Background

The QRNO can trace its beginnings back to the installation of a 4800 baud link between The University of Queensland and Griffith University in 1975. This modest link provided staff and students of GU with access to the PDP-10 mainframe at UQ.

During the few years following this, the number of computers within the Queensland universities rapidly increased. A new application called "electronic mail" became available, although many users could not see how it could replace a paper memo or phone call. And soon, new packet-switched data services became available from Telecom under the marketing name AUSTPAC, offering connectivity to national -and even international - sites.

By the mid 1980's, SPEARnet - South Pacific Educational And Research Network - was providing interconnection between institutions such as UQ, GU, JCU, DDIAE (later USQ) and others, including even two New Zealand universites. Access to other international sites was provided through a purpose-built hub at UQ, using a fantastically "high speed" link of 9600 baud to AUSTPAC's X.25 service. The hub was a piece of creative innovation by the staff at UQ, based on the DEC MicroVAX computers, offering better performance and more flexibility than commercial offerings, yet costing about a fifth of the price.

With the widespread use of TCP/IP protocols, the X.25 services were phased out. The network became known as QTInet - Queensland Tertiary Institutions network) - and many links migrated to point-to-point frame relay services.

AARNet's arrival in the early 1990s caused a change in the operation of the network, as AARNet provided services to each university's door. Staff from the Queensland universities were involved in the design and operation of AARNet's services to the local member institutions.

Regional control over the interconnections received a boost with the new design model for AARNet 2 in 1996. Under this scheme, each state would have a "hub", and connections to each member institution would be the responsibility of a local RNO.