Gore pledges $50 million for next-generation Internet

Gore
VXtreme Video Vice President Al Gore's announcement

April 14, 1998
Web posted at: 1:13 p.m. EDT (1713 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Vice President Al Gore on Tuesday announced the government would contribute $50 million in research projects aimed at creating a next-generation Internet.

Gore said the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency -- the central research and development organization for the Defense Department -- would invest the sum in 27 long-term research projects.

Those projects are part of the administration's Next Generation Internet initiative unveiled by President Clinton in his 1997 State of the Union address. Clinton pledged to build a new Internet 100 to 1,000 times faster than the current network. (364K/34 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)

"The next generation Internet will help guarantee U.S. leadership in a critical industry and build the infrastructure of the 21st century economy," Gore told a news conference.

"By expanding the boundaries of our scientific understanding we will unleash breakthroughs that will power American industries for years to come and give us all a higher quality of life," he added. (341K/30 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)

Planners say Internet2 will be able to transmit the contents of the 30-volume Encyclopedia Brittanica in one second

The revolutionary network -- so fast it could transmit the contents of the 30-volume Encyclopedia Brittanica in one second -- would make possible new ways of using computers, from long-distance learning to allowing a specialist in another city to look at real-time images of a beating heart and make a diagnosis.

For the project, Qwest Communications International has offered use of its high-speed fiber-optic network, which runs from Los Angeles to New York. The administration put the market value of Qwest's offer at $500 million over three years.

The other two companies, Cisco Systems and Northern Telecom, are offering network equipment, such as routers and switches.

Administration officials said the new network, already dubbed Internet2, would focus on better reliability for network-critical projects, such as telemedicine.

Additional comments from Gore's speech on the next-generation Internet: "The Internet is revolutionizing our lives ..."
	190K/18 sec. AIFF or WAV sound

The current Internet treats all chunks of data -- whether it's an innocuous e-mail message or an image of an infant's failing heart -- as the same priority as they travel over the worldwide network.

For the earliest stages of Internet2, organizers hope to equip at least 100 universities with connections about 100 times faster than those currently available, and a smaller group of schools at speeds 1,000 times faster.

Researchers also are looking at the new types of software applications that would be possible under such a super-fast network, including improved weather forecasting.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related story:

• Gore unveils 'Internet2' for universities - April 14, 1998

Related sites:

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

• Internet2 Home Page
• Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
• Next Generation Internet (NGI) Initiative
• Qwest Communications
• Cisco Systems, Inc.
• Northern Telecom

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

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