A smaller NBN Aggregation Network#

Craig Askings — Telair

• Why: A small-operator counter-trend worth attention: using long-reach optics over leased dark fiber to collapse a distributed aggregation footprint into a few DCs, on whitebox hardware. Physical interconnect economics in the wild.
• What: Triggered by NBN pricebook changes (10GBaseER NNI activation/MRC drops, plus Infraco dark-fiber offers between DCs and POIs), Telair redesigned: 10GBaseER NNI on dark fiber back to nearby DCs, collapsing 39 POIs into 8 PoPs, 82+ routers down to 16 (2 per PoP), and bringing 5 DCs on net. Hardware: Ufispace S9510-28DC whitebox (24×25G SFP28, 2×400G QSFP-DD OpenZR+, 2×100G) running IP Infusion OcNOS with the MPLS license. Migration was executed in batches (single POI → multi-POI batches → mopup, sequenced state by state), i.e., ordinary churn. The deck also flags real DC cross-connect economics: NEXTDC's single cable licence fee vs. Equinix charging per tie-cable pair vs. Polaris free within the carrier room; Vocus DC cross-connects "close to impossible" to organize.
• How: Long-reach ER optics over point-to-point dark fiber let the L3 NNI handoff physically live in the DC instead of at each POI — the whole aggregation layer follows. Amusing fiber-path reality checks included (2.5km by road = 12km fiber; 31km road = 81km fiber path).
• Where applicable: Australia/NBN-specific economics (pricebook, Infraco DF offers) — the constraints are org- and market-specific. But the technique (ER/ZR+ optics + whitebox + DF to consolidate scattered handoff points into DCs) transfers to any metro/regional aggregation design, and the DC cross-connect pricing comparison is useful for any co-location strategy.