Week 2 - Failure.. and success!

 Academset


    Technically just a more advanced version of the original Computing Center for Collective Use, the Academset was one of the only few examples of a 'decent' network structure during the Soviet era. Initially built only to serve the staff of the Leningrad Scientific Center, it began expanding during the late 70s, when various other institutions (such as factories), started becoming integrated into the network. After that point, it started growing more and more until it officially became the "Leningrad information-computer network of the SSSR" and was fully fledged into its 'final' iteration - the Academset, which also established links between the satellite countries under the Soviet reign. 
    The network had several issues, most notably the usage of the OSI protocol demanding a high amount of main memory from the central computers. After the fall of the Soviet union, the mainframe of the network was destroyed and Russia gained access to 'global' internet through Finland, thanks to a company called Relcom. Had Russia decided to spend more time and resources on developing this network, who knows what could have happened in the late 90s. [1] [2] 

NSFNet


As a comparison to the Soviet network, NSFNet was one that actually manged to survive the rigors of time. The need for this network arose from the existence of several supercomputer centers that were established by NSF. The resources of the supercomputers were designed to be shared, however the bandwidth required for 'efficient' use of the supercomputers was beyond the capabilities of other existing precursor networks at the time. In '86, the network was brought online and connected all the supercomputer centers under NSF with a whopping speed of 7 kB/s. That, however, was not enough for a very long time, and was thus upgraded to 0.2 MB/s in '88. During its lifetime, the NSF offered free data transfer to all academic institutions that were able to reach it. Given the exponential growth of the amount of computers connected [More than 1000x more computers by 1991 than during its launch], another upgrade was necessary - this time to the fastest speed Internet network in the US: A 5.5 MB/s connection. At this point, due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union - the Russian counterpart of this network was destroyed. 
    A new era began for the NSFNet as well. Because of the rapid development of the internet, it started arousing commercial interest, creating a more familiar network structure to what is in place today - with multiple connection points for commercial networks, as well as an arbiter to oversee the network as a whole. In '95 , the backbone of the old NSFNet was decommissioned. Whether or not one marks this as the ''end'' of NSFNet is technically up to them, however the structure that it built up remains in use today, despite not being under the same direct name. As well as this, NSF still focuses a lot on improving network connectivity where it is needed - particularly to rural/poor areas in order to provide ''access to the world'' and the best study experience to everyone. One can wonder what could have gone differently had this network not been commercialized, and perhaps it could have even pioneered a movement for free internet for all - as per its original tenets.  [3] [4]


[1] - https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/how-not-network-nation - Accessed 08-02-21
[2] - https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-009-3647-8 - Accessed 08-02-21
[3]  - http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/nsfnet.htm - Accessed 08-02-21
[4] - https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=103050 - Accessed 08-02-21

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