Directors appointed to oversee Advanced Network

Vendor recommendations expected in September

Directors have been appointed to a governance company for the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology’s Advanced Network. However, their names are not being released until the two shareholding ministers, Michael Cullen and Steve Maharey, make a public announcement.

Implementation manager Charles Jarvie says a final name of the company has yet to be sorted out. It will operate as a Crown entity and will be responsible for entering into all supply contracts for the network.

He says that in parallel with the “housekeeping and procedural bits”, negotiations for supply are almost completed. “We expect to be able to make recommendations to the board by early September,” he says.

A tender for managed international network services was issued in May as one of a series of RFP "subsidiary documents", each dealing with a different aspect of the planned high-speed network for tertiary and research institutions.

The tender document notes: "The supplier shall provide the international network services over a managed international network," including "dedicated Southern Cross cable bandwidth, dedicated edge routers installed in telehousing premises in Australia and the USA, local tail circuits [at those premises], backhaul links between the edge routers and Southern Cross cable stations in Australia and the US and network management, monitoring and reporting systems and facilities."

Respondents are also required to outline how they would use peering to connect the network with overseas research networks. Implementation dates before the end of 2005 "would be preferable", the document says.