NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

A U.S. government agency whose purpose is to promote the advancement of science. NSF funds science researchers, scientific projects, and infrastructure to improve the quality of scientific research. The NSFNET, funded by NSF, is an essential part of academic and research communications. It is a highspeed "network of networks" which is hierarchical in nature. At the highest level, it is a backbone network currently comprising 16 nodes connected to a 45Mb/s facility which spans the continental United States. Attached to that are mid-level networks and attached to the mid-levels are campus and local networks. NSFNET also has connections out of the U.S. to Canada, Mexico, Europe, and the Pacific Rim. The NSFNET is part of the Internet.