Federal department tenders for WAN services

The Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources (DITR) has published a request-for-tender to find a supplier capable of upgrading and maintaining its wide area network (WAN).

In 2001, Macquarie won a four year contract to provide WAN services to the DITR but that will expire in August.

According to the request-for-tender document that was published on Monday, the DITR is looking to upgrade its frame relay and ISDN-based WAN with an MPLS or VMPLS-based network.

In addition, the DITR staff -- who are currently dispersed around the Allara Street campus in Canberra -- will later this year be moved into a single building in the nation's capital.

The office reorganisation will mean just three of the department's agencies will have a "substantial permanent interstate presence" -- AusIndustry, Invest Australia and The National Measurement Institute.

To connect its WAN together, the department has stated it would prefer to use either ISDN, ADSL, SHDSL or SADSL connections. However, it later states that it is open to "alternative, yet comparable solutions".