Linux power in Australia
p2pnet.net News:- Some 75 towns across New South Wales will go online through NSW.net’s Linux-based satellite routers in a network spanning upwards of 800,000 square kilometres, and which could be the largest in Australia.
The Rural Link project was booted four years ago when the State Library of NSW was looking for a way to get around the expense of ISDN.
"After experimenting with two-way satellite communication, the decision was made to implement a one-way satellite download combined with ISDN back haul and 802.11b Wi-Fi for wireless access through the towns," says a Computerworld report here.
Web traffic doesn’t mix well with two-way satellite due to latency and by mid-2003 the rollout was sped up,” Charles Jago, the project’s principal coordinator, told Computerworld.
“Wi-Fi is fine but every town needed to be done differently due to local trees and valleys. Also, our intention is to use satellite in places that don’t have broadband or DSL which has been a moving target.”
The Rural Link network is aimed at country community groups, health facilities and council and community technology centres and is separate to the federal government’s $A250 million broadband rollout to the state’s public schools, says the story.
"Close to $4.5 million has been spent on the Rural Link network with primary funding of $A3.99 million coming from Networking the Nation funds, and additional backing from the NSW Office of ICT, and BHP Billiton. Of the 75 access points about 16 are without Wi-Fi. Both Telstra and local satellite router developer Ursys won the contract to build the network," states Computerworld.
