The network provides a 40-fold increase in capacity available for students and researchers at James Cook and Central Queensland universities, giving researchers greater opportunities for collaboration with their colleagues in Australia and overseas and students wider access to on-line educational resources.
The Government is also providing a further $2.0 million over the next three years to extend this network backbone to Cairns, Hervey Bay, Gladstone and the University of the Sunshine Coast. This is also the result of a joint venture with state utilities.
NextGen
On Christmas Eve 2003, the Australian Government announced that it was providing $25 million towards the acquisition of capacity on the advanced fibre optic network, Nextgen. As the following map illustrates, Nextgen is an extensive network, providing Gigabit connectivity from Brisbane to Perth through Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide. (Nextgen announcement 
– December 2003)
Map of AREN showing Queensland and Tasmanian links as well as the Nextgen network. Sites of interest which are likely to connect in the coming months are marked on the map in NSW, Victoria and WA
This component of the AREN will connect researchers in regional NSW, Southern Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and some sites in Western Australia at a capacity they could previously only before dream of.
Particularly exciting will be the ability to connect the radio telescopes near Coonabarabran, Narrabri and Parkes in NSW, allowing massive quantities of data to be transported in real time to analysts in Australia and around the world.