Annual Tertiary IT Conference, 12-14 September 2006, Christchurch, NZ

I attended the first day of the Annual Tertiary IT Conference (http://www.tertiaryitconference.co.nz/).  It was well attended with about 70 delegates; a mix of vendors and IT staff from the Tertiary Education Institutes (TEIs), most of the Universities and some Industry Training Oganisations. John Buckler, conference host, had organised a good mix of speakers, breakout sessions, roundtables and plenary sessions over the 3 days. I gave an overview presentation on KAREN, the Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network.

It was pleasing to hear Roger Field, Vice Chancellor of Lincoln University, talk about the fruition of New Zealand’s own research and education network, KAREN, in his opening address. He emphasized how important KAREN is for New Zealand’s research and education communities.

I had a good conversation with Larry Podmore, Canterbury Development Corporation, around their Broadband Challenge win (http://www.digitalstrategy.govt.nz) and projects on the go to get local access. This project will be an interesting one to watch.

General discussions with people from polytechs and TEIs centred on the best commercial and access models to encourage connection.  One way to do this in the TEI / ITP / Schools sector may be to leverage existing clusters / groups of institutions.

Other feedback included REANNZ providing more info on our website on local access connection options and on our Network Access Policy and Acceptable Use Policy.

For any further information on connection issues email us at techinfo@reannz.co.nz or log on to this BLOG for regular general updates.