Internet2: 2004 and beyond: Internet2 was developed by a consortium of universities and technology companies in 1996 to provide vast improvements in connection speeds. The goal of the project has always been to stay three to four years ahead of what is commercially available through the public Internet. The network itself is in its third generation of design. Earlier this year the backbone was upgraded to 10gbps (gigabits per second).

Most of the public Internet today uses 2.5gbps links, but some carriers are upgrading those links to 10gbps.

More than 227 universities, libraries, public schools and research institutions are connected to Internet2. The network connects to more than 57 international high-capacity networks. It provides a test-bed for new technologies such as IP version 6.