Melbourne Uni opens 'NBN Institute'

James Riley
Thursday, 16 July 2009 10:52

IT Industry - Market

As rivalry heats up between eastern states hoping to attract the National Broadband Network company headquarters to their capital city, Victorian Premier John Brumby has thrown in a sweetener with the opening of a $50 million broadband institute at Melbourne University.


The decision on where to locate the NBN company expected within weeks, and Victoria is getting all its ducks in a row – lining up two powerful research agencies to join with Melbourne Uni, as well as 10 multinational ICT companies to back the new Institute for a Broadband Enabled Society (IBES).

The university, National ICT Australia (NICTA) and the Melbourne-based Centre for Ultra Broadband Information Networks (CUBIN) are the foundation partners of the institute, which director Professor Rod Tucker says will develop commercial applications to run on the NBN.

“The Institute for a Broadband Enabled Society is a multi-disciplinary institute across the whole University of Melbourne,” Prof Tucker said. “The idea is that it brings together researchers from different backgrounds – from sicences, social sciences, health and education – to work on new technologies and applications for broadband that will be of benefit to society.”

Companies including Telstra, Cisco, Microsoft, Ericsson, Optus, Alcatel Lucent and Bell Labs have all agreed to partipate in the new venture.

While the Premier is calling it a $50 million Institute, the State government is actually only kicking in $2 million – with the rest coming from existing funding and through Institute partners.

Professor Tucker said the Institute would create NBN applications in areas ranging from eHealth, Education and even bushfire monitoring systems.

“(The NBN) opens up enormous opportunities for new services, new innovations and new applications for broadband in Australia.”

Premier Brumby said the Institute would create at least 64 new jobs for the state.

“This institute is another reason why Victoria is the natural home of the NBN Corporation along with Victoria’s impressive reputation in broadband-related research and development,” Brumby said.