When DARPA and NSF put together what became the Internet (merger of NSF-net and ARPA-net) in the National Research and Education Network (NREN) Act -- a.k.a. the "Gore Bill" -- Bob Kahn and Anita Jones (DARPA) and Bill Wolfe (NSF) had the bright idea of setting down some rules (really, "standards") that if other, existing commercial and educational networks (i.e., CompuServe, AOL, MERIT, etc.) played by, they could be part of the NREN as well. Even though the "big networks" at the time used slow, dialup networks, they joined. An the Internet spread with a rapidity that no one involved in the process ever anticipated. Fortunately, the TELCOs were not paying attention at the time and the genie was out of the bottle. This time, the fears that the big, rich guys will try to "divide and conquer" and control is a real threat that I for one hope is resisted. I hope the merger between these two "academic leaders" is followed quickly by appropriate legislation that guarantees open access to bigger, better pipes (bandwidth). The reluctance of the Telcos to give up their highly subsidized analog switches and twisted copper is why the U.S. is 16th in the world (per capita) in terms of broadband connections and is falling behind in networking technology. As to what this greater bandwidth will be used for? Does it really matter? It is impossible to forecast -- but you can bet it will be interesting if it isn't taken over by the advertising/marketing industry in search of more "face time."