If you’ve noticed something missing from your inbox, it won’t surprise you that we have shifted our newsletter to quarterly rather than monthly, in the interest of providing more focused and timely content when it arises and a better update on all things IAA. It’s been a full and fun quarter, too! I’m quite chuffed that we certified as a ‘Great Place to Work’, a strong endorsement of the workplace culture we’ve managed to create.

We’ve had events in Adelaide and Melbourne, with both nicely attended and covering great topics. The Melbourne session on NTP is being repeated online due to popular demand! It was truly fascinating to look into the issues with NTP and see measurements taken over a twenty-year period. We’re planning some more events in conjunction with APNIC, so stay tuned.

The tech team have also been ripping things apart and rebuilding a few things, with new switches installed (Brisbane and Melbourne) and some rearrangement work in VIC-IX after the data centre space was reassigned. We’ve also taken a broom to all the bodgy paths in our OSPF configuration so now we have a nice clean area zero in all the right places. Thank you to Aaron and Matt who had a few sleep deprived nights on all that effort!

In general on the IX front, we’ve been cracking the terabit mark on a fairly regular basis now. This means our traffic values are trending up nicely and we’re serving over a solid petabyte worth of content every day too! We also welcomed Hurricane Electric onto QLD-IX which caused an influx of new routes into Queensland.

There’s been a lot happening over in SA-IX too! We’ve completed some upgrades, creating more capacity between the sites and a new content switch on the way. In line with these upgrades, we’ve made the tough decision to commence charging from Q2 FY23-24. We’re offering members 50% off for the first year, and then will commence charging full price the following year (from Q2 FY24-25). After 10 years operation without charge, this brings the exchange into line with the other well-established exchanges and means we can continue to invest in it into the future. 

We received over 50 applications for the IAASysters program this round, and I must say I was really impressed with the calibre of the candidates. Hopefully the ones we take to the Systers’ workshop will all submit talks for AUSNOG as their work sounds really interesting and worth hearing about! A big thank you to all of you who applied or supported candidates to apply. Together, we’re making a genuine difference!

On the regulatory front, we’ve been asked to participate in a regulation ‘sprint’ between government and industry reviewing all the overlaps due to changes in security legislation imposed on the telco sector. Some of this may even affect your licencing conditions and there has even been talk of licencing internet providers generally. Rest assured we will oppose the latter right into the ditches. While we do expect further consultation on this, the sudden call to review complex matters in a ridiculously short time frame has most of us rather annoyed, to say the least… As ever – let us know your views.

Happy peering!

Narelle

Narelle Clark
IAA CEO

The national 2023-24 Budget was released earlier this month, which will no doubt affect the telco sector in the year ahead. Here are some key details from this year’s budget:

• $86.5 million to establish a National Anti-Scam Centre, boost ASIC’s work, and establish a SMS Sender ID Registry
• $44.3 million to the OAIC to take appropriate regulatory action and enhance its data and analytics capability, and support a standalone Privacy Commissioner
• $0.9 million over 2 years to progress the review of the Privacy Act
• $26.9 million to expand Digital ID
• $23.4 million over 3 years to support small businesses to build resilience to cyber threats
• $19.5 million to support responsible entities owning critical infrastructure to respond to significant cyber threats
• $46.5 million over 4 years to establish the Coordinator for Cyber Security to enhance the Commonwealth’s cyber security efforts
• $134.1 million over 4 years to fund the eSafety Commissioner – quadrupling its base operational funding
• $10.1 million over 2 years to establish a central task force for the delivery of a new Public Safety Mobile Broadband capability – an initiative that will provide Public Safety Agencies and first responders with fast and secure voice, video and data communications
• $50 million for the Telecommunications Disaster Resilience Innovation grant program
• $15 million for the next round of the Network Hardening Program

It’s clear that cyber security and online safety are core focuses for the government, with a particularly significant increase in investment towards eSafety. This is likely to have a great impact on the telco sector as we have already seen a wide number of legislative reforms in relation to the SOCI Act, Privacy Act, and the TIA Act, as well as the ongoing development of Industry Codes for online safety.

