Juniper Networks Commemorates Historic Networking Initiative

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR), the leader in high-performance networking, today announced its participation in a celebratory event that will recognize the impact and achievements of the National Science Foundation’s NSFNET program.

NSFNET was launched in 1985 to support and promote networking in the United States. Twenty years ago, in 1987, the NSFNET program launched the first nationwide T1 network, connecting several supercomputing centers and regional networks. In 1995, the NSFNET network was transitioned to become the basis of today’s commercial Internet. At the event, which takes place November 29 - 30 in Arlington, Va., participants will discuss the NSFNET’s history, celebrate its contributions, and consider the major impact the Internet has had on science, education, research and commerce.

Juniper Networks’ Dr. Yakov Rekhter (Juniper Fellow) and Elise Gerich (senior manager, High-end Systems Business Unit) were both closely involved with the original NSFNET and will participate in a series of panel discussions at the event. At the event on Thursday, November 29, Dr. Rekhter will participate in a panel “The Internet Comes of Age” at 12:35 p.m. EST. Ms. Gerich will speak on November 30 at 8:45 a.m. EST on the panel “NSFNET: International Partnerships”. Juniper is also a sponsor of the event and will host an evening reception.

Dr. Rekhter, at the time a member of the IBM team, was responsible for the design and implementation of routing protocols for the NSFNET backbone, which, among other things, led to the development-and first deployment-of Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). Eighteen years later, BGP continues to be the sole inter-domain routing protocol used on the Internet today.

In her role at Merit, Elise Gerich was co-principal investigator for the NSFNET T3 Backbone Program and the Routing Arbiter Program; founded the program which became North American Network Operators’ Group (NANOG); and managed the transition of the NSFNET community from the NSF-sponsored network to what is now known as the U.S. Internet.