MIDNET is one of approximately 20 mid-level networks which connect to the NSFNET backbone. Through the mid-levels, the NSFNET links over a thousand university and college campuses, business and industrial research laboratories, and governmental research centers across the nation and around the world. Using NSFNET, educators and researchers access library resources, supercomputing centers, satellite data, medical imaging, scientific instruments, video applications, national data bases, and colleagues worldwide. This award funds upgrading the speed of the MIDNET communication line into each state from 56,000 bits per second to 1.544 million bits per second. It also provides for part time effort of the Principal Investigator in managing the network.