Statement of Mr. Tracey Gray Vice President of Marketing Government Systems Division US Sprint Communications Company Limited Partnership Before the Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation United States Senate Room 252, Russell Senate Office Building March 5, 1991 2:00 p.m. Hearings before the Senate Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on S.272, The High Performance Computing Act of 1991 Washington, D.C. March 5, 1991 Prepared Statement of Mr. Tracey Gray Vice President of Marketing for the Government Systems Division US Sprint Communications Company Limited Partnership INTRODUCTION Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee. I am Tracey Gray, Vice President of Marketing for the Government Systems Division at US Sprint. I appreciate this opportunity to speak with you on S.272, the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991. As you know, US Sprint is the third largest telecommunications carrier in the United States today - and the only all fiber, fully digital network. US Sprint serves 90% of the Fortune 500 U.S. companies with voice, data, and video services, and we offer telecommunications services to 153 countries around the world. My division, the Government Systems Division, is proud to serve over 500,000 government employees at 35 agencies under the FTS 2000 contract. In addition to FTS 2000, we are responsible for all business relations and opportunities with the federal government. This includes evaluating and assessing the risks and opportunities with emerging technologies and applications in telecommunication network solutions. NREN APPLICATIONS I would like to talk with you today about NREN, the National Research and Education Network -- one component of the High Performance Computing initiative. Mr. Chairman, the operative word in that sentence is Network. High performance networking should share equal billing with high performance computing. US Sprint does not build supercomputers; we do not maintain or operate an information infrastructure of databases; we do not develop computer software tools or train supercomputer hardware or software engineers. US Sprint does provide telecommunications services -- based on state-of-the-art, fiber technology and advanced network architectures. Fiber technology will be the network infrastructure that supports the computing hardware necessary to solve the Grand Challenges. This future network platform will allow researchers to establish National Collaboratories among our nation's laboratories and university research centers that will solve the Grand Challenge problems such as global warming, the identification of new superconduction materials, and the mysteries of cancer causing genes. While the Grand Challenge problems certainly require our attention, US Sprint appreciates the Committee's understanding that industry related problems exist that can benefit from the application of high performance computing. This Committee's 1990 report on S.1067 rightly noted that a supercomputer model helped Boeing design an 737 airplane that was 30% more efficient. The petroleum industry benefited when Arco used a Cray supercomputer to increase oil production at its Prudhoe Bay field, resulting in a two billion dollar profit for the company. An Alcoa supercomputer model reduced the amount of aluminum needed for its soda cans by 10%, resulting in transportation and production savings. Mr. Gore, your January 24 statement noted that Ford's engineers can simulate automobile crash tests using supercomputers for a fraction of the cost of conducting real life experiments. Each of these industry applications of supercomputing benefits the American consumer and the national interest through greater efficiencies, higher quality products, increased cost savings, and improved productivity. But let's not focus solely on supercomputers and connecting supercomputers. Other research and engineering applications require high speed networking, and by bringing other applications on to this network, we can increase scale economies that could justify investments in multi-gigabit networks. For example, medical doctors are confronting a problem where technology produces greater diagnostic capability, yet there are fewer experts to interpret the data. The solution is teleradiology -- the process of digitizing and transmitting medical images to distant locations - which allows the nation's top radiologists to access key medical imaging from virtually anywhere in the United States in seconds. Today, US Sprint's network can transmit diagnostic quality images in approximately 37 seconds using multiple 56 kilobit per second lines. The same image would take up to an hour and a half to transmit over a traditional analog network using 9600 bits per second. Tomorrow's technology will allow real time full motion imaging and require bandwidths substantially greater than 45 megabits per second, the highest speeds available today. A radiologist at a distant location will be able to watch fetuses move and hearts beat, and provide immediate diagnostic feedback. High speed networks are required for real-time image transfers because video compression greater than 2.5:1 is destructive to the image's clarity. Medical imaging is one of many high performance networking applications. Computer Aided Design/Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) is another. American industry will remain strong, if they have the best communication tool to complete their work. Interactive CAD/CAM will allow industry to work more quickly and efficiently, allowing widely dispersed engineers to participate in the design process without exchanging roomfuls of paper. NREN TECHNOLOGY The question posed by the legislation, however, is how supercomputers can be made accessible to more users. And the answer is the development of supernetworks with multi-gigabit capacity - or NREN. US Sprint is working with developments that would support the NREN objectives. We are developing plans for a broadband test bed akin to those established under the leadership of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRl). US Sprint is a partner in a of a Midwest coalition that is working with DARPA to develop a network concept plan for a terrestrial, fly- over imaging application for the Department of the Army's Future Battle Lab. The terrestrial, fly-over project would take satellite pictures and convert them into computer-developed, "three dimensional" landscapes that would allow the user to "fly over" or "walk through" the terrain. Generals could "see" a battlefield without sending out scouts! Additionally, US Sprint has recently become an international vendor for NSFNET providing links to research networks in France and Sweden, and we now serve on NSF's Federal Networking Advisory Committee to the Federal Networking Council. Although many advances are being made towards the development of the systems necessary for gigabit networks, many hurdles remain. The fundamental building block required for gigabit networks exists today. Fiber optic cables with ample bandwidth to support multi- gigabit and higher transmission speeds criss-cross our country. US Sprint's all fiber optic network operates today with backbone speed of 1.7 Gbps. We are currently testing 2.4 Gbps optic equipment in our labs for installation on our high capacity routes next year. Our transmission equipment vendors are developing the next generation of optic systems with transmission speeds of 9.6Gbps. Switching platforms also continue to advance with cell relay technology. Many believe