Although IAA welcomes the government’s commitment to safety online, including cyber security, we emphasise that this must be actioned in a measured and effective manner, with genuine engagement with industry and other stakeholders throughout all legislative and regulatory reform processes.

We’re delighted to announce that we have been awarded Great Place to Work® Certification. We now feature on the Great Place to Work portal, where you can learn more. We will wear this new badge with pride as a sign of a positive employee experience. In receiving this accreditation, we join the ranks of Cisco, Google and American Express. Great Place to Work is a globally recognised employee validation program.

On our first attempt at achieving certification, we received an impressive 86% overall satisfaction score. This score is based on a comprehensive employee survey and a detailed questionnaire about our workplace. Because employee feedback and independent analysis determine the scores, our certification can give future employees confidence that we genuinely offer a great company culture.

Hiring and retaining talent has never been more important or more challenging for all employers, so earning this certification means a lot to us.  We aim to be an employer of choice and foster a healthy workplace culture.

Undergoing the Great Place to Work assessment gave us some real insights into what we’re doing well and some opportunities to improve.

Comments from team members included:

“Excellent flexibility working from home, and ample opportunity to attend to outside of work commitments and requirements and make up the work later when it suits.”

“As a relatively small team, everyone is very busy but still happy to help each other out. We have lots of opportunities to grow in the industry, such as participating in industry forums and conferences.”

“Genuine flexibility and care from the management. Know how and understanding of the Internet and industry. Our status and respect as a trusted player in the industry.”

Of course, we are always looking ways we can be even better and look forward to repeating the process annually so that we can keep track of our progress. In this way, you can always be confident that creating a safe and happy workplace is at the heart of everything we do.

If you or someone you know are looking for a progressive and proactive place to work, check out our latest career opportunities on IAA’s career’s page here.

Our success in achieving Great Place to Work Certification is all thanks to our awesome team. Each and every one of them has contributed to making this possible and we’re pleased to share their achievement with you.

This June NSW-IX  will have been in operation for 10 years!

We invite you to join our CEO, Narelle Clark and the IAA Team and Board Members as we celebrate with drinks and canapés as the sun sets over Darling Harbour.

IAA members are welcome to invite guests. Corporate members can register themselves and an additional 7 guests, either internal or external to their organisation. Professional members are able to invite one additional guest. All registrations need to be completed via the IAA Portal by the inviting member.

Details
When: Wednesday 21 June | 5.30pm – 9.00pm AEST
Where: Helm Bar & Bistro, Sydney

Register via the IAA Portal now!

RSVP now!

 

The past couple months has been very busy for the policy team, and we continue to see various legislative and regulatory reforms in the telco sector. Please get in touch to share any thoughts on any open and previous submissions; we always appreciate your feedback.

CDR Paused For Telcos

Treasury has confirmed that the expansion of the Consumer Data Right (CDR) Scheme has been paused for the telecommunications sector. Following the release of the 2023-24 Budget, it was revealed that $88.8 million will be invested over 2 years to support the CDR in banking, energy and non-band lending sectors and deliver a cyber security uplift. As had been speculated, it was further announced in the CDR Framework Design and Strategy, that a strategic assessment is planned for the end of 2024. This is to inform future expansions of implementation of action initiatives, including in the other sectors. This strategic assessment will require the consideration of new criteria, and consultation process.

The telco industry has long been pushing back on the expansion of the CDR into the sector. With plenty of information already provided to customers in an accessible format, in accordance with the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code, as well as switching between telco providers being a feature within the industry, representatives have disputed the need for the CDR Scheme.

This pause is welcome news.  We look forward to continuing consultations with government, should discussions surrounding the implementation of the CDR for the telco sector arise again. You can read our previous responses to consultations related to the CDR for further details.

Completed Submissions

Copyright Enforcement Review | Attorney General Department

The Attorney General Department consulted on its Issue Paper regarding the review of Australia’s copyright enforcement regime. In our response, we pointed out the dangers of relying on website blocking schemes due to their inherent impact on the openness of the Internet, and the likelihood of motivated actors to go around these blocks. We also recommended finding other mechanisms outside of the court system to enforce copyright protection, and to focus on reducing infringement of copyright laws as opposed to enforcement after the fact.

