We’re proud to be Women in Tech Sponsors at APRICOT 2025, held from 19–27 February in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. APRICOT brings together the Asia Pacific internet community to share knowledge, explore trends, and collaborate on advancing internet networking technologies. We look forward to connecting with industry leaders and supporting greater diversity in tech!
From rolling out a brand-new metrics system to tackling firmware bugs and optimising hardware across the network, the past few months have been anything but quiet. We’ve been refining how we collect and display network data, upgrading devices to keep things running smoothly, and consolidating hardware to future-proof our infrastructure. Here’s a look at what’s been happening behind the scenes.
New metrics system is a work in progress (but a big step forward!)
Our old metrics system served us well for years—but let’s be honest, it wasn’t keeping up with our evolving config generation. That led to issues like peer metrics failing to index the right ports, along with some security “quirks” we won’t elaborate on.
Former Technical Team Lead Nick Pratley spearheaded a search for a better way to collect network metrics, and the result is here – check it out!
The new stack combines SNMP Exporter (with custom enrichment via our portal), Prometheus, Victoria Metrics, and Grafana. While the system is still a work in progress, we’d love your feedback, and do let us know if you spot anything off!
For those wondering, historical metrics from the old system aren’t disappearing; we just have a few final touches to bring them into the new platform.
Side note: If you saw some wildly unstable graphs on 31/01/25 (including a rather scandalous spike to 2.59Tb/s—sadly, not real… yet), that was due to a newly added SNMP Exporter module. The way Victoria Metrics handles Prometheus scrapes caused inconsistent timestamps, which threw off rate calculations. A quick tweak (honor_timestamps) fixed it, but not before a recalibration spike. Did we mention this is still a work in progress?
Firmware upgrades: when a cold spare saves the day!
Late 2024, an Equinix PE2 device ran into trouble—its management network interface reported a ‘Tx Unit Hang’, reset itself… and then never came back. Before we could fully diagnose it with the vendor, the device went completely unresponsive—no lights, no console, nothing. Our Perth-based PHP developer Kyle stepped up and swapped in our cold spare (cheers, Kyle!), bringing everything back to normal.
Then, just before Christmas, a device at NextDC P1 rebooted unexpectedly. Given our recent failure, this was not a welcome surprise. Turns out, excessive SNMP instances triggered a bug that crashed the device. We quickly dialed back SNMP pollers, and after confirming a software fix, we rolled out a firmware upgrade across the fleet.
Alongside these upgrades, we regenerated device configs to align them with the portal. For some Members, this means previously unshaped VLL services are now correctly shaped—so if you’ve been enjoying a free ride, sorry, that’s over. A postmortem was sent out for each outage, but if you notice loss on your VLL after a firmware update, you may need to adjust your VLL speed.
Hardware consolidations: NSW-IX gets future-ready
NSW-IX has been undergoing maintenance to consolidate hardware. With our modern Arista 400Gbps devices supporting more 100G LR1 Members, we’re able to retire some older 100Gbps switches, redeploy them where they’re needed most, and still maintain 100Gbps switches for 10Gbps access ports. Bottom line: NSW-IX is well-positioned for future capacity demands, with ample 10/100/400Gbps availability.
Looking ahead, this hardware consolidation will allow for rapid deployment at potential new sites like NextDC S2 and NextDC M2. But more immediately, it enables 100Gbps Member ports at SA-IX and VDC-PER01 at WA-IX—just in time for the upcoming QV1 farewell. Bigger ports? More content distribution via AS10084? Stay tuned!
We’re excited to announce that the IAA Member Portal now allows you to order 100G LR1 optical transceivers across any 100Gbps enabled site. 100GBASE-LR1 is the successor to 100GBASE-LR4 as it uses a single laser rather than four lasers to achieve 100Gbps, reducing the complexity for less failures as well as enabling cost savings.
