[NEWS-L] AARNet revolutionises communication for the Australian research and education community

[inquiries@aarnet.edu.au]

AARnet News  6 July 2005

         AARNET REVOLUTIONISES COMMUNICATION FOR THE AUSTRALIAN
                    RESEARCH AND EDUCATION COMMUNITY

Australia's first Electronic Number Mapping (ENUM) trials commence

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - QUESTnet conference, 6 July 2005 -

The Australian Academic & Research Network (AARNet), today announced the
availability of the electronic number mapping (ENUM) trial to AARNet
members. The trial follows AARNet's official accreditation as an ENUM
trial Registrar with the Australian Communications & Media Authority
(ACMA).

ENUM, the mapping of telephone numbers to domain names using Domain Name
System (DNS) based architecture, represents the future of business and
personal communication whereby one telephone number will act as the
single point of contact across all communications channels, including
mobile, fixed line, fax, email and Voice over IP (VoIP) connection.

"Everyone should be able to choose how to communicate with each other in
a simple and cost effective way without incurring local, national,
international and roaming call charges; this is the ENUM ideal and is
not the case today," commented Chris Hancock, CEO of AARNet.

As one of only three providers for Australian ENUM domains and the
second to be officially accredited as an ENUM trial Registrar, AARNet is
keen to take advantage of the opportunity and will look at how ENUM can
be used in conjunction with AARNet's current middle-ware and service
developments, to deliver new and innovative applications and services
for its customers.

Commented Chris Hancock: "AARNet is incredibly excited to be
participating in something that seems destined to emerge as the most
important new Internet platform since the World Wide Web. The
possibilities for ENUM are enormous as it brings true convergence of the
data and telephony worlds."

AARNet acknowledges the immediate potential of ENUM to support
Australian Researchers in collaborative research work and is actively
encouraging AARNet members' participation in the trial by offering a
free ENUM Registry service to members of the Australian Research and
Education community.

AARNet members wishing to register their interest in the trial ENUM
service can complete the online form available at:
<http://www.aarnet.edu.au/services/enum/register-enum-interest.html>

 From today, ENUM domains from the +61 5900xxxxx number range can be
registered.

For more information regarding the AARNet service or about ENUM, please
visit <http://www.enum.aarnet.edu.au/>.

Several trials of ENUM have already begun in Europe and Asia and a full
commercial ENUM service was launched in Austria in late 2004.


ABOUT QUESTNET

Queensland Education, Science and Technology Network (QUESTnet) is the
Queensland regional component of the Australian Academic & Research
Network (AARNet).

The QUESTnet conference is an annual event aimed at network
technologists and IT&T professionals who work closely with network
technology. A key focus of the event is to provide an opportunity for
delegates to develop their professional and technical knowledge and gain
an appreciation of the key strategic issues for network development.

The national event is taking place from Tuesday 5th to Friday 8th July
2005, and is hosted by Australian Catholic University on the Sunshine
Coast. This year's conference theme is entitled Yesterday, Today,
Tomorrow - Building IT, Managing IT and Extending IT. For further
information, please visit: <http://www.questnet.net.au/questnet2005/>


ABOUT AARNET

AARNet Pty Ltd (APL) is the company that operates Australia's Academic
and Research Network (AARNet). It is a not-for-profit company limited by
shares. The shareholders are 37 Australian universities and the CSIRO.

AARNet provides high-capacity leading edge Internet services for the
tertiary education and research sector communities and their research
partners. AARNet serves more than one million end users who access the
network through local area networks at member institutions. For further
information, please visit: www.aarnet.edu.au