Internode breaks into big league

Internode has deployed its own high speed links to the US in a move that will have the Adelaide ISP breathing down the necks of Tier 1 telcos like Telstra and Optus.

Simon Hackett, chief executive at Internode, said the ISP had deployed 155Mb/s Southern Cross cable links to Los Angeles and San Jose in the US state of California.

Internode would no longer be reliant on Tier 1 players such as MCI Worldcom to get the capacity it wanted and guarantee quality of service to its customers, he said.

“We’ve leased capacity with Southern Cross. This will elevate as an ISP to being a true Tier 1,” Hackett said. “We’ve broken past the Gang of Four.”

Tier 1 telcos Telstra, Optus, MCI Worldcom and AAPT have been accused of having a stranglehold on Australian telecommunications, partly because of a network-sharing arrangement that left other local players out in the cold.

In the past, Internode’s hands were tied when it came to network problems between Australia and overseas because it, like other Tier 2s, had to rely on links supplied by Tier 1 players, he pointed out.

“We’ve had problems with bandwidth suppliers and just had to say ‘oh, sorry’ to customers,” Hackett said. “Now, we’ll be able to fix problems ourselves.”

Two new links would land in Los Angeles and two in San Jose. Internode would use both halves of the Southern Cross network. “We’ll have a left and right hand link in each place, so even if a ship drops anchor through it, we’ll still have capacity,” he said.

“Ironically, I’m sure the Gang of Four will peer with us now, at the point where we no longer need to care,” Hackett added.

The network upgrade would also quadruple the capacity of Internode’s links between Australian capital cities from 155Mb/s to 622Mb/s. Internode buys its local capacity from Optus and NextGen, he said.

“This gives us control over our own destiny,” Hackett said.