N-1-1-050.01 National Network Legislation Enacted in U.S., by Mike Roberts President George Bush signed the High Performance Computing Act of 1991 into law on December 9th, 1991. The legislation contains omnibus provisions covering computer hardware and software, science education, and the National Research and Education Network (NREN). The final bill closely parallels a federal program announced early in 1991 and brings Administration and Congressional proposals into alignment. It is anticipated that approximately U.S. $100 million will be available in each of the next five years for federally sponsored NREN development and deployment. These funds are allocated among a number of federal agencies whose programs include both research and production network components. A major goal of the NREN program is to demonstrate the feasibility of gigabit computer networking by 1996, a twenty-fold speedup from the 45 megabit per second capacity of some backbone links currently operating in the U.S., most notably on NSFNET, which currently serves as the means for connectivity to the Internet for nearly all American colleges and universities. More than 500 of the approximately 1400 four year institutions of higher education in the U.S., which includes well over half of the total faculty and student population of 14 million, are now connected to NSFNET and the Internet. The legislation passed unanimously in both houses of Congress following a three year effort by a partnership of American universities, research laboratories and organizations, supercomputer centers, and private sector computer and communications companies. The bill was delayed in recent months by internal debate within the Congress and the Administration over management roles for the NREN. In a last minute compromise, the bill was amended to leave responsibility for designation of network managers with the White House. In related developments, the National Science Foundation (NSF) recently made two announcements of its networking plans. In September, Steven Wolff, Director of the Networking Division in NSF, formed a new program office for the NREN and named Robert Aiken, formerly of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, to be its head. Aiken is preparing a development plan for the next three years, during which time the network will be called the Interim Interagency NREN to reflect its joint support by several federal agencies, and its pre-gigabit deployment character. On November 26th, Wolff announced that the National Science Board had approved a proposal that the NSFNET backbone be continued for three additional years, and that a new cooperative agreement for its operation be solicited on a competitive basis in 1992. As part of the new solicitation, NSF intends to separate the responsibility for routing from that of circuits and packet switches. As a result, it is likely that multiple awards will be made for the provision of backbone connectivity in various parts of the U.S., while a single award is made for a routing authority, whose responsibilities will be broadened beyond NSFNET to include both national and international components of the Internet, working cooperatively with national authorities in other countries.