| The University of Melbourne is
poised to turn on the first stage
of its $25 million IT upgrade -
a $5 million core network that
the university says will be
among the world's best.
It has put to tender the
project's next stages - a campus
wireless network and edge
switches to link departments.
Information vice-principal
Linda O'Brien said the network
will support high-end research
such as the university's role in
the Atlas Experiment at Switzerland's
CERN particle physics
lab that is searching for evidence
of the "God particle" -
why matter has mass. It uses
huge amounts of data, shared
by scientists around the world.
A better network was needed
to link to the synchrotron, a
firehose of data, and to support
NICTA's Melbourne hub that
researches terabit networks.
And it enables the university
to switch to voice-over-IP, build
a campus wireless network,
deploy Exchange email server,
power-over-Ethernet and
quality-of-service applications.
Network manager Colin
Blythe said the upgrade was
needed three years ago when
spending was approved.
"You can spend all you like
on Exchange and a new student
system but if the core network
doesn't provide a good experience
then people won't use
them," Mr Blythe said.
Some departments were
using the multicast network
protocol for video streaming
and to display images on lab
equipment but he said it was
"having unfortunate effects on
the rest of the network".
Ms O'Brien said a re-think
was the only solution: "Universities
are in the knowledge
business, pushing at the edges
of technological possibilities.
"This is a concerted effort to
invest in bringing the infrastructure
up to something that
befits a university of this kind."
The new 10 gigabits a second
network will use Multi-Protocol
Label Switching - the technology
powering Telstra's nextgeneration
network. Research,
telephony, administration and
student services have their own
virtual networks, insulated from
each other's demands.
"We are ahead of leading
research universities overseas
such as Edinburgh and UCLA,
who have had to build multiple
physical networks," Ms O'Brien
said. "We can deliver as good if
not better performance on one
network."
The university will centralise
management of its departments'
local networks, saving money
and providing consistent hardware
and services.
The core network of
76 Cisco switches will be built
and maintained by integrator
Netstar. It will use its network
management platform nVisage
to monitor performance from
its Sydney office.
But the project has been
delayed. It was predicted to
take three years to build when
announced in August 2004.
However, the initial network
upgrade will not be finished
until the end of the year.
The 18 core switches will be
online by early July but the
others will be phased in up to
December. The full effect won't
be felt until buildings' local networks
are upgraded.
Netstar senior account manager
Hayden Dunne said the
delay was caused by the design
process, not his company's
implementation. "This is the
biggest network refresh of its
type in the education sector ...
and a unique solution." |
