APCCIRN-014

APCCIRN-014

1992.12.12

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

Request For Public Comment: Solicitation Concept

SUMMARY: NSF is requesting comments on a

proposed solicitation covering two separate projects:

a Network Access Point (NAP) Manager and

Routing Authority (RA) organization; and a provider

of very high speed Backbone Network Services

(vBNS). This draft solicitation is being released to

the public to solicit comments specifically on the

scope of NSF's concept on how the various services

can best be provided, including (but not limited to)

the methodology and feasibility of providing services

as proposed. It is anticipated that a new approach to

the provision of NSFNET Backbone Network

Services will help provide for the continued

development and growth of NSFNET and to

continue the transition to a more privatized network.

DATES: After consideration of comments received

by August 3, 1992, NSF intends to prepare and

release a final program solicitation for the NAP

Manager/RA and the vBNS Provider projects.

ADDRESSES: To become part of the official record

and to guarantee that issues are addressed through

this process, all comments regarding the concepts

contained in this draft solicitation must be submitted

to NSF in writing (paper, facsimile, or electronic

mail) and must be received by 3:00 P.M. Eastern

Standard Time, Monday, August 3, 1992, at:

National Science Foundation

Division of Networking and Communications

Research and Infrastructure

1800 G Street, N.W., Room 416

Washington, D.C. 20550

ATTN: G Strawn (NAP Manager/RA and vBNS

Provider Comment)

Facsimile: 202-357-0320

Electronic mail: gstrawn@nsf.gov

PUBLIC DRAFT

NETWORK ACCESS POINT MANAGER/ROUTING

AUTHORITY AND VERY HIGH SPEED BACKBONE

NETWORK SERVICES PROVIDER

FOR NSFNET AND THE NREN PROGRAM

PROGRAM SOLICITATION

I. PURPOSE OF THIS SOLICITATION

The NSFNET was designed to support the data

networking needs of the research and education

community. It has become an essential infrastructure

for that community used daily to facilitate

communication among researchers, educators, and

students and to provide them with remote access to

information and computing resources. The number

of users, the number of connected networks, and the

amount of network traffic continue to grow rapidly.

NSFNET also supports the goals of the High

Performance Computing and Communications

(HPCC) Program which was delineated in the

President's Fiscal 1992 and 1993 budgets and

became law with the passage of The High

Performance Computing Act of 1991 (PL 102-194).

One component of the HPCC Program is the

National Research and Education Network (NREN)

Program which calls for gigabit per second speed

networking for research and education by the mid

1990s.

Since the creation of the NSFNET in 1986, the data

networking industry itself has evolved considerably.

New companies have been created and a number of

existing companies have shown increasing interest in

data networking. These and other evolutionary

changes, together with the pending expiration of the

current Cooperative Agreement for NSFNET

Backbone Network Services, have prompted the

need for new arrangements for NSFNET Backbone

Network Services.

To provide for the continued development and

growth of NSFNET and to continue the transition to

a more privatized network, a new architecture to

provide for Backbone Network Services has been

formulated and is specified here. The architecture

includes two separate projects for which solicitations

are required: a Network Access Point (NAP)

Manager and Routing Authority (RA) organization;

and, a provider of very high speed Backbone

Network Services (vBNS). This architecture also

includes components such as regional networks and

network service providers for which NSF

solicitations are not required. (These components

are, however, discussed in Section III.D.)

The solicitation invites proposals for a NAP

Manager/RA organization to: arrange for and

oversee a specific number of NAPs where the vBNS

and other appropriate networks may interconnect;

establish and maintain a route server database at each

NAP which may be used by the NAP-attached

networks to obtain routing information with which to

construct routing tables. This component of the

backbone network services architecture will: provide

access for other networks to the U.S. Research and

Education community; provide for the

interconnection of appropriate networks in an

environment which is not subject to the NSF

Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) which, in essence,

limits traffic to that which is in support of research

and education; provide routing stability; provide for

advances in routing technology; and, provide for the

maintenance of a policy routing database.

