Outback Digital Network Connects Remote Australian Communities Using Cisco Technology
High-speed network provides voice, video and data services across 1.5 million square kilometres
The ODN service area will span 1.5 million square kilometres across northern Australia, including Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. There are five subsidiary networks which together form the ODN. The first ODN member to establish points of presence (POPs) is the Cape York Digital Network (CYDN).
When rollout is complete on 31 August, CYDN will provide 16 remote Aboriginal communities across the Cape York Peninsula in far-north Queensland with access to Internet-based communications. This access will be provided by a network based on a series of Cisco® 2600 Series routers, and Cisco Aironet® 350 Series access points and wireless bridges.
The Cisco 2600 Series core router was chosen by the ODN because of its versatility. It allows customers to consolidate data, voice and video traffic to reduce operating expenses, deploy new business applications and improve network efficiency.
ODN Chairman Kevin Fong said; "All of the communities are very isolated and the only way to solve this is with a reliable communications network. Having the best-available digital infrastructure and a future-proof network based on IP is the key to building our local economy and educating our kids for the future.
ODN National Project Manager, Philip Dutchak, said; "This is an extreme environment and we chose robust equipment from Cisco because it is reliable and capable of catering to increasing demand in the future."
John Winters, Cisco Queensland manager, said; "The creation of the ODN will help to provide remote Australian communities with access to the same kind of high speed Internet access that urban Australia takes for granted. Cisco is excited to be working with ODN."
As a part of this project, Cisco will also provide training and establish a testing laboratory in Cairns. The new test lab will be the first one outside a state capital in Australia.
The Cape York network was designed and built by ODN partner, Network Design and Construction Limited (NDC).
About ODN
The Outback Digital Network is a multi-state telecommunications network developed
to service Australia's remote Aboriginal communities. Each ODN director is from a
community-based Indigenous organisation covering a remote region of northern Australia.
The Outback Digital Network aims to provide high-speed IP networks to remote communities,
and implement them in a sustainable and appropriate manner. It is envisioned that this
will create training and employment opportunities in each community. The ODN network is
being funded by the Australian Federal Government's Department of Communications,
Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA) through the Networking the Nation fund.
Visit www.odn.net.au, www.cydn.com.au
and www.ndcglobal.com
for further information.
About Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Information on Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com.
Cisco, Cisco Systems, the Cisco Systems logo and Aironet are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. or its affiliates in the U.S. and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company.
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| Press Contact(s) | |||
| Peter Witts | Cisco Systems, Inc. | +61 2 8446 5272 | pwitts@cisco.com |
