Wednesday, 10 February 2010
EASTERN Bay tertiary education institution Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi is to be a major partner in the delivery of ultra-fast broadband to the region.
The wananga has signed an agreement with FX Networks which is completing the installation of fibre-optic cable to Whakatane that will be capable of transferring data and voice at speeds up to 10 gigabytes per second.
Chief executive Professor Graham Smith said the initiative was part of the wananga’s commitment to the social and economic development of the region.
He said the wananga’s strategy would allow not only Awanuiarangi but also the wider Eastern Bay to participate fully in the digital revolution.
“It is not just fundamental to Maori development but will invigorate the Eastern Bay economy and the education sector,” Professor Smith said.
“Providing access to knowledge is a key role of an educational institution and Awanuiarangi was keen to build the digital capacity to ensure this happened.
“Whakatane’s location provides a variety of technological challenges, and this often means that connection to other institutions within Aotearoa or internationally is restricted to a relatively slow internet connection from an educational perspective.”
It was important to emphasise the wananga’s growing status as a quality provider of indigenous people’s higher education, he said.
“Over the years relationships have been developed with indigenous people and educational institutions from around the world and there is an untapped potential for Awanuiarangi to deliver its courses to them.”
In particular, the faster network would enable the wananga and its large number of doctorate-level staff to be connected to the wider educational and research community via the Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network (KAREN).
This network was established for New Zealand’s research, education and innovation sectors to collaborate on initiatives, both nationally and internationally, and is seen as being fundamental to New Zealand’s vision of being a world leader in using information technology to realise economic and cultural goals.
KAREN has 61 members connected at 103 sites across New Zealand.
These include all New Zealand’s universities and crown research institutes and the National Library.
A number of polytechnics, schools and other partners are also connected.
Many schools are also connecting to KAREN and Professor Smith said this was a great opportunity for more Eastern Bay schools to access the network.