was provided by ANS, which was recently
purchased by America Online.  ANS is still in the Internet business.
ANS's network, over which the NSFNET Backbone Service ran, still exists
and ANS is still in the business of selling connections.  The actual
network was not owned by NSF.
 
Roger Fajman                                   Telephone:  +1 301 402 4265
National Institutes of Health                  BITNET:     RAF@NIHCU
Bethesda, Maryland, USA                        Internet:   [log in to unmask]