NZ research network gets terabit connectivity upgrade

The Research and Academic Network of New Zealand (REANNZ) will embark on a substantial connectivity upgrade of its national backbone, potentially reaching speeds of eight terabits per second by the end of the year.

Steve Cotter, chief executive of REANNZ.

REANNZ's network upgrade uses Infinera's DTN-X optical networking platform, and a REANNZ spokesperson told iTNews it could provision up to eighty 100 gigabit per second wavelengths over a single fibre pair.

Currently, the REANNZ network has a 10 gigabit/s national backbone that is connected with 1 gigabit/s links to Sydney and to the United States, the spokesperson said.

The network upgrade will be completed by the end of this year, and is being done in partnership with local operator FX Networks, which will share unbundled fibre-optic cables and optical transport equipment with REANNZ.

REANNZ is also considering upgrading its international connectivity by June 2014.

However, while the spokesperson described the cost of the upgrade as "considerable" and said the shareholding government ministers needed to approve it, no actual figures were provided.

In a statement to media, the chief executive of REANNZ, Steve Cotter, said the partnership with FX Networks would allow his organisation to meet capacity and service demands of members at a cost and scale that "would be impossible to under traditional managed service contracts".