that cell relay switching best supports the bandwidth-on-demand services essential to high speed networks. Small, non-standard cell relay switches capable of switching traffic at 150 Mops are on the market today. International standards for cell relay are advancing rapidly, with many projected for completion by 1992. Nonetheless, difficult network design problems remain in cell relay technology such as traffic congestion and routing. American researchers are working toward solutions to these problems. To achieve the NREN goals, compatible telecommunication and computer standards must be written for the signaling, operation, administration and management of high speed networks. These network support systems are as important to the implementation of the NREN as the transmission and switching systems. The development of standards for these support systems requires careful consideration and must parallel the evolution of gigabit technologies. US SPRINT POSITION Mr. Chairman, US Sprint fully supports the intent of the High Performance Computing initiative. We are convinced that without government seed money, supercomputer networking will be slow to mature. Let me share two related thoughts with you, however, about the legislation and the implementation of the legislation pertaining to network applications and to the Committee's intent to phase the NREN into commercial operation. First, with respect to network applications, to speed the development of high speed networks, US Sprint recommends broadening the scope of the legislation to include a variety of high speed networking applications. I have briefly described two applications, not requiring supercomputers, that would serve pressing, existing needs. Providing funds for applications research could stimulate many more ideas within the research community. Each of these application ideas could support a new group of users, further extending the benefits of high speed networking to society. With applications as the driver, high speed networks will grow in scale and ubiquity throughout the country. My second point, and one that I think is a concern to the Committee as well, pertains to the phase-in to commercial operation, one of the objectives to be realized by the network. Although the bill includes language that the NREN be "phased into commercial operation as commercial networks can meet the networking needs of American researchers and educators," there is no path--given the current development of the NSFNET--that gets us from here to there. In fact, the government is creating a private--a dedicated-- telecommunications infrastructure that parallels the commercial, public networks operating in the U.S. today. Rather than duplicate commercial facilities with a government owned and operated telecommunications system, we suggest that the NREN be established through public network services--where the government's networking requirements are combined with the public's requirements in the development of commercial networks. Otherwise, it is not clear how we will ever "phase" from a dedicated U.S. government network to commercial networks. With a public network service, industry would develop, own, and operate the facilities to provide gigabit capability and offer that capability as a service to the Government and other industry users. In this environment, users are not obligated to full time, dedicated service, but are oriented to a preferred, bandwidth-on-demand scenario. A public, high speed network service would be positioned much like today's public, long distance or virtual private networking services. Users only pay when they use the service. By evolving NREN as a public network service, the government also takes advantage of existing network platforms. US Sprint for example, offers a fully deployed, ubiquitous, network service. We fully integrate today's telecommunication requirements combining voice, data, and video services with a single network platform. . US Sprint integrates the management, operation, and administration of that network into a single organization. NREN can only duplicate public network features like these at tremendous cost. By leveraging the existing infrastructure of public networks, the government can realize the development of a more robust NREN, sooner, and at less cost. RECOMMENDATIONS In short, Mr. Chairman, US Sprint recommends that the High Performance Computing Act of 1991 address two issues. First, the bill should authorize the funding of academic research for application s requiring high speed network capacity in addition to connecting supercomputers. As noted above, sophisticated medical imaging requires higher speed networks. Similar applications that require high speed networking should be funded under this initiative. US Sprint believe that funding this type of research will stimulate additional high speed network applications further justifying the development of the network. Second, the Committee should ensure that the design of the NREN does not lead to a government owned and operated network. NREN should be developed to share the gigabit capacity of existing public networks and enjoy the advantages that public network operators bring to their commercial customers. NREN could well operate as a virtual private network on an existing public network, but it should not operate as a separate network. Mr. Chairman, US Sprint sees the NREN developing more fully, more economically, and more quickly if it were to be developed as a shared, or public, network. We appreciate the opportunity to address the Committee. I will be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Summary Statement Tracey Gray, Vice President of Marketing Government Systems Division US Sprint fully supports the intent of the High Performance Computing initiative. We are convinced that without government seed money, high performance computing and high performance networking will be slow to mature. US Sprint believes that the Committee should take two steps to help realize its goal of establishing a multi gigabit network by 1996. First, the Committee, in its bill, should authorize the funding of academic research that requires high performance networking without requiring, necessarily, high performance computing. We advocate this position because we are convinced that unless additional applications for high speed networking are developed, industry will not be able to justify the costs of developing multi- gigabit networks devoted to linking supercomputers. Second, US Sprint believes that the Committee should ensure that the NREN, the National Research and Education Network, is not established as a government owned and operated, dedicated network. Rather, we believe that the NREN should be developed as a public network service to take full advantage of the near and long term technical features and administrative support systems developed by public network providers. In our mind, the industry/government partnership envisioned by the legislation will only come to fruition if we marry our financial and technical resources in the development of shared, public networks instead of pursuing the development of exclusive, private networks. Moreover, unless NREN develops as a shared resource, we cannot envision how NREN will be phased into commercial operation as the legislation anticipates. US Sprint commends the Committee's foresight and initiatives with respect to high performance computing and high performance networking. We look forward to lending our expertise and resources to help in meeting the Committee's legislative goals.