Advanced Network & Services, Inc. was formed in September of 1990. It is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to advancing education by accelerating the use of computer networking applications and technology. It is recognized by the IRS as being qualified under IRC Sec. 501(c)(3). Shortly after formation, Advanced Network & Services, with the help of IBM, MCI, Merit, Northern Telecom, and many others, built the largest and fastest part of the Internet. Between 1990 and 1995, Advanced Network & Services provided the NSFnet Backbone Service interconnecting the research and education regional networks in the United States and raised the network speed from 1.5Mbps to 45 Mbps. Much of the underlying technology that allowed the dramatic growth of the Internet during that period was developed by Advanced Network & Services. Its network operated at 45 Mbps and spanned 12,000 miles, serving the U.S. from New England to Hawaii. It also provided other services to government, universities and business including the first secure gateway which enabled the rapid growth of the commercial Internet. In February of 1995, Advanced Network & Services sold substantially all of its assets and operations to America Online. With the proceeds of that sale, Advanced Network & Services initiated several new programs in support of education and science. ThinkQuest is one of those programs. Advanced Network & Services is located at 200 Business Park Drive in Armonk, New York, 10504, USA, +1 914/765-1100. ThinkQuest ® is an annual contest created by Advanced Network & Services, Inc. ("Advanced Network"). With over a million dollars in scholarships and Awards, ThinkQuest has energized the intellectual power of students around the world to contribute to educational technology. ThinkQuest encourages students from schools that are on different levels of the information technology ladder to form Teams and create Web-based educational tools and materials that make learning fun and contagious and take advantage of the strengths of the Internet. Students collaborate in the "Internet Style" of learning - an interactive, participatory style - that encourages them to explore the Internet's timely resources and create new relationships that broaden the community in which they live.