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Due to the growing demand for network capacity, we’re in the process of procuring hardware and planning the implementation of a 400Gbps backbone ring across Sydney. Backed by the Arista 7280DR3 series platform, this expanded backbone will ensure that our network has capacity to meet existing and future demand for our services across NSW-IX.

The 7280DR3 is part of the Arista 7000 Series that are purpose built for 25G, 100G and 400G systems and are designed to be of the highest performance environments. With 9.6Tbps wire speed performance and 16GB buffer, this piece of hardware supports 24 x 400G OSFP-DD or up to 96 x 100G.

The countdown is on for our second IAASysters program. We’ve changed the workshop’s content slightly this year, so attendees get more career planning and presentation skills training.

The sessions will be delivered by prominent industry professionals: Cheryl Alderman from Be Ultimate Coaching will run the Career Planning session. The session Cheryl ran earlier this year received overwhelmingly positive feedback from attendees, so we are very pleased Cheryl is able to join us again. Sarah Denholm from Improve Your Public Speaking will join us for the first time, running the Presentation Skills session. We’re looking forward to hearing from them both!

All attending staff are looking forward to meeting the next group of Systers and hope they will enjoy the workshop and AusNOG Conference. If you see the Systers around the conference – they will likely be the ones wearing the IAASyters t-shirts – feel free to say “hi” and introduce yourself.

Under a new carrier licence condition and determination for eligible CSPs, telcos must provide the CISC with operational information in relation to their telecommunications assets, so it can be included in a register by 7 October 2022. Where an entity other than a carrier or eligible CSP holds a direct interest of at least 10% or a controlling stake in an asset, information about the interest and control in the asset must also be reported.

An ‘asset’ is defined to be a tangible asset owned or operated by a carrier/eligible carriage service provider and is used to supply a carriage service. It does not refer to equipment on customers’ premises. According to industry de-briefs, an asset can be thought of by way of an analogy – the entire car as opposed to the individual components that make up the motor vehicle.

Please visit the CISC website for further information.

We’re back at AusNOG again this year with quite a few of our team attending, including some new faces for the booth to greet you all. We’ve got a new funky 90’s themed give away t-shirt, so be sure to stop by and say hello. We always enjoy catching up with members.

28 July 2022

The Internet Association of Australia Ltd (IAA) today supports Communications Minister Michelle Rowland in rejecting NBN Co’s proposed variation to the Special Access Undertaking (SAU). As NBN Co looks to re-start the process, IAA calls for a new approach to the framework that prioritises providing all Australians with internet access that is affordable and fit-for-purpose.

IAA welcomes the Minister’s call that the SAU variation should reflect changes in the policy landscape where NBN Co will remain in public ownership for the foreseeable future.

“This is a good opportunity to hold NBN Co to its fundamental purpose for existence and create the SAU accordingly,” said IAA CEO, Narelle Clark. “This national resource should be geared appropriately to providing high-speed, high-quality broadband to sustain Australian lives and economy.”

The Minister’s letter to ACCC expressed the view that consumers and businesses are primarily concerned with the quality and service of NBN.

“NBN Co’s proposed SAU did not add any commitment to improve its performance against standards,” said Clark. “This would hurt both RSPs and the broader Australian public as prices for NBN would have kept rising despite failure deliver service and sub-par technology choices. RSPs have long been blamed for NBN Co’s shortcomings. NBN Co should take a more holistic consideration of end-user reliability to fulfil its role.”

IAA acknowledges a SAU variation is necessary given the changes to the technological landscape. “We look forward to continue engaging with NBN Co, the ACCC, industry and other stakeholders to ensure an SAU variation that best serves Australians and our economy,” said Clark.

The recent activation of the Telecommunications Sector Security Instruments on 7 July came as a surprise to the public policy team. The unexpected commencement of new obligations took up much of our attention this month, attending industry debriefs and preparing material to assist members with compliance. We have also continued consulting with members to prepare our submission on the NBN Co Standard Access Undertaking (SAU).

Recent Submissions:
Proposed NBN Co SAU Variation | ACCC
Given the recent change in government, our submission addressed this as an opportunity to reassess NBN Co’s reason for existence and argued that the proposed SAU variation should be considered in this light. We emphasised the purpose of NBN Co is to provide high-quality, reliable and accessible broadband, rather than NBN Co’s seeming focus of not mere cost recovery but going beyond to make even more revenue. Thus, we recommended the ACCC not accept the proposed variation on the grounds that it does not promote the long-term interests of the end user, as well as negatively affecting RSPs. 

Proposed Fees for Service 2022-23 | ACMA
We noted the significant increase in costs for a carrier licence application as well as charges for the telecommunications sector and requested further explanation and breakdown to justify any increase in ACMA’s fees. 

Open Submissions:
Incorporating QR codes into the telecommunications labelling arrangements | 19 August 2022
ACMA is proposing to amend the Telecommunications Labelling Notice to include QR codes to align labelling requirements with those under the Radiocommunications Act. This is to provide consistency and flexibility for suppliers in the Australian market and enable suppliers to comply with the requirements.

ACMA has also identified three telecommunications technical standards that relate to outdated technology, or withdrawn industry standards, which they are also proposing to be repealed.

 

 A quick reminder to members to submit your annual attestation of your compliance with the Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code. Communications Compliance (CommCom) recently opened the TCP Code compliance attestation page for entries. Lodgements are due on 1 September 2022, and Carriage Service Providers who provide telecommunications services to consumers (as defined in the Code) are required to submit an annual attestation.  

CommCom is an independent body responsible for overseeing the conduct of the Code Compliance Framework outlined in Chapter 10 of the TCP Code that also promotes compliance with the Code through industry guidance and educational initiatives.  

We are preparing to refresh our existing fleet of route server hardware. The new servers will use 2 x 10G-LR fibre links to diverse switches in a Layer 2 bonded configuration for improved resilience against planned and unplanned network outages. We look forward to giving you more information on the upcoming works, so stay tuned to our newsletters and socials. 

IX Australia’s new out-of-band (OOB) network has officially been commissioned and is now being used in production! Powered by ZPE’s NodeGrid devices and utilising state-of-the-art technologies such as WireGuard VPNs, this solution replaces the original OOB network that was running on end-of-life equipment. The new solution (high-level overview shown below) includes three redundant head-ends with LTE cellular connectivity, including one hosted completely external to our networks. This ensures access to all of our devices in the worst possible events, including those resulting in the direst of outages. The new network has already come in handy with a recent outage involving an OSPF process failure on one of our WA-IX switches – watch out for an upcoming blog post that will discuss this further. 

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