STATEMENT OF SENATOR ERNEST P. HOLLINGS
      HEARING ON S. 272, THE HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING ACT
                        TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 1991       
  
      I am a cosponsor of S. 272, the High-Performance Computing Act, 
 because this is the kind of far-sighted legislation that should be a 
 priority here in the Senate.  S. 272 addresses the long-term 
 economic, educational, and national security needs of this country.  
 We cannot just focus on the problems of today; we need to find 
 solutions to the problems of tomorrow as well.
  
       The bill we are considering today will accelerate the 
 development of new technology and, just as importantly, speed up 
 the application of that new technology.  By creating a National 
 Research and Education Network (NREN), this bill will link our 
 university labs to labs and factories in the private sector so they can 
 more effectively use the research done by university researchers.
  
       Today the flow of information is truly global; the results of 
 research done at MIT now may be applied in a laboratory 
 somewhere else tomorrow.  The NREN would help us take advantage 
 of that research.  If our best research scientists are in constant, 
 instantaneous communication, through high-speed computer 
 networks, with the engineers and product designers in American 
 industry, we have a huge competitive edge.
  
       The NREN and high-speed, commercial networks based on NREN 
 technology will not develop spontaneously.  Federal leadership and 
 Federal investment are needed to spur the private sector to develop 
 these networks.  S. 272 provides for this spur.  It is an important 
 step toward exploiting the full potential of fiber optics in our national 
 telecommunications system.
  
       The NREN and high-speed fiber optic networks are particularly 
 important to states like South Carolina.  In South Carolina, we have 
 many colleges and universities which lack the resources available at 
 other research universities. The NREN will provide them with access 
 to facilities presently available only at places like Caltech and 
 Harvard. With the NREN, a researcher at the University of South 
 Carolina would have access to very fastest supercomputers available 
 anywhere.  A researcher at Clemson would be able to connect to a 
 radio telescope halfway across the country and collect data and 
 compare his or her results with colleagues around the country.
  
       The applications of the NREN in education are even more exciting.  
 With access to the NREN and the "Digital Libraries" of electronic 
 information connected to it, at the smallest colleges in South Carolina, 
 and many high schools, students would be able to access more 
 information from their computer keyboard than they could find in 
 their school libraries.  The NREN would broaden the horizons of 
 students at small colleges, two-year technical colleges, historically 
 black colleges -- at every college in South Carolina.
  
       This is important legislation, and I look forward to working with 
 Senator Gore and others on the Commerce Committee on the bill.