Why is it needed?

High-speed broadband networking has become an essential tool in modern research.

SABRENet will provide a substantial improvement in the speed of broadband links between research and education sites within metropolitan Adelaide. It will also facilitate new connections linking South Australian researchers with other Australian and international research networks. A major impetus for the SABRENet project was the need to provide the South Australian Partnership for Advanced Computing (www.sapac.edu.au) with very high-speed connectivity to the State's key research communities and rapidly expanding national and international research networks. The Australian Research and Education Network (AREN), of which SABRENet forms a part, is being progressively funded by the Australian Government to link the nation's major higher education and research sites to one another, and, via a dedicated high-speed link, to the west coast of the United States.

The Australian Government's vision for the AREN is that

The AREN in the future will be part of a national and a global innovation infrastructure that will facilitate Australian researchers, regardless of how remote their location or employment in universities, research organisations and industry, to be full participants in collaborative research as well as the development and use of innovative applications and services.

Source: 'A Framework for an Australian Research and Education Network – the Final Report of the Systemic Infrastructure Initiative Higher Education Band With Advisory Committee'(HEBAC Report), DEST 2002.

SABRENet also supports the State Government's 10-Year Vision for Science, Technology and Innovation in South Australia by providing optical fibre connections to all of the Adelaide Innovation Constellation precincts.