The NSFNET was the first backbone for the US portion of the Internet. It was originally conceived as a way for researchers to submit jobs to supercomputers located at various universities around the US. Subsequently it was realized that the excess capacity on this backbone could be used to exchange data among universities that had nothing to do with supercomputing. The NSF annually paid about $11.5 million for the NSFNET operation for several years, but eventually decided that the technology was mature enough that it could be more effectively provided by the private market.