Telstra goes to uni to learn future

The University of Adelaide has been granted close to $1 million by Telstra to help develop Australia's next generation telephone, broadband and mobile services.

Telstra awarded the University of Adelaide Traffic Research Centre (TRC) Mathematical Modelling centre a $950,000 contract to develop analysis tools and techniques to evolve Australia's telecommunications infrastructure.

"Telstra carries out significant research and development in our research laboratories, but also commissions specialist research such as the mathematical modelling in TRC," said Dr Hugh Bradlow, managing director of Telstra Research Laboratories and Telstra's chief technology officer.

"Telstra's research activities are aimed at ensuring that our telecommunications infrastructure is ready for the next generation of services that will be offered by broadband internet and mobility. The performance must be of the highest quality, robust, and scalable into the future," he said.

According to Telstra, the contract was a continuation of an already existing 18-year partnership.

The company said that a major focus of the research would be making available the tools and techniques that would allow networks to respond to predicted growth in traffic levels.

The TRC Mathematical Modelling unit was devoted to solving industrial problems involving modelling, measurement and performance, and had in the past focused on telecommunications.