(Editor's Note: This article is excerpted from a paper presented by the author at the Sixth Annual Software Technology Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, April 13, 1994. The opinions expressed are those of the author and are not intended as an official statement of policy by the United States Army or the Department of Defense.)
Introduction
President Clinton challenged Congress during his State of the Union Address Jan. 25, 1994, to pass legislation this year that will assist in the creation of the national information infrastructure (NII). The president said
"... we must also work with the private sector to connect every classroom, every clinic, every library, every hospital in America into a national information superhighway by the year 2000. Think of it. Instant access to information will increase productivity. It will help to educate our children. It will provide better medical care. It will create jobs. And I call on the Congress to pass legislation to establish that information superhighway this year."[1]
Discussion about the NII--the "electronic superhighway"--is everywhere. It appears in technical journals, government panels, research labs, and corporate board rooms to late night talk show monologues and even the Sunday comics.
What is the NII?
There is a great deal of confusion about the NII--what it is and what it isn't. Like the story of the six blind men and the elephant, the NII is often perceived and interpreted differently depending upon what part of it the speaker is trying to "touch." The NII is known by a wide variety of names--the electronic superhighway, data highway, information highway, data superhighway, etc.
The National Information Infrastructure: Agenda for Action is a policy document released by the Clinton administration on Sept. 15, 1993. It defines the NII as "a seamless web of communications networks, computers, databases, and consumer electronics that will put vast amounts of information at users' fingertips."[2] The NII will be much more, though, than just the wires, switches, and computers interconnecting the country. It will also include the myriad of applications developed and used on the national network. Software developers will play a major role in the creation of the NII.
The NII can be viewed as being somewhat analogous to the nation's freeway system. Instead of transporting products and people, the NII will transport information.
It is useful to explain what the national information infrastructure is not. The NII is not the Internet, is not yet built, is not being built by the federal government, has not yet been totally defined, and will not be free.
Creating the NII
No one knows the total price of the NII. Estimates range from $100 billion to over $3 trillion, depending upon what costs are included. One thing is certain; it will require the active participation of private industry to complete the job.
Vice President Al Gore and other officials have frequently drawn an analogy between the creation of the NII and the introduction of the telegraph. In the 19th century, the federal government funded a government-sponsored telegraph demonstration between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. However, when the telegraph spread across the nation, it did so using funds from the private sector.
Vice President Gore summed up the current view of the federal government in September 1993 when he said, "Government will steer, but we won't row."[3]
Much work and research on the NII is already underway. The current government participants include
Private industry acknowledged it has an essential role to play in the creation of the NII. The Bell companies, for example, have invested over $225 billion in telecommunication networks. They pledge to invest an additional
"$125 billion to deploy high-performance, advanced intelligent networks by the year 2000 and more than $450 billion by 2015. Nearly all of this investment will go toward broad-band fiber optics, high capacity wireless telephone systems, high speed digital switches, digital compression, and other state-of-the-art technologies ... ."[4]
One of the challenges facing the telecommunication industry regarding the creation of the NII is "the challenge of the last mile"--the connection between America's homes, libraries, schools, businesses, hospitals, and the actual national network. A large percentage of the cost and time required to create the physical NII are in "the last mile."
DoD Participation
Imagine doctors at Walter Reed Medical Center diagnosing patients located at Fort Irwin, Calif., interactive digital, multimedia training sessions with instructors and students located at many training sites throughout the country, real-time simulations and mobilization exercises that simultaneously link units and organizations across the nation in a single exercise. All of this and much, much more will be possible when the NII is finished.
Applications for the NII won't be developed for free. Present economic realities require that no one sector of our economy attempt to pay for the entire solution. If many organizations share development costs, greater benefits will be enjoyed. This initiative is not asking for a redirection of current expenditures. Instead, it provides a way that good ideas can be shared with the entire nation.
Our challenge is to begin thinking, experimenting, and dreaming now about the numerous ways the NII can be used in the future.
There are numerous reasons why the Department of Defense should participate in the creation of the NII:
Software and the NII
It's going to take software, extremely powerful software, to make the NII useful and usable. The NII should easily end up being the largest software project in history.
In testimony before Congress on the High Performance Computing and High- Speed Networking Applications Act of 1993, Richard Rashid, director of research for Microsoft Corporation, pointed out that
"To date, when people have talked about a national information infrastructure, most of the discussion has focused on the transmission medium ... . All of this is incredibly important. But it seriously shortchanges the importance of an information infrastructure ... . It is important to understand that what makes this whole digital information system work is software. Fiber-optic networks and digital information machines without software are just wires and boxes. Hardware may be the 'muscle,' but software is the 'brains.'"[6]
A key concept in the creation of the NII is the idea of dual-use technologies. Dual use refers to applications that can be used by both government and nongovernment organizations and individuals. The concept of dual-use technologies is not limited to the NII, but it is important to DoD's participation in the NII [7].
The Advanced Research Projects Agency is responsible for developing dual- use technologies--in information processing, electronics, optics, and materials--to support the mission of the Department of Defense [8].
The Technology Reinvestment Project (TRP) is a government program to bring dual-use ideas into reality. The project's mission is to stimulate the transition from a Cold War economy to a growing, integrated, national industrial capability that provides the most advanced, affordable military systems and the most competitive commercial products. If qualifying conditions are met, DoD organizations can obtain TRP funding. (See sidebar, "Where Can You Learn More?")
The concept of dual use is one key to DoD's successful participation in the NII. Dual-use projects will allow the Department of Defense to actively participate in equipping the United States for the 21st century without altering our basic missions.
The total set of applications used on the NII cannot be envisioned at this time. Some applications that will seem commonplace tomorrow haven't been conceived yet. Many applications do exist today--some are final, some are still conceptual.
Army Participation
The Army has begun work on the NII. A position of Army project manager for information infrastructure was created at the Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Army is also working with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to ensure that Army technical requirements are addressed during the creation of the national electronic superhighway.
Army organizations and employees can participate in the creation of the NII by learning more about the NII, educating your organization about the NII, identifying areas where your organization can participate, proposing dual-use projects, suggesting technical requirements and issues to DISA through command channels.
Conclusion
In our not so distant future we will watch developments occur that were thought impossible only a few years ago. A high-speed, national computer network--complete with powerful and time-saving applications--will become a reality.
Our challenge, in the Department of Defense, is to actively participate in the creation of the national information infrastructure.
Major Kenneth L. Alford
Office of the Director of Information Systems for Command,
Control,
Communications, and Computers (ODISC4)
Headquarters, Department of the Army
(Editor's Note: Major Alford recently left the Pentagon to continue his professional military education. Questions for Major Alford should be sent to the STSC, and we will forward them to him.)
About the Author
Major Alford has served as an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, United States Military Academy, West Point, New York; assistant school secretary and automation officer, Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, and personnel officer, platoon leader, and executive officer, 261st Personnel Service Company, Heilbronn, Germany.
Major Alford earned a master's degree in computer science from the University of Illinois in 1988. He also holds a master of arts degree in international relations from the University of Southern California. In 1979, he graduated magna cum laude in political science from Brigham Young University as valedictorian of the College of Social Sciences, and as a university scholar with highest honors.
Notes
Where Can You Learn More?
Here are a few sources to learn more about the National Information Infrastructure: