ResNet: Setting the Stage

Penn: Large, urban, private research university; decision making largely decentralized
- 22,000 students total, 10,000 undergraduate
- Undergraduate schools: Arts & Sciences, Engineering, Nursing, Wharton
- Grad/Prof: Annenberg School for Communication, Dental, Education, Fine Arts, Law, Medicine, Social Work, Veterinary Medicine (Vet School has second campus 35 miles west)
- Major teaching hospital
- Annual budget of $1.9 billion
Network becoming infused into all aspects of university life: near-universal e-mail, research computing, telecommuting
Admissions officers concerned with "competition"
Occupancy down, could CATV help?
Supreme Court approved Bell Atlantic's "video dial tone"
Modem pool & labs at capacity
Old telephone wiring needed replacement
Provost had sponsored Academic Video Network (AVN)
President, Provost, Budget Director all supportive
Initial project announcement on campus

Please address comments or questions to Dr. Noam Arzt, arzt@isc.upenn.edu [6/20/96]
URL: http://nextb.dccs.upenn.edu/noam/questnet96/resnet/intro.html