NGI

With an annual budget of $100 million and an expected duration of three years, it was a Clinton administration initiative to establish a partnership between corporate, academic, and government entities (such as the NSF). The NGI had three main goals: to connect more than 100 research institutions at speeds that are 100 to 1,000 times faster than current rates; to invest in R&D for new networking technologies (including those for handling real-time multimedia traffic); and to demonstrate new applications in such areas as distance education, telemedicine, national security, and collaboratories.