The project proposes connecting the computer network at the University of Connecticut Health Center (UCHC) to Internet, a worldwide computer network based on the TCP/IP communications protocol. Included in Internet are the numerous NSF-assisted institutions that comprise NSFNET. The connection will allow collaborations between faculty, researchers, librarians, staff, hospitals, and research centers. This is of special importance to UCHC's library because the National Library of Medicine has designated it the New England Regional Library in the National Network of Libraries of Medicine. The linkage will rely on a regional network, the New England Academic and Research Network (NEARnet), that presently serves several nearby sites in Hartford. A 56-kbit-per-second leased phone line will connect UCHC to NEARnet's present termination at the University of Hartford. NEARnet will operate Cisco IGS/R routers at each end of the line. At UCHC, the router will connect to our existing copper and fiber Ethernet system. Simultaneously, UCHC will fund major fiber-optic improvements to its local network. Apart from assisting clinical and research collaboration, the connection will allow UCHC to develop servers for public domain software and to make its library catalog searchable from remote sites.
