RFC 1167 (rfc1167) - Page 2 of 8
Thoughts on the National Research and Education Network
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 1167 NREN July 1990 FUNDAMENTALS 1. The NREN in the U.S. will evolve from the existing Internet base. By implication, the U.S. NREN will have to fit into an international environment consisting of a good many networks sponsored or owned and operated by non-U.S. organizations around the world. 2. There will continue to be special-purpose and mission-oriented networks sponsored by the U.S. Government which will need to link with, if not directly support, the NREN. 3. The basic technical networking architecture of the system will include local area networks, metropolitan, regional and wide-area networks. Some nets will be organized to support transit traffic and others will be strictly parasitic. 4. Looking towards the end of the decade, some of the networks may be mobile (digital, cellular). A variety of technologies may be used, including, but not limited to, high speed Fiber Data Distribution Interface (FDDI) nets, Distributed-Queue Dual Bus (DQDB) nets, Broadband Integrated Services Digital Networks (B-ISDN) utilizing Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) switching fabrics as well as conventional Token Ring, Ethernet and other IEEE 802.X technology. Narrowband ISDN and X.25 packet switching technology network services are also likely play a role along with Switched Multi-megabit Data Service (SMDS) provided by telecommunications carriers. It also would be fair to ask what role FTS-2000 might play in the system, at least in support of government access to the NREN, and possibly in support of national agency network facilities. 5. The protocol architecture of the system will continue to exhibit a layered structure although the layering may vary from the present-day Internet and planned Open Systems Interconnection structures in some respects. 6. The system will include servers of varying kinds required to support the general operation of the system (for example, network management facilities, name servers of various types, email, database and other kinds of information servers, multicast routers, cryptographic certificate servers) and collaboration support tools including video/teleconferencing systems and other "groupware" facilities. Accounting and access control mechanisms will be required. 7. The system will support multiple protocols on an end to end basis. At the least, full TCP/IP and OSI protocol stacks will be supported. Dealing with Connectionless and Connection-Oriented Network Services in the OSI area is an open issue (transport service bridges and Cerf
