Generally, all entities involved in research, education and training are eligible to connect. This includes universities, research institutes, hospitals, K-12 schools, vocational training providers, government agencies, galleries, libraries, archives and museums. Detailed guidelines can be found in Section 3.1 of the AARNet Access Policy, or you can contact our team to check your eligibility to connect to AARNet.

Dark fibre and passive wavelengths are the most common technologies we use to connect our optical network to your site. These technologies can also be used to interconnect geographically dispersed facilities and campuses. Sometimes, depending on the location of the site, we will investigate and use alternative technologies, such as radio or laser connections, or third-party carrier services.

Connections to AARNet are delivered direct from our optical network or Network Access Point (NAP) sites to a Network Termination Unit (NTU) installed at your site, which can operate at either 1 gigabit per second (Gbps), multiples of 10 Gbps or 100 Gbps. This 'trunk' can then be used to deliver multiple services at any given time. You can connect as many, or as few, AARNet connectivity services at each campus as you need.

We work closely with you to determine the best bandwidth, performance and connection options for your needs.

We use a combination of passive and active monitoring techniques to ensure consistent performance, reliability, and service quality across the network.

As a passive measurement, Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) interface statistics, both bytes and packets per second are recorded and viewed by modified Multi Router Traffic Grapher (MRTG) graphs. Error and Discard Statistics are also kept.

As Netflow is deployed at each Point of Presence (PoP), traffic is measured down to each Internet Protocol flow. The results of these are displayed as tables or graphs recording bytes, packets and flows per second.

With active measurement, Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) packets are sent between Regional Network Operator sites and to other points at regular intervals to measure network performance.

Other measurements, employing User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packets are also used to measure Quality of Service (QoS) issues.

Network links and services are also tested for availability at very regular intervals.

Enter an IP Address in the Network Address Query Tool.

Customers and partner organisations can report faults and issues affecting network performance to our 24/7 Operations Centre. Our team will help resolve any network performance issues as quickly and with as little impact on customers as possible.

AARNet peers with a wide range of online content and service providers for the benefit of our customers.