The solicitation also invites proposals for a vBNS

Provider to establish and maintain a vBNS which

will be connected to all NAPs and all of whose

NSFNET vBNS traffic must be in compliance with

the NSF AUP. In the tradition of NSFNET and as

discussed below, the vBNS Provider will be

expected to demonstrate leadership in the

development and deployment of high performance

data communications networks. This component of

the architecture will: provide for high speed

interregional connectivity; enable distributed

computing applications; enable multimedia

applications such as visualization, collaboration, and

distance learning; and, promote the development and

deployment of advanced routing technologies.

It is anticipated that the solicitation will result in two

separate five-year cooperative agreements between

NSF and the organizations and/or consortia chosen

as NAP Manager/RA, and vBNS Provider. The two

anticipated awards will be made to different

organizations (or non-overlapping consortia of

organizations). Total NSF funding is expected to be

approximately $10,000,000 per year.

This solicitation is issued pursuant to the National

Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended (42

U.S.C. 1861 et seq) and the Federal Cooperative

Agreement Act (31 U.S.C. 6305) and is not subject

to the Federal Acquisition Regulations.

II. BACKGROUND

The network of networks known as the Internet

includes more than 5,000 networks. These networks

link together hundreds of thousands of computers

and millions of users throughout the world. The

domestic portion of the Internet contains a number of

NSF?upported networks. These include: campus

network connections at educational institutions;

midlevel networks; and NSFNET backbone network

services. Broadly speaking, NSFNET consists of all

of these networks together with a number of other

networks at locations such as government

laboratories and private corporations.

The Internet also includes other federally-sponsored

networks such as NASA Science Internet (NSI),

DOE's Energy Sciences Network (ESnet), and

DARPA's DARTnet and TWBnet. These and other

networks and the NSFNET are expected to evolve

into a gigabit per second network that allows for both

the interconnection and interoperability of federally

funded research and education networks with each

other and with private sector networks. This multi-

agency program is referred to as the NREN.

During the evolution of the NREN Program, account

will have to be taken of the requirements of the

various network-sponsoring federal agencies. For

example, network traffic on NSI and ESnet normally

must be in support of the focused missions of NASA

and DOE, respectively. NSF, on the other hand, has

the broad mission to support science and engineering

research and education. As such, NSFNET will

carry traffic in support of general research and

education requirements.

Because of the breadth of the charter of the NSFNET

and because of its wide use by the research and

education community, it is projected that the

NSFNET user base will continue to grow and that its

users will continue to require new levels of network

services. The expansion in numbers of users and

levels of services make the provision of increasingly

high performance Backbone Network Services

necessary for the continued success and growth of

NSFNET. The new NSFNET Backbone Network

Services will also be important in the evolution of the

NREN Program.

After consultation with many segments of the

Internet community, the National Science Foundation

has developed this solicitation for a NAP

Manager/RA organization and a vBNS Provider. In

the manner specified below, it is anticipated that

NSFNET will: develop increasingly high

performance network services; accommodate the

anticipated growth in numbers of users and networks

and in network traffic; and, transition to a

networking infrastructure that is increasingly

provisioned by network service providers from the

private sector.

III. NETWORK ARCHITECTURE AND

PROJECT REQUIREMENTS

NSF intends to establish a vBNS for NSFNET in the

following manner. A number of NAPs will be

established where the vBNS and other appropriate

networks will be interconnected. (The number and

location of the NAPs will be specified in the final

solicitation.) A NAP Manager/RA organization will

arrange for and oversee the NAPs and will maintain

Route Servers with routing and policy databases for

networks attached to the NAPs. The NAP

Manager/RA will also provide certain routing

services for the Internet community. This section

gives more details on this approach to providing

backbone network services and gives specific

requirements for both providers.

A. Network Access Points

A NAP is defined as a high speed network or switch

to which a number of routers can be connected for

the purpose of traffic exchange and interoperation. It

must have capacity adequate to keep up with the

switching requirements of the attached networks. A

NAP Manager/RA Organization will be responsible

for oversight and coordination of the NAPs. The

NAPs will be a conceptual evolution of the Federal

Information eXchanges (FIX-East and FIX-West)

and the Commercial Information eXchange (CIX).

