A passion for high performance and high availability

The challenge for Steve Maddocks*, AARNet’s Director of Operations, is to keep AARNet’s vital network in an optimal state, which means high performance and high availability that meet the service level agreement of 99.999%. Achieving this gives him an immense sense of satisfaction. Maddocks explains to Voice&Data’s Merri Mack that the key to success is a strong emphasis on measurement.

As an aid to meet the challenge, Maddocks uses a dedicated computer in Houston in the US to probe the AARNet (Australian Academic and Research Network) network minute by minute to provide data on the network’s performance.

Maddocks said, “A colleague, Bruce Morgan, and I met the challenge of how to measure internet traffic. We succeeded in measuring communications between every computer on AARNet and every other computer that AARNet is connected to.”

Besides the 38 universities that rely on the network, AARNet has attracted other customers such as private education institutions like Notre Dame and Bond University, a growing number of private schools, CSIRO and many other research organisations as well as a number of schools, for example in the Northern Territory. Its big customers, however, are the big universities.

AARNet is a long way from where Maddocks started his ICT career in the UK. He was not exposed to computers at school but through his father who worked with computers in a savings bank. His father encouraged his interest in computers and his first job was as a computer operator in a bank where he was involved with the first real-time online banking application, with responsibility for data communications to the bank branches all over the UK.

He came to Australia in 1977 taking a job at the WAITE (WA Institute of Technology), which later became Curtin University. In his 22 years at WAITE and later at Curtin, he designed and built networks, became involved in collaboration and design of the WA regional network which linked four universities as well as CSIRO and mirrored regional networks Australia wide. He also represented WA on the national level of AARNet.

This led him to spend more time on the AARNet work than the Curtin work.

“I was committed to stay at Curtin to see them through Y2K and I was confident after all the testing and evaluation we had done that we would pass the test on December 31st, which we did.

“I have to confess it was an enormous relief. Even though it was my birthday my only celebration was knowing I could move to AARNet from Curtin as the first AARNet employee. I tease the other AARNet staff that I am the first but with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek!

“AARNet is expanding dramatically, it’s a 24/7 operation and we are in the process of hiring a further seven staff members to add to the 11 network managers currently working around the country.

“AARNet’s strategy is to reach out internationally to global institutions so we need to secure capacity on the Southern Cross Cable Network. Meanwhile, we are planning for AARNet4, which will provide 100-gigabit links over fibre-optic cables in the ground using dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) leapfrogging 40-gigabyte technology.

When Maddocks does take time out from AARNet he is content to play a video game or watch a thriller movie but best of all is spending time with his family.

* Steve Maddocks is the Director of Operations, AARNet. He has 35 years’ experience in computer and network operations including designing and managing academic and research networks in Australia for 22 years.

Maddocks joined AARNet in 2000 and oversees operation of the AARNet network which includes managing the performance and availability of the network.

He co-designed AARNet3, Australia’s next generation research and education network which provides high capacity bandwidth and leading edge applications to the research and education sector throughout the country.