In 1986, the super computer centers were officially connected and it became open to all academic networks. NSF decided to upgrade the NSFNET with private sector participation because of the rapid growth of internet users. In 1987, a Project Solicitation for Management and Operation of the NSFNET Backbone Network was released by NSF. IBM, MCI and Merit Networks Inc. won the contract.<ref>[http://www.merit.edu/about/history/timeline_1980.php Merit History]</ref> NSFNET was upgraded to 1.5 Mbps and recorded a traffic growth rate of 20% per month. By 1992, NSFNET has 12 billions packets of traffic per month. By December of the same year NSFNET was upgraded to T3. It had a capacity of 44.736 Mbps. By 1994 NSFNET recorded a monthly traffic level of 10 trillion bytes.<ref>[http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ii_nsfnet.htm NSFNET -- National Science Foundation Network]</ref> | In 1986, the super computer centers were officially connected and it became open to all academic networks. NSF decided to upgrade the NSFNET with private sector participation because of the rapid growth of internet users. In 1987, a Project Solicitation for Management and Operation of the NSFNET Backbone Network was released by NSF. IBM, MCI and Merit Networks Inc. won the contract.<ref>[http://www.merit.edu/about/history/timeline_1980.php Merit History]</ref> NSFNET was upgraded to 1.5 Mbps and recorded a traffic growth rate of 20% per month. By 1992, NSFNET has 12 billions packets of traffic per month. By December of the same year NSFNET was upgraded to T3. It had a capacity of 44.736 Mbps. By 1994 NSFNET recorded a monthly traffic level of 10 trillion bytes.<ref>[http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ii_nsfnet.htm NSFNET -- National Science Foundation Network]</ref> |