The FIXes are each built around a 100 mbps FDDI

ring with attached networks operating at speeds of up

to 45 megabits per second (but neither the FIXes nor

the CIX currently have dedicated route servers with

route databases).

Examples of NAP implementation include (but are

not limited to) a LAN (like the FIXes) or a MAN

(Metropolitan Area Network) using a service such as

Switched Multimegabit Data Service (SMDS). With

any implementation, it would be desirable to provide

an environment which attempts to equalize and lower

the cost of connecting to the NAPs for prospective

network services providers. For example, this might

be accomplished by locating each NAP "close" to a

Point of Presence (POP) of each of the major Inter-

eXchange Carriers (IXCs). ("Close" might mean

within the same Local Access and Transport Area

and, for a LAN implementation, also within a

specified number of air miles of the POP of each

major IXC.)

The vBNS will operate under the same Acceptable

Use Policy (AUP) as the current NSFNET BNS.

However, the NAPs will operate in an "AUP-free"

mode. This will permit, for example, two attached

networks to exchange traffic without violating the

AUPs of any other attached network.

B. NAP Manager/Routing Authority

Under the current cooperative agreement that

provides for backbone network services, the same

consortium which provides the BNS also acts as

routing authority. Under the new cooperative

agreements described here, the routing authority

function will be separated from the provision of the

BNS. The NAP Manager/RA will provide for

equitable treatment of the various network services

providers during routing administration and will

provide for a common database of route information

to promote stability of the network.

By the use of specified external gateway protocols

such as BGP and IDRP (Boarder Gateway Protocol

and Inter-Domain Routing Protocol), the NAP

Manager/RA will create a database of all announced

networks and their paths of accessibility. This

information will be maintained in route databases

which will be deployed at each NAP. Attached

networks will be able to utilize this information while

creating and modifying their own routing tables.

The NAP Manager/RA organization will also provide

certain other services which will facilitate the logical

interconnection of the attached networks. In

particular, it will assist in the development of new

routing technologies and the deployment of

simplified routing strategies for attached networks.

The specific anticipated duties of the NAP

Manager/RA organization are as follows:

?Establish and maintain, possibly with

subcontractors, the specified NAPs for the

purpose of connecting the vBNS and other

appropriate networks. NAPs are to be AUP-

free and can be proposed to be implemented as

LANs or MANs or other innovative

approaches. NAPs must operate at speeds of at

least 100 mbps and must be able to be

upgraded as required by demand and usage and

by Program goals

?Develop and establish attachment policies

(including attachment fee schedules) which

would apply to networks that connect to NAPs

?Specify reliability and security standards for the

NAPs and ensure that these standards are met

?Specify appropriate access procedures to the

NAPs for authorized personnel of connecting

networks and ensure that these procedures are

carried out

?Provide appropriate NAP accounting and

statistical capabilities

?Establish and maintain a Route Server database

at each NAP by exchanging routing

information with and dynamically updating

routing information from the attached

Autonomous Systems using BPG and IDRP.

NAPs must support the switching of IP and

CLNP packets (Internet Protocol and

ConnectionLess Networking Protocol)

?Work to ensure routing stability

?Develop advanced routing standards and

technologies in cooperation with the global

Internet community

?Provide for simplified routing strategies for

attached networks such as default routing

?Propose and establish procedures to work with

the vBNS Provider and personnel from other

attached networks to resolve problems and to

support end-to-end connectivity and quality of

service for network users

?Promote distributed operation of the Internet

C. Very High Speed Backbone Network

Services Provider

Since its inception, the NSFNET has been a leader in

providing for high speed networking services for the

research and education community. The vBNS will

continue this tradition and will provide for: high

speed interregional connectivity; multimedia traffic in

support of visualization, collaboration, and distance

learning; and, distributed computing capabilities.

