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The Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI), based in
Reston, Virginia Reston is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia and a principal city of the Washington metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, Reston's population was 63,226. Founded in 1964, Reston was influenced by the Garden City move ...
, is a
non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
founded in 1986 by
Robert E. Kahn Robert Elliot Kahn (born December 23, 1938) is an American electrical engineer who, along with Vint Cerf, first proposed the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP), the fundamental communication protocols at the hear ...
as an "activities center around strategic development of network-based information technologies", including the National Information Infrastructure (NII) in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
. CNRI develops the Handle System for managing and locating
digital information Digital data, in information theory and information systems, is information represented as a string of discrete symbols each of which can take on one of only a finite number of values from some alphabet, such as letters or digits. An example is ...
. CNRI obtained
DARPA The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the A ...
funding for the development of JPython (
Jython Jython is an implementation of the Python programming language designed to run on the Java platform. The implementation was formerly known as JPython until 1999. Overview Jython programs can import and use any Java class. Except for some stand ...
), a Python
implementation Implementation is the realization of an application, or execution of a plan, idea, model, design, specification, standard, algorithm, or policy. Industry-specific definitions Computer science In computer science, an implementation is a real ...
in and for
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...
, initially created by
Jim Hugunin Jim Hugunin is a software programmer who created the Python programming language extension Numeric (ancestor to NumPy), and later created Python implementations for the Java Platform (Jython) and for Microsoft .NET platform (IronPython); he ha ...
. The MEMS and Nanotechnology Exchange (MNX) is an effort located at CNRI that provides semiconductor implementation services to the United States and was established with support from DARPA.


History

CNRI formerly operated the Secretariat of the
Internet Engineering Task Force The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a standards organization for the Internet and is responsible for the technical standards that make up the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP). It has no formal membership roster or requirements an ...
.
Guido van Rossum Guido van Rossum (; born 31 January 1956) is a Dutch programmer best known as the creator of the Python programming language, for which he was the "benevolent dictator for life" (BDFL) until he stepped down from the position on 12 July 2018 ...
, pioneer for
open source software Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Open ...
and creator of Python, at one time worked for this company. The formation and early funding of the
Internet Society The Internet Society (ISOC) is an American nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1992 with local chapters around the world. Its mission is "to promote the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people ...
were led by CNRI. At the first meeting of the Internet Society board,
Vint Cerf Vinton Gray Cerf (; born June 23, 1943) is an American Internet pioneer and is recognized as one of " the fathers of the Internet", sharing this title with TCP/IP co-developer Bob Kahn. He has received honorary degrees and awards that include ...
, representing CNRI, offered, "In the event a deficit occurs, CNRI has agreed to contribute up to USD102000 to offset it." In the event, the contribution was not needed. CNRI did cover many of the expenses of the Internet Society in 1992. They also paid Cerf's salary during 1993, when much of his time was devoted to building the Internet Society.


Handle System

In 1996, the
Association of American Publishers The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal, and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercia ...
announced that
R. R. Bowker R. R. Bowker LLC (trading as Bowker) is an American limited liability company domiciled under Delaware Limited Liability Company Law and based in Chatham, New Jersey. Among other things, Bowker provides bibliographic information on publish ...
and the CNRI had been selected to design a
Digital Object Identifier A digital object identifier (DOI) is a persistent identifier or handle used to uniquely identify various objects, standardized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). DOIs are an implementation of the Handle System; the ...
system. The effort was initiated after a year-long study of the need for a system to identify electronic copyright ownership and to manage the digital purchase of rights. The CNRI Handle system was first demonstrated at a February 1997 meeting of the Professional/Scholarly Publishing (PSP) division of the AAP meeting in
Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morg ...
. The Handle System is a technology specification for assigning, managing, and resolving
persistent identifier A persistent identifier (PI or PID) is a long-lasting reference to a document, file, web page, or other object. The term "persistent identifier" is usually used in the context of digital objects that are accessible over the Internet. Typically, s ...
s for digital objects and other resources on the Internet. The DONA System is under consideration at the
ITU The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Union ...
and has been adopted by several countries.


D-Lib

D-Lib Magazine ''D-Lib Magazine'' was an online magazine dedicated to digital library research and development. Past issues are available free of charge. The publication was financially supported by contributions from the D-Lib Alliance. Prior to April 2006, t ...
was an on-line magazine dedicated to digital library research and development, produced by CNRI.


MEMS and Nanotechnology Exchange (MNX)

MNX was established with support from the United States Department of Defense (DoD), specifically, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The MNX is a design and fabrication service provider to the United States research and development (R&D) community for micro- and nano-systems made using semiconductor-based fabrication methodologies. Since its founding in 1998, the MNX has completed over 3,000 different fabrication projects, many of these projects representing cutting-edge research having significant national security and economic importance. MNX has provided implementation services to over 1,000 organizations in the United States, including: defense contractors; DoD and Federal laboratories; leading academic researchers; fortune 500 companies; and many start-ups. The MNX at CNRI was founded and is managed by Dr. Michael Huff.


Software


DO Repository and DO Registry

CNRI developed the Digital Object (DO) Repository software, with digital object architecture which provides a mechanism for the creation of, and access to, digital objects as discrete data structures with unique, resolvable identifiers.


GNU Mailman

GNU Mailman GNU () is an extensive collection of free software (383 packages as of January 2022), which can be used as an operating system or can be used in parts with other operating systems. The use of the completed GNU tools led to the family of opera ...
is a free
mailing list manager A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is re ...
.


Python

Python releases 1.3 through 1.6, see
Python License The Python License is a deprecated permissive computer software license created by the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI). It was used for versions 1.6 and 2.0 of the Python programming language, both released in the year 20 ...


References


External links


Corporation for National Research InitiativesD-Lib Magazine
{{Authority control Non-profit organizations based in Reston, Virginia Reston, Virginia