Internode boosts intercap fibre links to 10 Gbps

Also takes more Basslink capacity.

ISP Internode has upgraded capacity on its leased intercapital fibre network, swapping 24 small-capacity links for five fat 10 Gbps links.

The ISP has also revealed a significant expansion of capacity on the Basslink subsea cable route, which it used in part to service NBN customers in trial sites as well as customers on the ISP's own DSLAMs.

The intercapital network connected Adelaide, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. The links were owned by either Nextgen Networks or Optus Wholesale.

"We use two different providers partly because they go in different directions and partly for redundancy, so we have carrier and path redundancy," Internode product manager Jim Kellett told iTnews.

"We've gone from having multiple low-speed 1.2 and 2.4 Gbps links to having larger single 10 Gbps links."

Capacity on the Basslink cable, meanwhile, had been expanded from an aggregate 872 Mbps across two links to 1.55 Gbps.

The upgraded subsea links would carry 700 Mbps and 850 Mbps respectively, Kellett said.

Part of the reason for the capacity upgrades was to enable Internode to "keep ahead of growing consumer demand" for internet data, both Internode's organic growth and future growth expected from the NBN.

The ISP would also benefit from a "more efficient" intercapital network design.

"As well as making our national network simpler to manage, getting rid of that plethora of smaller links allows us to use our network much more effectively," Internode network architect Daryl Collins said.

"While this improved design is invisible to customers, they benefit from Internode's network continuing to evolve to meet their needs, whether that's delivering highly responsive performance for online services and gaming or large data quotas for accessing IPTV and other data-rich content."