AARNet offers 10Gbps access

Stuart Corner
Monday, 04 August 2008 08:32

Business IT - Networking

AARNet has upgraded the access portion of its network to enable member institutions to gain access at 10Gbps, up from 1Gbps giving them 10Gbps links (10,000 times faster than the average Australian broadband service) to other Australian and overseas institutions, and even higher speeds are planned.

AARNet said the new 10Gbps access product would allow Australian researchers to collaborate on international research projects in the areas of physics and astronomy that require very high bandwidth links for the exchange of very large volumes of data. It also expects the upgrade to increase the adoption of OptiPortal by Australia's research and education institutions. OptiPortal is a ultra-resolution high definition video collaboration technology making use of multiple screens, typically between 15 and 30.

Even higher bandwidths are likely in the next few years. Chris Hancock, CEO of AARNet told iTWire "If you look at our roadmap we are talking of getting to 40Gbps within one to three years. But we may skip 40Gbps because the vendors are all pushing 100Gbps so we may go straight to 100Gbps. Then we will be offering 40Gbps access, by about 2012."

Southern Cross recently upgraded the US terresrial portion of its network to 40Gbps per wavelength, from 10Gbps and Deutsche Telecom is planning to upgrade its entire network to 40Gbps using the same Ericsson technology that Telstra has trialled in its network.  These vendors, and others, are talking about upgrade paths for their technology to 100Gbps per wavelength. Hancock said this upgrade was part of AARNet's plans for its next network evolution, AARNet4."It could be by 2012 but it really depends on demand. If we had 10 or 12 universities linked together by OptiPortals we would need that kind of capacity.

He predicted that by October this year about a dozen OptiPortals could be in use in Australian institutions. "ANU is looking at it, and Melbourne [University] has build one. UNSW is gong to build one, UTS is going to build one and Queensland University has one.  There will probably be 10 by October, with between 15 and 30 screens each."

AARNet is currently also offering EN4R (Experimental Network four Research) which offers a 1Gbps direct optical link between institutions - it is being offered at no charge for one year, Hancock said. It plans to upgrade this to a point-to-multipoint MPLS offering, also at no charge. Further down the track AARNet plans to introduce LamdaPaths: direct all optical links between Australian institutions and others overseas.