CSIRO to hook remote patients to "Super" Net - News

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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CSIRO to hook remote patients to "Super" Net

By Megan McAuliffe, ZDNet Australia
June 01, 2001
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/soa/CSIRO-to-hook-remote-patients-to-Super-Net/0,139023165,120226069,00.htm

Australian research organisation CSIRO has been granted AU$14 million from the federal government to design a new 'super' highway claimed to be hundreds of times faster than the current one.

The consortium, led by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), will pour the funds into a Centre for Networking Technologies for the Information Economy (CeNTIE), set up to establish network infrastructure for research and industry development.

-The network will deliver performance at a level not expected in commercial systems for five years, so we are bringing the future forward," CeNTIE's director Dr Terry Percival said in a statement.

The project will use dedicated infrastructure in capital cities together with interstate links provided by Nortel Networks and AMCOM Telecommunications.

According to the CSIRO, the consortium will benefit tele-health, media systems, information brokering, tele-collaboration and distance learning.

Several companies in health, media, education and other service delivery industries will participate in the project.

-We are aiming to create the network capacity to make interactive surgical training possible, for example," CSIOR business manager Gary Doherty said.

Doherty says the project will enable a student to practice surgery using a haptic workbench based in Sydney, together with the guidance of an expert in Perth. The workbench is a "virtual" training facility.

-Or you will be able to have more than one student connected, so that what you have is a virtual classroom with students in different cities," he said.

Other benefits include health care to people in remote areas, such as ultrasound examination.

-We can't do these things using current technology because the capacity and performance needed is too great," Dr Percival said.

Film post production companies will also benefit from increased network capacity and lower costs according to Chief Technologist for the Centre, Dr Dean Economou.