Following the success of this year’s Melbourne program, we’re thrilled to announce that IAASysters 2026 will take place alongside AusNOG 2026 in Brisbane!

IAASysters Workshop – 2 September 2026
AusNOG Conference – 3–4 September 2026

Applications are now open for IAASysters Brisbane, a program designed to empower women in the internet industry through practical sessions, mentoring, and connection. Participants will gain insights into leadership, career planning, and communication — plus the chance to attend Australia’s premier technical conference.

Successful sponsored attendees will receive:
• A ticket to attend the IAASysters Workshop
• A ticket to attend the AusNOG technical conference
• Economy airfares and accommodation (if required)
• A one-year complimentary Professional Membership to IAA

Whether you’re looking to apply, nominate someone deserving, or sponsor the next generation of women shaping our industry, now’s the time to get involved.

Here’s to the Sponsors and IAASysters of Melbourne 2025 – we could not have created such an amazing event without you all.  

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As the year winds down, IAA is pleased to support the ACS Tasmania Branch’s End-of-Year Celebration. This joint event bringing together Members from ACS, TASICT, AWSN, and IAA.

Join us on Thursday, 27 November at the Boardwalk Gallery, Wrest Point Conference Centre, for an evening of networking, food, and refreshments as we celebrate another year of collaboration across Tasmania’s tech community.

Venue: Sandy Bay, TAS
Time: 6:00–8:00 pm AEDT
Cost: Free for IAA Member

Learn more and register now via ACS’s event’s page: 

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It’s been yet another busy quarter in all things telco and internet policy; from holding our quarterly PPAP meeting, to our CEO and Senior Policy Officer presenting at various industry events on telco regulation and all the submissions we’ve made in between! And with the ACMA’s recent announcement to reject the TCP Code, we’re expecting more busy times ahead. Industry has been given 30 days to address ACMA’s concerns, and while we’re disappointed the last revision of the Code was not accepted, we are committed to continue working to develop an industry code that is practicable while also upholding consumer safeguards.

In September, Sophia gave a lightning talk at AusNOG to brief industry on the new Risk Management Program rules, which kicked off on 4 October this year! So, a reminder to all Members that if you are a carrier, or a CSP that has over 20,000 services in operation or provides services to the Commonwealth government, you need to develop your RMP. If you need help doing so, IAA has partnered with the WISPAU for Members to receive discounted RMP training which includes template materials. Contact us at policy@internet.asn.au if you would like to join. You can also access the presentation slide-deck on our website for a summary of the RMP and other critical infrastructure legislation obligations.

On the flipside, if your business has gone through the process of becoming ISO27001 compliant (or other cyber security framework), we’d love to hear from you! Compliance with a cyber security framework is a requirement under the SOCI regime.

Also, a reminder that many of the obligations under the Telco DFSV Standard will come into effect from 1 January 2026 for large providers with ≥30,000 SIOs, or 1 April 2026 for smaller providers with less than 30,000 SIOs. This includes having a DFV Policy, DFV Statement and conducting DFV training, all of which must be developed in consultation with DFV support organisations and a panel of victim-survivors or representatives of groups disproportionately affected by DFV. Smaller providers can rely on industry representatives to consult on their behalf. IAA is looking at doing this on behalf of our Members and will let you know further details in due course. If this is something you would be interested in, please let us know at policy@internet.asn.au. In the meantime, read this explainer article to help understand your obligations.

Narelle moderated a multistakeholder panel discussion at the auIGF 2025, talking all about trust in the sector! When we organised the session, we weren’t expecting a series of large-scale Triple Zero outages to occur, which led to a fiery discussion on regulatory ways forward for the telco sector. IAA is proud to have sponsored the auIGF again as a valuable forum for different stakeholders to discuss the future of internet governance. You can watch the session on YouTube.

Narelle then made her way to the CommsDay Wholesale Congress where she gave a speech on the speed and volume at which telco regulation is being introduced, and the need for an improved approach that doesn’t disproportionately affect smaller telcos. Similar sentiments were shared at a panel later the same day that also featured IAA Chair, and Leaptel CEO, Matt Enger.

As always, please get in touch to share any thoughts on any of the open consultations below and/or previous submissions as we really appreciate your feedback.

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So here we are into the new financial year, and it’s out with the old and in with the new. We’ve got fantastic new content services being switched on shortly, with Microsoft caches coming online across the country; we’ve issued end of sale notices for 1Gbps ports at several locations, flagged the closure of Host Networks in Queensland, and QV1 is finally done and dusted. It really was sad to see the end of the QV1 era, but the cost to operate it versus the revenue wasn’t really paying off for Members. I was not thrilled going through all that debris, either! Talk about telco archaeology. I haven’t seen some of those transceivers since possibly the 90s! They seemed to have bred in there like electronic cockroaches, too.

We’ve had a load of fun catching up with everyone celebrating our 30 Years of Peers anniversary. Our next get togethers are likely to be on the regulatory front as we work with the Telco Together Foundation to put together material to help everyone comply with the new Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Standard that aims to assist customers in that situation. Keep an eye out for those sessions. Given many of our Members have under 30,000 subscribers they can use the procedures and policies developed by an industry association, unlike the larger organisations who will have to undertake their own consultation and develop tailored procedures. Smaller providers are now regularly reporting to us that our regulatory templates are a huge help, and their first port of call when thinking compliance. Glad to be of service!

On the network front, Matt and Aaron have been retiring those old Extreme 670 switches in preparation for a national upgrade to EVPN, but there is a truckload of testing to complete first. We are also using this to do a few other rearrangements and consolidations meaning we are likely to turn on 400Gbps ports in Melbourne soon and upgrade that core sooner rather than later. I rather suspect we’ll need it with the new content coming your way!

On the staffing front, we recently welcomed Kaitlin to the finance team (while Felicity enjoys the company of her newest family member) and Joshua as a network engineer. We also said goodbye to Board Member David Hooton, who stepped down due to increasing work commitments. Our sincere thanks to David for his outstanding contribution. We’re pleased to share that Emma Mondy, a participant in our mentoring program, has stepped up to fill the vacancy.

The AGM date has been set for 29 October via Zoom, so the team are now in a reflective mood compiling all our achievements for the annual report. I look forward to sharing all that and more with you then. 

Happy peering!

Narelle

Question from the desk

Each newsletter, I will pose a question to Members, because your perspective is important. Please email me with your thoughts and opinions. Over to you:

How useful do you find our regulatory templates?

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We’re expanding our CDN offering! Next Tuesday, 12 August 2025, Microsoft Connected Caches (MCC) are going live on our exchanges in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Perth via AS10084.

This will bring Microsoft content such as OS updates, games, applications, and static assets even closer to your users. MCC delivers content not available via AS8075.

During our testing in a single exchange we saw cache traffic egress over 20-40Gbps, so we expect members to see notable traffic spikes during Microsoft’s weekly release schedule each Wednesday (AU time)

MCC is by default opt-in, so we recommend checking your port sizing to avoid congestion. If you need time out to upgrade, opt-out BGP communities are available – see our CDN policy control communities page for details.

Questions? Reach out to us at peering@internet.asn.au.

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WA-IX’s first ever PoP in QV1 is no more. IAA has left the building. In March this year, our longest-running Point of Presence and the birthplace of the commercial internet in WA, was decommissioned.

Closing a legacy site is never easy, and QV1 didn’t go quietly. The final tidy-up was a mammoth task and a true archaeological dig through decades of networking relics and general detritus.

In the deepest recesses we found layer upon layer of history and horror. There were coiled-up cables dating back decades, disused gear long since replaced, and a truly shocking quantity of general tech junk. Old scrap, torn packaging, a Krone block, empty Krone logbooks, and even a GBIC to Ethernet module that sparked a wave of nostalgia. There were also the less savoury finds. A half empty tuna can. A long-forgotten yoghurt tub. We didn’t check the expiry dates. We didn’t want to know. Somewhere in there may still be an AUI adapter from a Cisco 2511 (and the lost treasure of the Sierra Madre), but we chose to stop digging.

Thanks to a solid team effort, the site is now restored to its former condition. Perhaps even better. 

As we shared earlier in the year, QV1’s age and constraints meant it could no longer keep up with the standards we set for our infrastructure. While it will always be part of our history, we need to evolve to meet the expectations of Members and the demands of modern networks.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the clean-up, the decommissioning, and the memories.

As one of the team put it:
“I’ve been looking forward to this day since the first argument about whether we should keep it. That was at least two UPS and one air con upgrade ago.”

QV1, you were something. But your reign is over.

Share your memories of QV1 with us:

Question from the desk

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Attention IAA Members! Please save the date for IAA’s Annual General Meeting

Date:
Wednesday, 29 October 2025

Time:
Perth 10:30am AWST
Darwin 12:00pm ACST
Brisbane 12:30pm AEST
Adelaide 1:00pm ACDT
Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Hobart 1:30pm AEDT

Location:
Via Zoom

We will share the official notifications, nominations, reports, and registrations soon.

We hope you can join us!

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Registrations are now open for our End of Year Events 2025!

We’re wrapping up the year with something a little different: a bowling Tournament of Peers. Held across Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Adelaide, which exchange will knock down the competition to become IAA’s bowling champions?

We invite you to an evening of tenpin bowling, good food, and great company. Whether you’re in it for the strikes or just here to give it a go, this event is for everyone. It’s all about connection and a bit of fun to close out the year.

Each event will feature casual team bowling, prizes, and scores that feed into a national leaderboard.

Bragging rights are on the line for your local IX.

Registrations now open!

Perth – IAA End of Year Event
Date: Wednesday, 5 November 2025
Time: 5:30pm to 9:00pm AWST
Venue: Strike Perth | Forrest Chase | Level 1 | Shop 26 | 401 Wellington Street | Perth

Melbourne – IAA End of Year Event
Date: Tuesday, 11 November 2025
Time: 5:30pm to 9:00pm AEDT
Venue: Strike Melbourne Central | Shop 305 | Level 3 | 211 La Trobe Street | Melbourne

Sydney – IAA End of Year Event
Date: Wednesday, 19 November 2025
Time: 5:30pm to 9:00pm AEDT
Venue: Strike Darling Harbour | King Street Wharf | 22 The Promenade | Sydney

Adelaide – IAA End of Year Event
Date: Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Time: 5:30pm to 9:00pm ACDT
Venue: Strike Rundle Place | Level 1 | 77–91 Rundle Mall | Adelaide

Brisbane – IAA End of Year Event
Date: Wednesday, 3 December 2025
Time: 5:30pm to 9:00pm AEST
Venue: Strike Brisbane City | Level 1 | Wintergarden | Queen Street | Brisbane

By RSVPing for this event, you are agreeing to comply with IAA’s Code of Conduct – Events.

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