Internet Carriage Services Online Safety Code | Industry Associations

Following the eSafety Commissioner’s response to the first round of the industry Online Safety Codes, the industry associations released round two of the Codes. We submitted specifically to Code 7 for Internet Carriage Services. Our response focused on the need to ensure compliance measures balance the protection of individuals with the need to minimise unnecessary burdens on ISPs.

ACMA Compliance Priorities 2023-24 | ACMA

We responded to the ACMA Compliance Priorities for 2023-24 and emphasised that rather than focusing on enforcement measures, the ACMA should prioritise encouraging compliance. We suggested this could be achieved via industry and community engagement, education and awareness and lowering the burden of regulatory compliance for industry.

Privacy Act Review Report | Attorney General Department

The Attorney General Department released its Privacy Act Review Report, which proposed various significant reforms to the Privacy Act. Should the Privacy Act be amended as per the proposals contained in the Report, these changes could prove to have substantial impacts, such as the removal of the small business exemption that currently exists. Our response reiterated positions we have expressed in previous submission regarding privacy legislation. In particular, we emphasised the need to focus on ensuring best practice data and personal information handling practices through collaborative means, as opposed to the expansion of the APPs that does not necessarily ensure compliance with the complex regulation.

2023-2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy | Department of Home Affairs

The Department of Home Affairs and the Strategy Expert Advisory Board sought feedback on the 2023-30 Australian Cyber Security Strategy Discussion Paper. Our response primarily focused on the need for greater genuine engagement and collaboration, to ensure a truly effective approach to cyber security. In the context of increasing regulatory requirements for the telco sector in relation to data security, critical infrastructure and privacy, we emphasised the need to harmonise and simplify the current policy landscape for an effective and efficient strategy that combats the threats and risks to Australia’s cyber security.

Final Access Determination (SBAS) | ACCC

The ACCC released its Exposure Draft to the Superfast Broadband Access Service Final Access Determination. This draft instrument was based on the ACCC’s decision released in October 2022, with limited incorporation of stakeholder feedback to the consultation held during December 2022. Our response reiterated our positions stated in our response during the December consultation, including the extension of the Determination to cover all residential TC-4 speed tiers at NBN Co pricing, and regarding NNI and state based aggregation charges. We also recommended the Determination to expressly set out prohibition to on-charge RBS.

Open Submissions 

Draft Decision: Variation to the NBN Co Special Access Undertaking (Nov 2022) | ACCC | 30 May 2023

The ACCC has released its draft decision to reject the proposed NBN Co SAU Variation. It is seeking views on its draft decision, and whether providers would accept a NBN Co SAU variation proposal based on NBN Co’s letter in response to the issues raised by the ACCC.

Although rejecting the SAU overall, amongst other things, the ACCC has indicated it is willing to accept the price increase for the 50/20 Mbps speed tier. Review the ACC’s draft decision.

Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code | Communications Alliance | 6 June 2023

Communications Alliance has commenced its review of the TCP Code, with the review to take place over 3 stages. The first stage, with the deadline for responses to its Discussion Paper closing in early June, is intended to be a pre-code drafting stage to gather information in order to set the foundations for the rest of the review.

NZIX was a proud Gold Sponsor of this year’s NZNOG, which took place in Rotorua late March. The NZIX team hosted a stand and were a valued contributor towards making the event a resounding success.

In the conference itself, NZIX committee member Simon Allard, in his capacity as Head of Technology Architecture at 2degrees, gave a fascinating talk about the impacts and learnings from Cyclone Gaby for both Vocus and 2degrees. Rene, from FLEXOPTIX, gave both a terrifying, yet heart-warming talk on the Keep Ukraine Connected project.

IAA also sent our very own Matt Kobayashi who gave a bit of an update on ‘all things tech’ on NZIX’s three exchanges and an informative lightning talk about optical circulators and how they can be used when bi-directional (BiDi) optical transceivers are not available. Watch Matt’s presentation now on the NZNOG YouTube channel.