The vBNS must be able to switch both IP and CLNP

packets and it must operate at speeds of at least 155

megabits per second. The vBNS Provider must

participate in the development of advanced routing

technologies such as type of service and precedence

routing.

The vBNS may have connections and customers

beyond those specified by NSF as long as the quality

and quantity of required services for NSF-specified

customers are not affected. In this regard, the vBNS

Provider must be able to distinguish between NSF

customer traffic and that of other customers and to

report traffic statistics based on these categories.

Figure 1 shows the network architecture from the

point of view of NSF.

The specific anticipated duties of the vBNS Provider

are as follows:

o Establish and maintain a 155 mbps or higher

transit network which switches IP and CLNP

packets and which connects to all NAPs in

order to provide NSFNET users with a vBNS.

o Propose and establish a set of quality of service

metrics which will be used to characterize the

proposed network services and to ascertain and

publicize network performance on an ongoing

basis

o Subscribe to the policies of the NAP

Manager/RA; implement BGP- and IDRP-

based procedures to interact with those of that

organization to assist in establishing and

maintaining the route database

o Provide for real-time multimedia services,

including multicasting and video

teleconferencing

o Propose and establish procedures to work with

the NAP Manager/RA and personnel from

other attached networks to resolve problems

and to support end-to-end connectivity and

quality of service for network users

o Participate in the development of advanced

routing technologies (such as type of service or

precedence routing) in cooperation with the

global Internet community

o Propose and establish a schedule to enhance

both the speed at which the network operates

and other quality of service measures and type

of service advances in line with NSF's broad

program goals and consistent with anticipated

NSF customer requirements and available

funding

D. Other Architectural and Policy Considerations

It is anticipated that networks other than the vBNS

will connect to the NAPs. Examples of such

networks include: other federally sponsored

networks; other service providers for research and

education; service providers for traffic which is not

limited to the support of research and education; and

international networks.

In each case, attachment of a network to one or more

NAPs will require the payment of both an initial and

an annual fee (which will depend on parameters such

as number of NAP connections and bandwidth of the

connections). Fees will be determined by the NAP

Manager/RA and NSF so as to recover the expenses

associated with the NAPs and with the NAP

Manager/RA.

To attach to a NAP, a network must also subscribe to

the policies of the NAP Manager/RA and implement

BGP- and IDRP-based procedures to interact with

those of the NAP Manager/RA to assist in

establishing and maintaining the route database.

Networks attaching to NAPs must operate at speeds

of 1.5 mbps or greater and must be able to switch

both IP and CLNP packets. Additionally, attached

networks must be able to support video

teleconferencing, either by packet video or by circuits

multiplexed from their total bandwidth.

As shown in Figure 2, when the network

architecture is viewed from the perspective of any

network service provider, the vBNS is just another

service provider. (This may even be the view for the

network which underlies the vBNS if that network

has customers beyond those specified by NSF.)

NSFNET midlevel networks may connect either to

network services providers which are connected to

NAPs or directly to NAPs. NSF will support for

one year a single such connection fee for midlevel

networks which are currently connected to the

NSFNET Backbone Network Service. In the

following years of the cooperative agreement, NSF

support for the connection fee will decrease and the

midlevel network will need to increase other sources

of support correspondingly. NSF support of this fee

will cease after the (first) term of the NAP

Manager/RA Cooperative Agreement.

It is anticipated that a number of research institutions

will want to take advantage of the advanced

capabilities of the vBNS as they access facilities such

as the NSF Supercomputing Centers and the NSF

Science and Technology Centers, especially for

multimedia-based and distributed computing-based

applications. Although the subject is not addressed

in this solicitation, NSF expects to support such

institutional requirements where feasible based on the

scientific merit of proposed applications.

Each network connected to the NAPs may be

required to provide access to the NAP Manager/RA

to certain network Management Information Base

(MIB) variables. (Specific MIB variables may be

listed in the final solicitation, but the list of variables

will be subject to change as conditions warrant.) The

use of these MIB variables will be to promote the

performance and stability of the network.