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Media Release
$25 MILLION TO LINK UNIVERSITIES THROUGH HI-TECH OPTIC FIBRE NETWORK
24 December 2003 MIN 584/03
Australian Government funding of $25 million will give Australian universities access to high bandwidth capacity on the advanced fibre optic network, NextGen.
The Australian Academic and Research Network (AARNet), the universities’ specialist telecommunications carrier, has brokered an agreement to acquire access to the NextGen network for a 15-year period.
The Government will provide $25 million over 2004-06 to the university sector to support the next generation Australian Research and Education Network (AREN).
NextGen, recently acquired by Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd, has the potential to provide high bandwidth links servicing metropolitan and regional centres, resulting in an AREN comparable to the advanced research networks in North America and Europe.
AARNet will establish a series of Virtual Private Networks across the NextGen network to address communications needs of both metropolitan and regional universities, allowing them to be full participants in collaborative research and in the creation and use of innovative services.
AARNet played a critical role in bringing the Internet to Australia in the early 1990s and is now set to support a quantum leap in network development for the education and research sector. The implementation of the AREN will result in a massive increase in communications capacity, especially for institutions in regional Australia, through dedicated fibre pairs across the NextGen network providing:
- 10 Gigabit per second inter-capital city connections, and
- 1 Gigabit per second connections to regional areas where universities or high end research facilities are located.
The Australian Government has already announced funding assistance for regional network developments in Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia. These will be progressively connected to the AREN to form a gigabit capacity grid from Townsville to Perth. Work is still progressing to improve connectivity to the Northern Territory.
These networking investments will ensure Australian research remains internationally competitive and at the cutting edge of global innovation.
Media Contact:
Dr Nelson’s Office: Ross Hampton 0419 484 095
Dept of Education, Science & Training: Virginia Cook 0412 971 323
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