The mighty Tech Team have been very busy and are pleased to announce the Phase 1 of the rack migration at VDC-MEL03 is now complete. 40/100G ports are now available to all members on level 3. Make sure you get your orders in via the IAA Portal!

Our cable up to MDC/5GN on level 15 is currently being re-terminated from our previous rack in the OFDF to be direct to our rack, which should be completed within a few weeks. We will soon be able to deliver 40/100G service ports to MDC/5GN members via level 15. Regardless of where you are at 530 Collins St, feel free to place your order now!

As a result of this hardware being installed, we were able to upgrade our VIC-IX ring to fully redundant 200G paths giving us up to 400Gbps usable out of each site, and at the same time reducing OPEX by choosing 100G BiDi transceivers to get the most out of a pair of fibre.

This hardware will also permit us to finally progress further on updating our layer 2 fabric technology choice. Watch this space for more updates!

 

At IAA, we’re always looking for ways to improve our service and provide the best possible experience for our Members. An important tool in our arsenal is IRR explorer.

IRR explorer shows the routing, Internet Routing Registry (IRR) registrations and Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) status for resources and highlights potential issues. IRR explorer is a powerful troubleshooting tool that helps to manage and verify routing information contained in various IRR databases via IAA’s internal IRR mirror, so we’re even more efficient at running our networks. IRR explorer helps to catch any errors so that routing information is optimised.  With IRR explore, our Members have a near real-time tool to verify that their own IRR data, RPK and ROAs are accurate.

Here are some of the many use cases for IRR explorer:

1. Improving routability of prefixes. IRR explorer can point out discrepancies between routing registry data, ROAs, and routing table entries, and make suggestions on how to fix them.
2. Doing housekeeping on routing registry entries. By offering a clear overview of entries in many routing registries (and showing the relevant WHOIS information) we have an easy way of finding those old database entries we forgot about.
3. Analysing routing issues. Because IRR explorer combines data from multiple IRR databases, it can serve as a good starting point for analysing some types of routing issues. For example, IRR explorer enables users to easily visualise RPKI-invalid route advertisements that might be being propagated by a transit provider that doesn’t perform RPKI verification, but rather relies on (potentially invalid) route objects to generate their ACLs.
4. Monitoring your prefixes. IRR explorer can provide the data in nicely rendered tables, but also in raw JSON format. Below the tables there’s a ‘source data as JSON’ link. For example, this link to IRR explorer shows the JSON data for the 1.1.1.0/24 prefix we checked as in a previous example. This allows for programmatic integration of IRR data into monitoring tools.

Incredibly, IRR explorer is open source, with development and maintenance by the RIPE NCC Community Projects Fund and the Internet Society (ISOC), who – like us – are dedicated to supporting the Internet industry for a better future. It’s just one of the many tools we use every day to bring you the efficient network our Members have come to depend upon.

Planning for IAASysters 2023 is well underway! We’re excited by the program we have in store. This year’s theme ‘Future Heroes of the Internet’ has been chosen to celebrate all the super women we have in our industry. We’re also proud to announce that this year’s conference will be held at Sea World  Resort on the Gold Coast. If you’ve not heard of our Systers program before or just want to know more, be sure to check our short video on our YouTube channel.

The successful participants were selected from a record number of strong applications. The sponsored attendees will enjoy:

• Ticket to attend the IAASysters Workshop (6 September 2023)
• Ticket to the AusNOG Conference (7-8 September 2023)
• Economy airfares to Gold Coast and accommodation
• One-year complimentary Professional Membership to IAA (subject to board approval)

We could not host such an amazing three-day program  without the generous support of our sponsors. We like to thank this year’s Sponsors:

If you would like to support the next generation of women in the Internet industry, it’s not too late to be a part of the Systers program. Head over to the Systers page on our website to find out how to sponsor!

Since our last newsletter, we have been very busy hosting and planning Convergent Events for our Members to network, learn and grow.

