Federal Budget-CANARIE’s CA*net 4 one of few high-tech winners after Martin introduces budget

The federal government’s decision to allocate funding for an upgraded national fibre network is being heralded by the agency that oversees the project. CANARIE Inc. is now in the process of selecting suppliers. "In 1998, Canada staked its claim to becoming the world leader in high-speed network technologies with the creation of CA*net 3," Finance minister Paul Martin told the House of Commons during his Dec. 10 budget address. "Today, to stay on the cutting edge, this budget provides $110 million to build and operate CA*net 4, which will benefit research organizations across the country, particularly many of our smaller universities and community colleges." The announcement was welcome at CANARIE’s offices a few blocks from Parliament Hill. "I guess we were pleasantly surprised," Bill St-Arnaud, senior director of advanced networks, tells Network Letter. "We had been working closely with Industry Canada and Finance and there was strong support for the program. Of course, you just never know until Paul Martin stands up how much funding support there was going to be." CANARIE had earlier issued a Request for Information, even though funding was not yet guaranteed (NL, Sept. 11/01). At that time, it had budgeted $150 million to roll out the network. CANARIE president/CEO Andrew Bjerring says that amount was arrived at by cutting costs to the bone. He cautions that receiving all but $40 million of what was sought is not a windfall. St-Arnaud is less concerned about the shortfall. "Obviously, it’s not what we entirely wanted for the whole project but we believe we can achieve the major objectives of the program with that funding."The group has created a short list of five candidates for supplying the wavelengths for CA*net 4. The finalists made their presentations Dec. 14. St-Arnaud hopes that, depending on what provisions the wavelength vendors can make, the network will be operational by next June. Unlike CA*net 3, the upgraded version would include wavelengths to Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific.The CA*net 4 cash was one of the few high-tech measures in the budget. While it got funding, as did SchoolNet and the Community Access Program (CAP), the proposals of the National Broadband Task Force were ignored by the finance minister. Bjerring was a member of that task force. He chairs the national advisory committee for CAP and sits on the SchoolNet advisory board. He expressed mixed emotions about the budget."On one side of my face, there’s a tear on my cheek," he jokes, "but on the other side there’s a little bit of a smile." He compares the rollout of connectivity to a parade. "We saw CA*net 4 as the front end of the parade and the Broadband Task Force as the back end," he offers.St-Arnaud isn’t surprised his group has been looked upon favourably by the government. CANARIE has a good track record when it comes to delivering on the projects for which it has been funded, he says. "We broke a lot of new ground with CA*net 3. Many commercial and research networks around the world have copied that design," he notes. "It’s generated a lot of business for our industry partners. And because of that track record in establishing new industries and helping our industry sector, I think that’s the reason why supported us for CA*net 4."

Federal Budget-CANARIE’s CA*net 4 one of few high-tech winners after Martin introduces budget

News | December 18, 2001

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