More than 30,000 students are set to benefit from a 1Gbps fibre optic network named NEAL (North Shore Education and Access Loop). Officially launched today, the network is a joint initiative between Government-funded Broadband Challenge and Vector.
The million-dollar network is a configured in a loop around the North Shore. It then connects from Devonport across the Auckland Harbour to the peering exchange in the Sky Tower – and from there to the Southern Cross Cable.
Those connected to NEAL, such as Kristin School, now have the opportunity to join up to big sister KAREN – the high speed network the universities use.
North Shore City economic development manager Roger Matthews, a main driver of the project, told me the network is a bid to drive demand for better broadband services. He says that if any group can take full advantage of gigabit speeds its secondary school students. And once they experience super-fast networks at school they will demand them at home and – critically for business – from their employers when they enter the workforce.
Matthews believes that in the future, business and consumer demand for high speed broadband will be reflected in the real estate market. He already advises businesses locating to the North Shore to check that their premises are located close to Vector’s cable.
Not content with one the fastest fibre networks in the country, Matthews is currently working with Vector and Kordia to provide WiFi coverage in North Shore’s business centres, beginning with Takapuna.
PHOTO: Albany Primary School students demonstrated the appeal of NEAL to a group of dignitaries that included Vector chairman Michael Stiassny and Minister for Communications David Cunliffe.