Science Foundation Funds Connections to Speedy Computer Network

The National Science Foundation has made grants to 35 research institutions in the US, enabling scientists to communicate and share resources on the foundation's high-speed Backbone Network Service. The connections will allow researchers to use powerful supercomputers at remote locales to perform complex calculations currently impossible over conventional telecommmunications networks. The network transmits as many as 622 Mb/s and will have the capability of sending 2.4 Gb/s. In comparison, the average modem in a home PC transmits 28.8 kb/s. The foundation handed out 21 two-year grants to individual institutions and to consortiums of research universities. Grants ranged from $350,000 to $3.8 million, for a total of $12.3 million.