While Lewis welcomed the launch last Thursday of the 10 gigabit-per-second capacity GrangeNet infrastructure, he said the University of Wollongong could lose out on research and resource opportunities because of a lack of fibre connections in the Wollongong area.
The GrangeNet infrastructure is designed to facilitate the exchange of research information between academic and educational institutions along Australia's eastern seaboard. However, in its initial iteration, only institutions located in major centres are connected.
"The problem with Wollongong is that it is not close enough to Sydney to be considered part of the Sydney metropolitan area," Lewis said. "And not far enough away to be considered one of the poor suffering regional centres, so we miss out on a lot of the support open to other areas."
Professor Ah Chung Tsoi, pro-vice chancellor for information technology at the University of Wollongong, said the University faced a difficult challenge when it came to participating with projects like GrangeNet, as there are currently no fibre connections running into the campus.
"We could purchase or install some kind of dark fibre, or negotiate to use the fibre connection currently running into the city of Wollongong," Tsoi said. "But fibre is not readily available in the area."
Tsoi is principally concerned the university has been placed at a distinct disadvantage due to the lack of fibre on campus and in the surrounding area.
"The university cannot stay competitive without access to broadband," Tsoi said. "The university is at the top of the league in the research area for a number of years and I believe that if the university does not get access to broadband our competitive position will be eroded."
Dr Marcus Buchhorn, grid services coordinator for GrangeNet, says there are plans in place to connect the infrastructure to other universities, in the capital cities and regional areas, however he pointed out the project's initial funding covered only specific institutions.
"When GrangeNet made its proposal to the government, we had to list what we would do and where, and with how much (money)," Buchhorn explained. "So we're now finishing off the initial GrangeNet build, and continually looking for ways to pick up Wollongong and many other sites, including non-eastern-seaboard sites, but we also need to find appropriate funding sources for those efforts."
Lewis says he believes there is enough commercial interest in the local community find private sector funding for an extension of the project, however he says they face stiff competition from other regional centres like the New South Wales central coast and the Hunter region.
"We have a 180000 in the Wollongong precinct, and not quite 500000 in the Illawarra as a whole, with the initiative of the university, and the help of state government to kick it off, a lot of people around the town would be supportive of bringing more fibre into the area," Lewis said.
