page_title: AARNet
section_title: National network
hierarchical_section_title: AARNet / National network
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a map of the AARNet national optical fibre network, as at October 2013. It is a conceptual representation in that it does not purport to show the exact paths of the optical fibres between the nodes.
context_page_description: AARNet provides Internet services to the Australian education and research communities and their research partners.
  AARNet built the Internet in Australia. In 1995, the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee transferred AARNet1 as a going concern to Telstra who then operated it as the initial Telstra Internet. Today, AARNet is Australia's National research and education network. It forms the Australian component of the global advanced research and education Internet network.
  AARNet Pty Ltd, which owns and operates the AARNet, is a not-for-profit company limited by shares. The shareholders are 38 Australian universities and the Australian CSIRO. AARNet's services in addition to Internet connectivity include Eduroam, voice, video and data storage services and a content mirror.
context_section_description: The AARNet4 national network comprises high capacity optical fibre transmission paths between switching centres in major cities from Cairns to Perth as well as branch lines to Darwin, Hobart and several other locations. Because optical fibre repair times are long, the backbone network follows two physically diverse paths. As at late 2013, capacity on each leg of the routed network was between 10 and 100 gigabit per second (Gbit/s). Starting with only 48 kbit/s national backbone capacity in 1990, this reflects a similarly rapid exponential growth rate as for AARNet's international capacity.
  The Network peers with external content providers and ISPs to increase performance and availability of the network. The organisation has a selective peering policy for peering with other providers. This policy applies to all requests for settlement-free interconnection with AARNet, either via dedicated connections or traffic via public internet exchanges.
  AARNet provides the Internet to several million end-user devices at Australian universities, CSIRO, various other research and educational institutions, and some hospitals. Customer site connections are mostly at 1 to 10 Gbit/s rates, with most end-user Ethernet services at 1 Gbit/s, and Eduroam services at available Wi-Fi performance levels.
  AARNet's layer 3 services are usually delivered at the AARNet PoP sites. With the introduction of the AARNet3 optical fibre network (i.e. from 2006 onwards) AARNet progressively developed capability to extend services to customer sites in some locations, as well as providing layer 1 and layer 2 inter-campus connections in those areas. Prior to that, and at other locations, it is end-customer institutions' responsibility to extend services to site and to provision their own inter-campus network links. These are either operated directly by AARNet such as in Queensland or provided by companion networks such as SABRENet in South Australia and VERNet in Victoria.
  Summary of AARNet national IP network performance levels as at 2013:
  National backbone links: mostly 10 to 100 Gbit/s
  Customer site connections: mostly 1 to 10 Gbit/s
  End-user services: mostly 1 Gbit/s Ethernet and available Wi-Fi rates
  Continues to sustain traffic growth rates of 50% per annum year on year over the preceding decade
caption: AARNet national network as at October 2013
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