roundtable: AOL Buys NSFnet

roundtable: AOL Buys NSFnet

AOL Buys NSFnet

Fred G Athearn (fga@world.std.com)
Wed, 25 Jan 1995 10:14:54 -0500 

Date: Wed, 25 Jan 1995 10:14:54 -0500
From: fga@world.std.com (Fred G Athearn)
Message-Id: <199501251514.AA09595@world.std.com>
To: fga@world.std.com, roundtable@cni.org
Subject: AOL Buys NSFnet


"Internet World", February 1995 Issue, page 12 says:
 
> America Online, the nation's third-largest online service, has
> purchased the assets, networkin operations, and related services
> of Advanced Network & Services (ANS) for $35 million in cash and
> stock.  ANS, formed in 1990 by IBM, MCI and Merit has managed
> and operated the National Science Foundations's NSFnet backboon
> service, which until recently served as the primary connectivity
> provider for the Internet in the United States.  The ANS
> backbone network carries more than three billion packets of data
> per day and includes more than 12,000 moles of leased 45-Mbps
> fiber-optic circuits.
>
>      In 1991, ANS formed ANC CO+RE Systems Inc., a for-profit
> subsidiary dedicated to providing internetworking services to
> the commercial marketplace.  American Online will operate those
> services as well.
>
>      According to Rosalia Bacarella, Manager of marketing
> communications for ANS, the sale was made so ANS could further
> its not-for-profit goals of "advancing technology to benefit
> education, science and human welfare."  ANS will continue its
> primary mission through grants, studies, and other cooperative
> efforts with the network community.
>
>     "Advanced Network & Services was created to expand the
> Internet, keep the network on the leading edge of technology,
> and foster new applications to make the network more valuable,"
> said Allan Weis, ANS president and CEO.  "Today, many of those
> concerns are no longer issues.  The Internet has reached a
> critical mass, commercial use has stimulated business to invest
> in the future of internetworking, and robust Internet services
> are widely available."
>
>      According to Pam McGraw, director of media relations for
> American Online, AOL will continue tpo increase the functions
> and features of its online service while looking to the future
> -- that is, the Internet.  The acquisition of ANS's network will
> allow the company to offer its customers 14.4-Kbps, 28.8-Kbps,
> and ISDN access.  With the formation of a separate Internet
> Services division last year and the recent acquisition of
> Book-Link Technologies (makers of World-Wide-Web browser
> software), AOL is putting together a multifacited Internet
> strategy and likely to become a major player in the Internet
> services market.
>
>      Steve Case, persident and CEO of AOL, said the company felt
> the Internet market was fragmented.  "We saw an opportunity to
> bring the appropriate components together to provide a complete
> Internet solution.
>
>      "While other companies offer pieces of the Internet buzzle,
> we will be uniquely postioned to provice the whole puzzle."
>
>         -------------- end quote ------------

 
     What are the implications of this from a legal and policy
viewpoint?
 
     Here we have a not-for-profit dedicated to advancing the
use a telecommunications becoming a stockholder of AOL a major
telecommunications service provider that wants to be "uniquely
positioned to provide the whole puzzle," and is becoming owner
of the NSFnet.
 
     Something bothers me about this picture.

Fred Athearn
Paradise Hill
Bellows Falls
VT  05101

(802) 869-2003 (voice) fga@world.std.com (E-mail)

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