In order to facilitate the deployment of the Nil by the private sector, the government will work closely 

 with industry, academia, and users on all aspects of the IITA component. The private sector is expect- 

 ed to deploy many of its own applications, in areas such as commerce and entertainment. The govern- 

 ment's goal is that from the user's point of view these applications will be integrated as seamlessly as 

 possible into a single Nil. with appropriate use restrictions and protections incorporated as needed. 



The IITA component is organized into four interrelated elements. Each builds on the foundation of 

 the HPCC Program and, in large measure, builds on its predecessor. 



I. Information Infrastructure Services 



These are the basic services and interfaces, and the underlying technical conventions and standards, 

 that provide the coirmion foundation for a broad range of information technology-based applications. 

 Building upon the Interagency Internet, these modular units will in turn be the building blocks of the 

 Nil applications. These include: 



2 Data formats and object structures (including single- and multimedia formats such as image, 

 audio, and video). 



Q Methods for managing distributed databases. 



Q Services that provide access to electronic libraries and computer-based databases. 



3 Methods for exchanging data (e.g., data compression) and integrating data (e.g., merging and 

 overlaying images) from one or more electronic libraries and computer-based databases. 



3 Services to search for and retrieve data and objects. 



^ Protocols and processes such as "digital signatures" needed to obtain appropriately secure and 

 legal access to information (including protection of copyrighted material). 



Q Usage metering mechanisms to enable implementation of payment policies. 



^ High integrity, fault-tolerant, trusted, scalable computing systems. 



Q Protocols and processes needed to obtain the appropriate communications speed and bandwidth. 



II. Systems Development and Support Environment 



This element includes a comprehensive suite of software tools and applications methods such as soft- 

 ware toolkits and software generators for use by computer programmers, tools and methods for inte- 

 grating elements of virtual reality systems, collaboration software systems, and applications-specific 

 templates and frameworks. They will be used to: 



Q Interface to existing services (for example, existing search services). 



3 Develop new distributed services for the Information Infrastructure Services element and for the 

 NIL 



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