at the MRO in particular the initial Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope array at the site. 2011: Second optical fibre path to Asia commissioned, from Sydney to Singapore via Guam, increasing AARNet's direct capacity to Asia to 1.2 Gbit/s 2012: International capacity increased to a total of 90 Gbit/s trans-Pacific plus a further 3.1 Gbit/s in two diverse routes to Asia 2013: AARNet4 announced, which is upgrading the AARNet WDM national network capacity to multiple parallel 100 Gbit/s channels, ultimately 80 channels (total 8 Tbit/s). AARNet generations AARNet1 (1989–1997): Australia's first Internet: AARNet-operated layer 3 routers; one point of presence (PoP) per capital city national backbone: carrier-provided (Telstra) inter-PoP transmission capacity carrier-provided trans-Pacific transmission capacity AARNet1 sold to Telstra in 1995 AARNet2 (1997–2006): Fostered the building of Optus' ATM and Optus' Internet networks: AARNet-operated layer 3 routers; one PoP per capital city national backbone: carrier-provided (Optus) inter-PoP ATM transmission capacity carrier-provided trans-Pacific transmission capacity AARNet3 (2006–2013): The AARNet optical network: AARNet-operated layer 3 routers; two physically diverse PoPs in each capital city national backbone: AARNet-operated optical fibre transmission capacity AARNet-operated international fibre transmission capacity Also delivers enduser Layer 1 optical transmission and Layer 2 VLAN switching services AARNet4 (2013–present): The AARNet optical network grows: entirely AARNet-operated national optical backbone: optical fibre transmission capacity ultimately 80 wavelengths each at 100 Gbit/s (total 8 Tbit/s) national IP network: 100 Gbit/s layer 3 routed network via diverse paths international connectivity: 240 Gbit/s of optical fibre transmission capacity, via six network interconnect points in USA and one in Singapore enduser services: layer 1 point-to-point optical transmission; layer 2 metro-Ethernet VLAN; layer 2 and layer 3 MPLS-based VPN services; high performance layer 3 routed access to global research and education (R&E) networks and the public Internet AARNet Pty Ltd AARNet was established in 1989 originally as an activity under the auspices of the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC). AARNet was formed into a separate company on 22 December 1998. AARNet Pty Ltd, ACN 084540518, ABN 54 084 540 518, is a not-for-profit company limited by shares. The shareholders are 38 of Australia's universities and the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). AARNet Pty Ltd became a licensed telecommunications carrier (Telco) under the Australian Telecommunications Act on 27 November 2000, becoming Australian carrier number 61. National network The AARNet4 national network comprises high capacity optical fibre transmission paths between switching centres in major