IAA Newsletters

Well, here we are almost into the last quarter of the year. This last month has been another productive one, with the old BDX8 Extreme (aka ‘Black Diamond’) replaced in VIC-IX and the team are close to declaring the new WLG-IX across the ditch ready for service. The team have also redesigned and updated our out-of-band network and commenced the rebuild. 

Normally by now we would also have announced our AGM date, however this year we are working to manage a seamless transition to a company limited by guarantee. With lockdowns, postal delays and now even the earthquake, paperwork processing at ASIC has been delayed. Members should rest assured that we will call the AGM as soon as we hear from ASIC! Regardless of this, we will publish the annual report and annual financials ahead of the meeting as they are close to final now. 

Our policy effort is also very much head down, tail up, too. The NBN SAU and defamation reform work is progressing, and we’ve made a few submissions. The eSafety Commission has now set out with a bit more clarity how it wants the new Codes to work to ensure the industry minimises the risk the public is exposed to the most serious categories of material by July 2022. It seems they are expecting to see file scanning on internet-based storage services for known serious content. 

There are clearly a lot of people stuck at home on the internet right now and this is being reflected across our traffic statistics, with us hitting all time highs. We are hitting higher rates across NSW-IX to the point we will be looking to do a nice big upgrade as soon as we can, as well as finally upgrade our core switch in Melbourne. Recent firmware upgrades in other states mean that 100Gbps ports are available everywhere and these are being consumed with gusto! It’s also interesting to see the blips due to our various leaders and their daily covid updates, with New Zealand’s Prime Minister shifting the dial more than our state Premiers or Prime Minister. It’s fair to say that the Kiwi migration of broadcast television onto their fixed broadband network probably plays a significant part, but it sure is interesting to see these social factors being played out on our networks.

I must admit that looking at our traffic graphs is far more interesting than economic models of NBN Co’s business, but this area is a key part of our advocacy right now. The ACCC is reviewing the standard access undertaking leading to a potentially all new pricing regime for the NBN. As we delve further into the detail on this, we will hopefully draw comparisons with other industries to see how regulation has affected the various wholesale markets. Again, if any IAA members have a view on this process, please let me know.

Last month also had me doing a couple of deep dive presentations – one for staff in the Department of Communications (How the Internet Works) and the other jointly with the ACS (The Internet 2021 and Beyond). I realised just how much I’ve been missing those regular industry catch ups at conferences and the like where everything internet is debated, as it seemed a lot harder this time round to pull together observations on where we’re at with internet technology and regulation. If anyone has any new networks they want to show off or neat software solutions to networking problems perhaps it is time for you to propose a topic for our next event!

Well, that was quite a month! Covid has once again thrown a massive spanner into our planning. We had to arrange remote hands for the relocation of RS2 in Melbourne, our SGM had a token presence on site, and events are being madly rescheduled all over the place. The IAA team have been fabulous, with half of us in lockdown and the other half sending us all vital supplies of masks. We soldier on…

Luckily also for us in NSW, the State government has confirmed our staff fit the definition of ‘essential workers’ so should we have the situation where switches need emergency attention that remote hands and remote access cannot give, we are able to attend. Our rearrangement effort on VIC-IX with the imminent removal of 55 King St is progressing well, with new links in train and the route server relocated this week. As promised, we will be keeping the site operating until the power goes off. Other upgrades are still taking place, including a ring upgrade on VIC-IX, however some longer term projects are suffering compound delays. At least the intercapital and other upgrades we completed last year have ensured we have capacity to meet the latest upsurge in demand due to the lockdowns.

Unfortunately, the Sydney lockdown has pushed AusNOG out until December, meaning our associated events, including our AGM, will be rescheduled as well. Let’s just hope that means we have even better end of year celebrations! We’ll certainly need it by then.

Lockdowns haven’t stopped the seeming endless supply of regulatory proposals from government, however! Our regulatory effort is proceeding well – we’ve submitted on NBN regulation to the ACCC and are arguing for an updated regulatory approach that removes CVC charges and brings the multi-technology mix under the same regulation as fibre to the premises. This should mean clear accountabilities for NBN Co for performance and connection times, for example. We’re also participating in the Dept of Home Affairs consultation about improving the standards of cybersecurity across the community. The irony of this effort when compared with their previous legislation that actually mandates weaker security is not lost on us!

I’m also still catching up with members wherever I can via Zoom. If you want to catch up over any burning topics, feel free to drop me a line via ceo@intenernet.asn.au

And finally, on the topic of member meetings, I must extend a genuine thank you to all who participated and voted in this week’s SGM. The board and I genuinely thank all members for their confidence in us as we take the organisation to its next phase of maturity. We will now proceed to registration with ASIC and the inevitable paperwork to transfer over to a company limited by guarantee and regulated under the Australian Corporations Act. All our existing contracts and agreements remain in place, so there will be no disruption to services.

Stay safe everyone

Narelle Clark, CEO

First of all I must extend a huge thank you to all the members who took the time and effort to read through all the papers and material associated with our proposal to convert to a company limited by guarantee. We’ve gone through quite a process to consult, check and review mountains of paperwork to ensure that we have a solid basis for the transition and a constitution that can serve us well into the future. Now that we’ve been through this process, we’re keen to put the new constitution to members for approval and the Special General Meeting to set the mechanics of transition in motion has been formally called. I hope to see you there on the Wednesday 28 July.

This has also been quite the month for internet regulation. Luckily, we held our From Encryption to Take Downs: Internet Regulation Update earlier this month to get us all fired up! The ACCC has recently started a review of the NBN Standard Access Undertaking, and we have been invited to participate. This is meant to be a short circuit to improve the regulatory environment and bring all the fibre-to-the-node (also known as MTM) technologies under the same regulation as the original fibre-to-the-premises. NBN Co has proposed a number of regulated pricing changes, none of which – sadly – guarantee a net price decrease. We will be seeking more member input as the process evolves. Please feel free tell me what you think!

We’ve also started participating in the code development for the newly passed Online Safety Bill. This bill requires a range of processes to ensure certain offensive content is promptly removed, but there are a range of definitional problems and potential process proliferation, not to mention the possibility of duplicating all the existing complaints and other take down procedures. There’s also talk of having to have a string of codes for each part of the internet. Again, if members have thoughts on how to make this a practical, useful system, please get in touch.

The team in NSW also started settling into our new office in North Sydney. Of course, the latest Covid outbreak has us working at home again, but we’re thoroughly enjoying sharing the space and the ease of problem solving when everyone’s in the same room! Members should come by if they’re ever in North Sydney. We are hoping to schedule an office warming as soon as we can, too.

All the best,

Narelle Clark

This month we’ve seen a few developments in the regulatory space that have us wondering about the future. We expect to see a new Online Safety Act pass in early June and with it will come the obligation to have a number of Codes in place to govern how we as an industry react to online content deemed harmful. This will apply to all types of content, similar to that in the past for content deemed harmful to children. On the upside, it is good that we have received an invitation from the eSafety Commissioner to participate in the Code development, so we will be arguing the case for workable Codes where we can. This also means we should be able to assist members in getting the right processes in place once the regulation comes into place.

We’ve also been contacted by the ACCC to participate in its upcoming industry roundtable discussion on future NBN regulation. Members should let me know what your hot topics are for this one! Rest assured we will be raising CVC charging, barriers to becoming RSPs, visibility of performance and installation issues. Any others you want me to raise, please don’t hesitate to be in touch.

It’s good to see that the round of firmware upgrades have been completed too! Meaning all our core switches are now 100Gbps capable and those pesky software issues are resolved. We still need to upgrade our smaller switches, so those members still on 1Gbps ports will see a round of short outages to bring that software up to date. It’s all for a good cause.

Like many of you also, we have received notice that the old Primus DC at 55 King St Melbourne is closing. We are currently rearranging our fibres in the Melbourne ring to ensure our high standards of redundancy and diversity are maintained, and we will be relocating RS2 to another site. Our plan is to keep our gear operating until pretty much the lights go out there, however, as we know you will need things in service as long as possible. Stay tuned for the specific dates.

Our governance update is also proceeding well, and we published a draft Constitution last week. Members are invited to comment on the proposed Constitution by sending me an email with your thoughts by 3 June 2021. As ever the plan is published on our website.

All the best

Narelle Clark

This month we have the usual round of upgrades and expansion projects and have kicked off the review of our governance. It’s been great to see thoughts coming in from members on what is important for how we operate and what matters to you in our governance. Thank you to those who have made their thoughts known, so please keep them coming as we work our way through the review. Please keep an eye on our web page on Updating our Governance.

Speaking of thoughts, it’s amazing also to see the list of issues coming in on regulation topics! From defamation to take-downs there are a bunch of likely regulation changes coming through and we are keen to put your point of view forward. Please don’t hesitate to let us know whether you like the regulation changes, or worry for the impact on your business.

The Perth team went on a tour of that flash new NextDC site, P2, so now we’re keen to hear whether members think we should be in there. It looks so nice and shiny; it will be hard to stay away!

Well, that was quite a month, wasn’t it? The floods certainly had us worried about our east coast connectivity, and luckily we lost only one of the fibre runs. That run was successfully restored once the fibre crews could reach it safely and we experienced no related down time though I admit my knuckles were a little white for a time! I’m glad too that our Australia-wide intercapital project is over, so we now have redundant paths between all the IXes. We’ve not been slacking, though as the tech team also recently upgraded Adelaide to increase the 10G ports, activated even more capacity into Amazon and set up a nice new L-root presence in the east.

What has put me into a state of complete despair, however, are the recent disclosures from the Federal political scene. Over my years of interactions with politicians and Canberra lobbyists of all varieties, I have always jokingly said that it wasn’t safe to party on drinking with them, but my fears were based purely on the risks from extreme alcohol consumption! Members should be assured, however, that once some form of dignity is reinstated in Canberra we will champion your views again. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait too long – we deserve so much better from our representatives and system of government.

Our own industry has had its own criticism, however, with the Human Rights Commission’s 2018 finding that “four out of five people working in information, media and telecommunications reported being sexually harassed”, so we certainly have our own path to travel. On that basis, the IAA board adopted a Code of Conduct for Events, one for the Board itself, and I have made a personal commitment to all IAA staff to ensure a healthy, safe and harassment free workplace with mechanisms to back that up, and we did all of this before the recent disclosures from Canberra. If members would like to further discuss this topic, or look to strategies for industry-wide improvement, please feel free to be in touch. One specific industry initiative we are newly supporting is that of a Women in Tech WA (WiTWA) sponsorship, and we are actively working with other potential partners, too.

Speaking of governance, the IAA board recently met to review the organisation’s strategic directions, including architectural standards, and we are close to finalising a new strategic plan. One topic that came up is that of updating our corporate structure from the current West Australian Association’s law to federal corporation’s law. If we were to do this, then a process of member consultation will be followed, so your views on our corporate governance are sought. Rest assured, the board is fully committed to remaining a not-for-profit, member driven association and our roots firmly remain in Western Australia.

Best wishes

Narelle

This month we announced member eligibility for the ACCC broadband monitoring program, said goodbye to a piece of IAA history and showed off our new lab.

Read the full newsletter here.