VHPBNS loops in a figure-8 over a 14,000 mile area connecting five academic supercomputer centers in the United States. Professor Michael L. Norman, an astronomer, is using it to simulate precisely what would happen if our galaxy crashed into its nearest neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy. The new internet makes much easier the creations of visualizations so scientists may watch millions of stars moving toward, colliding and flying and past each other. It harnesses the computational power of the nation's supercomputers simultaneously.

The man who controls campus use of VHPBNS is George O. Strawn, director of the National Science Foundation. Placing this internet in academic communities nationwide will take years, says Strawn. The internet used today by the public was once the child of Federal Government projects. As it became a commercial venture, the science foundation and government agencies involved withdrew into their own newly-fashioned systems.

In April, 1995, following the advice of top scientists, the National Science Foundation hired MCI to develop the new internet. With the assistance of Sprint and AT&T, military and energy laboratories will connect to the high performance machinery.

Amounts spent on research for advanced computing, according to National Science estimates, total about $250 million annually. The Federal Government's funds are approximately $50 million per year. Spokespersons for the industry say that MCI is spending roughly 10 times more than the award it got from the Science Foundation. This investment should allow the company to sell its final products to other customers at some unspecified future date.

A majority of the fiber optic lines are already in place as part of the MCI long-distance network. Fore System and Northern Telecom have provided advanced switches, while Cisco Systems and Ascend Communications have created routers.

Since last fall at least 100 academic institutions have signed up, agreeing to more capable links than their own and to paying the expenses for these links.