A program of the United States government to encourage the development of an advanced and seamless high-speed web of public and private communications networks, interactive services, interoperable hardware and software, databases, and other elements in support of voice, data, video, fax, and multimedia transmission, storage, processing, and display. The NII encompasses a wide range of interactive databases, functions, and services interconnected in a technologyneutral manner. See also Information Superhighway.