100G LR1 is now our default preferred optic type in the portal when you order a 100Gbps service with 100G LR4 still an option for now. In addition to the benefits of 100G LR for our Members, the biggest benefit to us is that we can use a 400G PLR4 optic to break a QSFP-DD switch port out into four 100Gbps ports for Members, significantly increasing the density we can get out of our modern switches to keep your packets as close as possible to your neighbours.
To assist Members with this change, we’re currently offering a complimentary FLEXOPTIX QSFP28 LR1 transceiver with new 100Gbps ports coded for your preferred vendor. To arrange this, please email support@internet.asn.au with your order ID, shipping address and vendor details of the device the transceiver will be used in.
Following a busy end to 2024, the policy team has had an equally hectic start to 2025!
There are several consultations currently underway that will have a significant impact on the telecommunications sector. Namely, the review of the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code by Communications Alliance, as well as rules for the telco sector under Security of Critical Infrastructure Act. These subordinate rules will apply to carriers and carriage service providers that have over 20,000 services in operation or supplies to the government. If this is you or your organisation, then we highly recommend you attend the Town Hall that the Department will be running on 11 February to find out more information and ask any questions. You can read more about the open consultations below, and let us know if you have any concerns you’d like us to include in our submission!
The policy team has also had its hands full onboarding our new PPAP members! We received a record number of applications, and you can read more about our new PPAP members in this newsletter item. The interest in PPAP is a testament to the growth of the advocacy work that IAA has been doing to improve policy for the telco sector, and we thank all our Members for their interest in and support of our policy work. PPAP meetings are open to guests, so please let us know if you would like to attend. We will also provide regulatory updates at each in-person event this year, so make sure to attend!
As always, please get in touch to share your thoughts on any of the open and/or previous submissions below. We really appreciate your input.
Open consultations:
The ACMA proposes to amend its requirements related to identity verification. Proposed changes include the introduction of new authentication methods, the removal of biometric data as a primary authentication method, exceptions to sending notifications about high-risk transactions and record keeping requirements.
Following amendments to the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act, and the passage of the Cyber Security Act in late 2024, the Department of Home Affairs is consulting on various subordinate legislation related to rules governing the new Cyber Incident Review Board, ransomware reporting requirements; security of smart devices, data storage systems as a critical infrastructure asset, and most importantly, the risk management program rules for the telecommunications sector. All carriers and CSPs with 20,000+ active services in operation or those that knowingly supply to government will be subject to the positive security obligations, including the risk management program rules.
Communications Alliance is conducting its periodic review of the TCP Code, and the latest iteration is now open for public consultation. The TCP Code is a significant instrument that applies to most of IAA’s Members. There are many proposed changes, including enhanced rules regarding the identification and protection of vulnerable customers, providing at least 2 fee-free payment methods, the requirement to perform credit checks for consumers for contracts that could result in a debt of +$150, providing a (near) real time customer support channel, flexibility regarding direct billing payments, and compliance processes.
Completed submissions:
Member Guidance – Reasonable steps to inform consumers and occupiers of IDR and EDR | TIO
Scams Prevention Framework Bill | Treasury
Following our recruitment process in late 2024, we’ve successfully grown the IAA Public Policy Advisory Panel (PPAP). We have four returning members who have renewed their terms, as well as five new faces and we’re chuffed to work with the expanded PPAP as we face a busy year ahead.
With a diverse representation of Corporate, Professional and Affiliate Members, as well as different backgrounds and interests, we’re excited about the quality of discussions we’ll have as each panel member brings their unique insight on important policy matters.
Our first PPAP meeting of 2025 will be held on 5 February 2025 and new panel members will have their work cut out for them as we dive straight into discussions of the TCP Code and telco security regulations, which are currently open for consultation!
Welcome to our new PPAP panelists:
Craig Lester
Jean Linis-Dinco
Mark Newton
Sanjeev Israni
Trace Wu
You can read more about PPAP on the IAA website!
If you have any questions about the PPAP, or IAA’s advocacy work in general, please get in touch at policy@internet.asn.au.
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