The Office of Network Technologies at the Georgia Institute of Technology proposes the installation and operation NSFSNET Node at Georgia Tech. The Office of Network Technologies has significant expertise in the management and operation of large scale multi-access networks utilizing the TCP/IP protocol suite. SURAnet, which spans 13 states, has more nodes than any of the other mid-level networks. Partially because it has only 1 NSS it suffers serious "hopcount" problems. It has congestion problems as well. Because of it's location and it's proximity to telecommunications Points Of Presence (POP's), Georgia Tech strategically positioned to provide a second SURAnet NSS. Locating a second SURAnet NSS at Georgia Tech would allow SURAnet to significantly reduce hopcounts between SURAnet nodes and would almost double the bandwidth out of SURAnet into the Internet. SURAnet supports several T1 lines between Georgia Tech and other SURAnet nodes. In the event of a failure at the University of Maryland, the Georgia Tech site could provide enough redundancy to temporarily service all SURAnet traffic. Load balancing between the two NSS's can be accomplished by adjusting routing metrics. SURAnet and Georgia Tech has developed satisfactory procedures to insure coordination between the nodes at the University of Maryland and Georgia Tech.***//