First up in March was an online event – “Malicious Domains: Where they are, and what we can do about them.” Industry experts, Graeme Bunton and Rowena Schoo, of the DNS Abuse Institute gave us fascinating insights into this topic. Don’t worry if you missed it, you can find it on IAA’s YouTube channel.

This was soon followed by an in-person event in Adelaide, in partnership with APNIC Academy Training, who provided an insightful RPKI/ROV Tutorial. This gave our members the opportunity to receive free training on this important subject (typically valued at $80), followed by the opportunity to network at our social event.

For those who couldn’t make Adelaide, you’ll be pleased to learn we’re partnering with APNIC Academy Training to provide the RPKI/ROV Tutorial again in two other locations. More details to follow, but make a note in your calendar, if you’ll be in Canberra, Tuesday 18 July 2023 or Sydney, Thursday 20 July 2023. In both cities the tutorial will run 1.30pm – 5.30pm AEST and be followed by a social event.  Check your emails and the IAA Portal closer to the date to register.

In other news, our Melbourne Convergent Event in May featured a talk by Professor Darryl Veitch entitled “Can I trust my clock? Why NTP is fail .” The presentation was followed by drinks and nibbles. Darryl’s presentation was well received with one attendee reporting: “Everything I thought I knew about how NTP worked and synced and reliability was wrong. This may have been one of those red pill or blue pill moments.”

Register now for our Convergent Online Event 1 June

On the back of the success of this event, we have decided to share Professor Veitch’s insights with the rest of our Members, with a special online event on Thursday 1 June 2023 from 12pm AEST (10am AWST) via Zoom.

Register via the IAA Portal now!

Member registration                                  Non-member registration

 

We look forward to bringing you even more Convergent Conference Events soon.

Not only are we a ‘great place to work’ – our team continues to grow. In the marketing and communications department, we’ve added two valuable members to help promote IAA to the world.

Suzanne Thompson joins us as our new Marketing Manager. Suzanne is an experienced marketing and communications specialist with over 20 years’ experience, including working at some of Australia’s largest advertising agencies. She will manage strategies to promote our work and the service offerings we provide for the benefit of our Members.

In her spare time Suzanne enjoys writing, running and swimming, and is a Ward Councillor for the City of Joondalup, where she lives.

Chris Bishop joined IAA at the start of April and has settled in nicely to the role of Digital Marketing and Communications Officer. Chris has over 20 years’ experience in the digital marketing and design space, working with some of Perth’s leading digital agencies.

When he’s not helping to promote IAA to an international audience, you’ll likely find him training for an upcoming trail-race or enjoying a post run coffee or beer – depending on the time of day – with his training partners.

Finally, we extend a warm welcome to Anita Chidi-Amadi to the team. Anita joins IAA as Executive Assistant to our CEO Narelle Clark. Most recently working in Abuja, Nigeria, Anita was integral to supporting and developing strategic enrolment plans for a leading sixth-form college.

Outside of work Anita loves watching the news, cooking for her family, listening to podcasts and gaming.

Discover more about the team on the IAA website.

Corporate Members:

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
Starlink is a satellite internet constellation, operated by SpaceX, providing satellite internet access coverage to over 50 countries to provide a commercial internet service. In January 2020, the Starlink constellation became the largest satellite constellation ever launched, and as of December 2022 comprises over 3,300 small satellites in orbit. SpaceX Starlink is opening a new POP in Perth connected to WA-IX.

IPSTAR AUSTRALIA PTY LTD
IPSTAR has been providing rural and regional Australians with connectivity at home and on the farm for nearly 20 years. They are an ISP with partnership with large semi-government entities, currently expanding their network. They recently joined IAA as part of their expansion.

INMARSAT AUSTRALIA PTY LIMITED
Inmarsat is a mobile satellite operating company whose customers need access to the Internet through their ground station network. They see IAA’s NSW-IX as an important way of improving their internet connectivity in Australia and elsewhere and believe this will greatly enhance the scope and number of internet providers they have access to.

Professional Members:

Michelle Williams
Michael Maenuú
Josh Finlay
Gordon Morton