Aussie Broadband increases its backbone capacity

Aussie Broadband has added 400Gbps backbone links between Sydney and Melbourne.

The broadband retailer has been trialling Telstra Wholesale’s 400Gbps Ethernet services on two diverse links: a coastal path, and an inland path, both connecting multiple data centres along the way.

Aussie Broadband’s chief technology officer and co-founder John Reisinger said the links will help the company grow its footprint, with redundancy making customer services more resilient.

“Aussie Broadband is the first client to adopt Telstra Wholesale’s native 400Gbps wavelengths, rather than stacking multiple 100Gbps services,” Reisinger said, adding that the provider is looking to acquire more links as demand for capacity increases. 

“The additional capacity helps Aussie better handle localised content network outages, which can sometimes result in hundreds of gigabits per second having to be carried to alternate locations.”

Telstra has been working on the 400Gbps backbone upgrade since July 2022, when Ericsson began installing Ciena’s 6500 packet-optical system into the network.

Telstra Wholesale said the upgrade “quadruples the data capacity transmitted per client service wavelength”.

“Data traversing over the Telstra fixed network has tripled since 2017 and continues to grow at about 25 percent each year," Telstra Wholesale executive Steve Long said.

Telstra Wholesale expects to release the 400Gbps service to all customers in April, and during 2023, the service will be made available on other inter-capital routes.