Published on the 25/10/2018 | Written by Pat Pilcher

Bigger, stronger, faster? (and cheaper)…

Research and Education Advanced Network NZ (REANNZ) has fired up its capacity on the Hawaiki Cable to provide a high-speed connection to the US for Kiwi researchers. REANNZ initially announced in July 2014 that they were an anchor tenant on the Hawaiki cable in a move that sees them paying $65 million over 25 years, including $15 million chipped in by the government.

REANNZ’s initial Hawaiki bandwidth allocation is 40Gbps, this is expected to grow to over 4Tbps as capacity gets increased to match demand. The half-billion-dollar cable has a 43.8Tbps capacity, which is at least eight times the capacity of the Southern Cross cable and a quantum leap over New Zealand’s first 9,600kbps internet connection back in the day.

“Our members always have needs that are ahead of the consumer market.”

REANNZ was set up in 2006 to provide high-speed internet access for crown research institutes and the tertiary education sector. Back then high-speed internet connectivity was expensive with megabit connectivity considered fast. Since then, gigabit fibre connectivity has become an affordable consumer commodity, rather than a specialist niche service.

REANNZ spokesperson Hazel Dobbie says that while gigabit plans are now available for the consumer and business market, most are advertised as ‘up to 400/500Mbps’ (or equivalent) on a ‘best efforts’ basis. “However, a medical scientist at the Liggins Institute at University of Auckland undertaking high end research with peers in China and the UK, a genomics scientist at University of Otago transferring 30TB from the Barcelona HPC Centre in Spain or a team of climate researchers transferring 700TB of data to the new Cray Supercomputer at NIWA in Wellington cannot use a consumer-grade service.”

These use cases differ significantly from the needs of business and consumer internet users says Dobby. “We are geared to manage big, bursty, complex research traffic and move huge data sets – involving hundreds of gigabytes, terabytes and petabytes – between multiple people, in multiple institutions. We are committed to data integrity – there’s zero tolerance of data loss which would be catastrophic for researchers collaborating globally. This global research and education network provides what is in effect a private network for the research sector with shared protocols and practices to transfer big, complex traffic, with an added layer of security and a shared commitment to zero packet loss.”

Dobbie says our most advanced research and education institutions are moving to 100Gbps connections – 100 times the gigabit capacity advertised at a consumer level.

While there is little argument of the benefits Hawaiki brings (bandwidth, diversity and reliability), initiatives such as UFB have seen high-speed internet connectivity become an increasingly affordable commodity. Economics most likely played a role in Canterbury, Lincoln and Victoria Universities ending their REANNZ contracts last year. At the time, Victoria University of Wellington said that an inability to agree on fair pricing was the key reason they opted out.

Since then REANNZ has been developing new pricing models, says REANNZ CEO, Nicole Ferguson. “To ensure our model is fit for the future, we are reviewing our service structure and pricing model. This will provide members with more flexibility and choice to ensure their access to the research and education network aligns with the needs of their institution. This ranges from new options to increase research connectivity speeds for institutions to over 100Gbps, to more options for less data-intensive institutions to choose the level of services that are fit for them. Following consultation with all members later this year, it’s expected the new model will be in place for 1 January 2019.”

REANNZ’s re-pricing moves come after REANNZ appointed Sara Brownlie, Dr Judith Johnston and David Skinner to their board earlier this week.

While Ferguson didn’t comment about any specific plans to re-acquire members, she did say REANNZ will continue to play a role in NZ’s economic development. “Our members always have needs that are ahead of the consumer market, and our role is to ensure we bring the best technology forward in a cost-effective way to enable those researchers to stay ahead, to remain cutting edge in their work and to be able to collaborate and compete on the world stage. New Zealand’s economic, social and environmental goals will only be achieved by ensuring we have strong and well-supported research and education ecosystem, and a research and education network is an essential tool to enable their success.”