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Implications of a national computer network for higher education and science research

A national computer network linking educational and research institutions is frequently proposed as a means of making available specialized computing resources, minimizing duplicate software development, and making more efficient use of the nation's total computing resources. However, a number of economic, political, and organizational, rather than technical, issues must be resolved before such a network is constructed. A Network Simulation Project, supported by the National Science Foundation, has been investigating these issues. Now in its third year, the project has gathered and analyzed a variety of data contributed by representative institutions concerning their computing resources, user profiles, and computing policies and practices. Results of the modeling and data analysis support the arguments for operational economy, software development and maintenance economies, specialized service availability, and other proposed benefits of resource sharing at a national level. On the other hand, a number of barriers have been identified that must be addressed. These include institutional constraints on balance of payments (both positive and negative), institutional inabilities to expand service offerings to the network, difficulty of account control, and several network organizational and management problems. The results of simulation and gaming exercises involving institutional administrators and other personnel were obtained too late for inclusion in the proceedings. These will be discussed at the presentation.