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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President

VICE PRESIDENT GORE ANNOUNCES GIANT STEPS TOWARDS NEXT GENERATION INTERNET

"I applaud the extraordinary commitments of these companies," the Vice President said. "In the coming years, this investment may enable the best medical specialists to give advice to patients in rural hospitals, scientists to use remote supercomputers to predict tornadoes, and adults to get new skills through distance learning."

The Vice President made two major announcements:

• $500 MILLION COMMITMENT TO THE FUTURE: First, high-tech companies are teaming up with 122 of America's leading universities to create a research and education network that can transmit the entire 30 volume Encyclopedia Britannica in about a second. Qwest Communications is making available 16,000 miles of fiber optic network with a market value of more than $500 million; and Cisco Systems and Nortel are giving in-kind contributions of equipment to pull the network together. This effort is being led by the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID), building on its ongoing "Internet2" project.

• $50 MILLION TO DEVELOP NEW TECHNOLOGY: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will invest an estimated $50 million in 27 long-term research projects as part of the federal government's NGI initiative. These research projects will help develop the technology for an Internet that is faster, more dependable, and can connect billions of computers and other devices. DARPA's original support for computer networks beginning in the late 1960's (the ARPANET) led to today's Internet.

The NGI is a federal research initiative that invests in networking research and development, high-speed experimental networks, and revolutionary new applications. The goal is not only a faster Internet, but one that is more secure, reliable, and better able to support real-time, multimedia applications. NGI is working closely with the "Internet2" consortium, and is providing some support for the universities that are participating through grants from the National Science Foundation.