Planned Network Expansion in Auckland

Work is now underway to begin the Auckland Expansion project – codename AKL_EX22 – as it has now been officially approved by the NZIX Committee! The new point of presence, Datacom Orbit Drive, is at the sign-up and rack allocation stage, and contractors are being lined up to deliver 1x 96F MTP structured cabling to both telco rooms 1 and 2. New dark fibre paths will enter the data centre from separate entries and telco rooms to increase diversity.

The new MDR <> Datacentre220 path has been submitted to Chorus with an estimated eight-week lead time. While we patiently wait, our optical circulators (basically an external BiDi) are on order and will be ready for installation once the fibre is tested and ready for production. This will give us true physical diversity on this existing point-to-point path and will allow us to expand its capacity to 2x200G giving us 400G of available bandwidth between the sites – WOOHOO!

As most of you are aware, hardware delivery timeframes are currently unreliable with the chippaggeadon, so we’re waiting to confirm the actual dates of our 400G Muxponder+Transponder big $$ order to be delivered before locking in delivery dates for other fibre orders via Vodafone.

We hope to deliver on the project’s promises before the end of the year – a 400G redundant and diverse ring network incorporating a new point of presence, Datacom Orbit Drive, with a path forward to the 400G Switch + 800G/1.2T ring future. We will keep you all up-to-date on the progression of this project through our social media channels.