[LINK] Twenty Years of the Net in Australia

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

"AARNet – 20 years of the Internet in Australia"  26th Nov 2009

Pioneer of the Internet launches book to commemorate historical milestones

http://www.aarnet.edu.au/News/2009/11/26/AARNet-salutes-20th-anniversary-
of-the-Internet-in-Australia.aspx


Sydney, AUSTRALIA – 26 November 2009 – The Governor-General of Australia, 
Ms Quentin Bryce, AC, will launch a book today at Admiralty House, 
commissioned by AARNet to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 
Internet in Australia.

AARNet – 20 years of the Internet in Australia documents the history of 
how the Internet network was established in Australia..

AARNet (Australia’s Academic and Research Network) made history with 
Australia’s very first international Internet connection through a 56 
kilobit per second satellite link that connected the University of 
Melbourne and the University of Hawaii in June 1989..

Some of the references in AARNet – 20 years of the Internet in Australia 
include:

One of the earliest computing networks was CSIRONET, established by Dr 
Trevor Pearcey in 1963.  The first local network in Australia, CSIRONET 
connected more than 50 computers and more than 250 terminals around 
Australia in 1976.

Geoff Huston, who is currently the Chief Scientist at the Asia Pacific 
Network Information Centre (APNIC), was AARNet’s first employee in March 
1989.  As its Network Technical Manager, Huston was responsible for 
building the Internet network that connected Australian universities – 
Australian National University, University of Melbourne, University of 
Sydney, University of Queensland, University of Adelaide, University of 
Western Australia, University of Tasmania and Northern Territory 
University – between April and May 1990.

The first Australian website was established and launched by Australian 
National University in November 1992 as an experimental server.

AARNet opens its network up to value added resellers in May 1994 to what 
are widely recognised as Australia’s first retail Internet Service 
Providers.  This includes Internode, OzEmail and iiNet.

In June 1995, AARNet’s main capital city backbone link was 2 Mbps.  It 
connected at 256 Kbps in Northern Territory, 512 Kbps in Tasmania and to 
the international network at 4.5 Mbps.

CSIRO became the first major organisation in Australia to implement a 
national VoIP service on AARNet’s backbone in November 1999.

Geoff Huston, Chief Scientist of APNIC, who was AARNet’s Network 
Technical Manager from its inception until 1995, said, “Being centrally 
involved in building the Internet in Australia was a unique and highly 
challenging opportunity.  AARNet today continues to demonstrate its 
relevance and importance to Australia’s researchers and educators.”

The author of the book, Glenda Korporaal, said, “For more than half a 
decade, AARNet’s history was also the history of how the Internet was 
established in Australia.  The individuals we have documented in the book 
were amongst the pioneers of the Internet in Australia.  As Australians 
debate about the merits of the National Broadband Network, they should 
look at the history of AARNet to gather deeper insights into what may 
happen in the future.”
--

And, at: http://www.crn.com.au/News/161373,extract-aarnet-reveals-birth-
of-australias-isps.aspx

Of the many fascinating chapters, CRN was most interested in the 
development of the ISP market. We hope you'll enjoy the extract below...

While the Australian Academic Research Network (AARNet) was set up to 
service its membership [of universities], it was always envisaged that 
there would also be “affiliate members”, such as government departments 
and quasi-government organisations, which would be allowed to use it. It 
was also planned that affiliates would be charged a higher rate, 
providing the basis to generate some more revenue which could help defray 
the cost of the network.

The AARNet board developed an “acceptable use” policy for the network 
which allowed expanded access to the network but drew the line at any use 
for purely commercial purposes. The affiliate membership program was 
launched in January 1991.

There were two kinds of affiliates. Mail affiliates who used dial up 
connections or ACSNet to obtain electronic mail and access news. They 
paid a nominal fee of a few hundred dollars a year to AARNet and a fee to 
the institution they connected to. Then there were full network 
affiliates which used AARNet to get an IP connection.

By 1992... there were 141 mail affiliates, ranging from one person 
systems to entire government departments.

In 1992, the board decided to expand the affiliate membership program. 
One of the first commercial Australian internet service providers, 
connect.com started by network engineer Hugh Irvine, Joanne Davis and Ben 
Golding, gained access to AARNet under this program.

Another outside organisation to attach itself to AARNet early on was 
Pegasus, considered by many to be Australia’s first internet service 
provider (ISP). Formed in June 1989 by a group of concerned 
environmentalists wanting to keep in touch with their colleagues around 
the world, it initially connected to the internet by ACSNet. Its founders 
met [ANU computer systems manager and AARNet network designer] Geoff 
Huston who suggested they make a permanent connection to AARNet although 
its rules officially did not allow commercial traffic. As Pegasus founder 
Ian Peter, who started the organisation from his home in Byron Bay, 
recalls in the book, Virtual Nation: “We sneaked in via sponsorship by 
the University of New England and Melbourne University and our first 
permanent connection [to the internet] was underway.”

Another organisation which made an early connection to AARNet was 
Internode, founded by Simon Hackett, who left the University of Adelaide 
in 1991. Internode’s early business included being the national agent in 
Australia for TGV’s MultiNet TCP/IP software, the software of a US 
company he had met at the Networkshop in 1989.

By the end of 1993, after only two years of its operation, the affiliate 
program generated about 15 percent of AARNet’s income and provided 
communications services to more than 300 companies and government bodies 
across Australia. The challenge of handling the increasing demand for 
access from affiliate members was to be one of the major issues facing 
the AARNet board and its staff.

To raise more revenue, the AARNet board decided to further open up the 
categories of users. While it had no plans or capability to open up the 
network to the general public, it was proposed that AARNet be available 
to wholesale “resellers”. These could resell services to the general 
public, providing them with the appropriate customer support. The 
decision provided another very valuable source of revenue for AARNet 
without the need for the Australian Vice Chancellors Committee [which 
oversaw AARNet] to implement a retail billing system or set up a call 
centre to support thousands of end users.

In May 1994, AARNet was opened up to “value added resellers” or internet 
service providers. The resellers were charged for access for permanent 
links on a fixed cost basis. In turn, they typically charged retail 
customers for ‘dial up’ access on an hourly basis. Some of AARNet’s 
initial “mail only” affiliates, such as Internode, upgraded themselves to 
become ISPs while other new organisations also joined.

Another early customer was a company called OzEmail, which was founded by 
computer enthusiast, Sean Howard, in the eighties as an electronic mail 
service called Microtex. Howard sold his computer publishing business to 
Kerry Packer’s Australian Consolidated Press and transformed Microtex 
into OzEmail. With the backing of investment banker Malcolm Turnbull and 
ACP executive, Trevor Kennedy, the company was relaunched as an internet 
service provider.

Their ranks were also joined by another start up ISP, Michael Malone’s 
Perth-based iiNet.

It was [AARNet customer service manager] Brenda Aynsley’s job to manage 
the value added reseller program.

She recalls: “They were paying an extraordinary amount of money by 
today’s standard for this service which was well and truly substandard by 
today’s benchmarks, but it was the best game in town in those days.”

Aynsley found herself approached by many new potential internet users who 
did not comply, even with the expanded guidelines, all trying to hustle 
their way onto AARNet. While many were rejected, with other organisations 
closer to the guidelines, an effort was often made to find some 
justification for admitting them as members.

Extract taken from the new book ‘AARNet: 20 Years of the Internet in 
Australia’ by Glenda Korporaal and published by AARNet. Reprinted with 
permission.

--

Cheers,
Stephen