KCCS - news archive

News Archive

28 October 1999
A new Megalink was commissioned tonight to Digital Post, this is the first link to use a G703/704 controller in KC's new Cisco 4700 router.
There is currently one more Megalink on order that will also connect to this router.
13 October 1999
A new 128k MDDS was installed today at SecurIT, this connects to one of KC's stacked wideband DDS via a Cisco 1601 router at SecurIT.

11 October 1999
Several Telecom circuits to KC have had outages today.
The PDL 2meg circuit to Newmarket has been the most severely affected being down for most of today. KC's Centrex PRI at Newmarket has also had problems for most of last week.
Atlas Gentech have ordered a 128K MDDS to KC today for their internet connection.
A Cisco 4700M+ router arrived for KC today. A 4 port G703 E1 controller, a 4 port Sync serial controller and fast ethernet interface will be installed. This will provide a link backup service for KC.

8 October 1999
Softworld Systems ordered a new 128K MDDS to KC today.
A new 128K MDDS has also been ordered for Citinet Cybercafe, this will replace a Centrex ISDN connection which will be used to provide extra internet bandwidth when the MDDS is at near maximum capacity.

5 October 1999
Virtual Warehouse connected to KC today via Centrex ISDN. VW use a Cisco 1603 ISDN router, configured and installed by ESP.

3 October 1999
The new Cisco 5505 switch chassis arrived today. This will be installed over the next few days using the existing controllers from the 5002 switch.

29 September 1999
A new 128K MDDS was commissioned today at Advantage Group, this replaces a 64K MDDS.
In a further upgrade to KC's network capability, and in preparation for ATM services, a Cisco 5505 switch has been ordered. This is a 5 slot chassis that will replace the current 5002 2 slot 5000 series switch at KC. The 5505 will be delivered with dual redundant power supplies, a Supervisor Engine IIg, a 24 port 10/100baset fast ethernet controller and over the next three months a Route Switch Processor will be added (allows routing of VLANS). The 12 port 10/100baset controller currently in the 5502 will be transferred to the 5505.

27 September 1999
An upgrade from a 64k MDDS to a 128k MDDS was commissioned at Advanced Management Systems today.

26 September 1999
Digital Post have ordered a Telecom Megalink connection to KC today. This will replace a short range WaveLan radio connection. A Cisco 4000 series router with channelised E1 interface will be used at Digital Post to connect the Megalink. At KC the Megalink will connect to a G703 serial port in KC's 7507 router.
A new 128K MDDS was ordered today for SecurIT Ltd who currently connect to KC via dialup modem.

22 September 1999
A 128K DDS was commissioned today to Gillain Enterprises, Whangaparoa, this connects into one of KC's new Stacked Wideband DDS.

14 September 1999
A 128K DDS was commissioned today to Web Media, Auckland. This uses a Cisco 2503 ISDN/Serial router. A Centrex ISDN link has also been ordered and this will act as a link backup.

10 September 1999
A telehoused Web server for New Media (Tauranga) was installed on KC's network today. New Media also have a Centrex ISDN connecting to BOPIS in Tauranga

8 September 1999
A 128K DDS was commissioned today to Raindance, Auckland, this connects via a Cisco 2501 router to one of KC's stacked wideband DDS.

5 September 1999
A telehoused web server for Nadara Ltd was installed at KC today, this is their second telehoused server, the first being located at Citinet Cybercafe in Auckland. Nadara have moved to telehousing servers to replace a dial up Centrex ISDN circuit to KC.

27 August 1999
Several more hardware upgrades for KC were sorted out this week.
A new four port g703 controller for a Cisco 4500 was purchased, this card allows up to four megalink services to be connected. This controller is not required for any new circuits connecting to KC but does allow one of KC's 4500 routers to become a hot-standby for the Megalink services connecting to the 7507 router in the unlikely event that the 7507 fails.
A second-hand Cisco 4700M router has been ordered today, this is a faster cpu version of the 4500M router and will be better suited to use the four port G703 controller along with a four port serial controller and fast ethernet controller. This router configuration will then be able to backup all of the serial and Megalink services currently connecting to controllers in KC's main Cisco 7507 router.
When this router is placed in service it will mean that all of the Serial ports, G703 ports, Primary rate ISDN and Stacked wideband DDS at KC will have backup connections available via a Cisco 4700 and a Cisco 3640 routers.
For more information on KC's routing equipment, standby services and other hardware see Hardware Updates

20 August 1999
A 128k MDDS and Centrex isdn was ordered today for Webmedia, Auckland.

12 August 1999
A new 128k DDS was ordered today for Raindance Ltd., Auckland.
KC's PRI located in Newmarket was today upgraded to enable all thirty ISDN channels. Until now this PRI had only twelve channels available as it was used only to connect several multi-link PPP routers to the KC network. Now that thirty channels are avaiable this will spread the connection load on the two Auckland CBD centrex PRI.
This PRI will only be used for ISDN connections, there will not be any dial up moems available.

10 August 1999
A new 128k DDS was ordered today for Gillain Enterprises Ltd, Whangaparoa.
A link upgrade to 384k (from 256k) for Ram Management, Napier was also ordered today.

6 August 1999
Several new hardware upgrades to KC's Cisco powered network were installed today. A new eight port E1 controller (PA-8CE1-120) and interface processor (VIP2-50) were added to KC's Cisco 7507 router.
A four port g703 controller for a Cisco 4500 was also ordered today for UK. This will allow the 4500 to have sufficient E1 port capability to act as a hot standby for the 7507.
Transworld International connect to KC via ISDN.

5 August 1999
Diatranz ZN Ltd connect to KC via ISDN.
A link upgrade to 256k, from 128k, was ordered today for the DDS link to Brice Parker Consultants, Gisborne.
NZ Funds move from a Centrex ISDN connection to KC to a frame relay internet connection to Clear.

30 July 1999
Marlborough Planet, Blenheim moved to a new 256K DDS link to today today. This was an upgrade from a 128K DDS.

20 July 1999
Further disk drive changes to KC's news server last night and today made the news server unavailable for several hours. The system 4gig drive was replaced by a new 10gig drive to provide more space for news management files. This server also has two 13gig drives for the news articles.
(news.kcbbs.gen.nz)

7 July 1999
McMillan Publishing connect to KC via ISDN

1 July 1999
3KB, Auckland, connect to KC today via Centrex ISDN.

24 June 1999
A new stacked wideband DDS is intalled at KC today. This is the fourth SWDDS and provides another thirty 64k channels for DDS connections to KC. With two new 256k and a 384k DDS link ordered in the last week these will immediately use half of the new channels.
This new SWDDS connects into KC's Cisco 7507, using a channelised E1 port adaptor in a VIP2-40 controller, this controller is set up to provide distributed IP services including link compression for all DDS connections using the new SWDDS.

18 June 1999
A new Cisco as5200 modem server with sixty mica modems (V90) was connected to KC today. This replaces another as5200 that used K56flex Microcom modems and also replaces a Cisco 3640 modem server that had thirty Mica v90 modems. The 3640 will now be relocated to another PRI for business dial up connections only.

12 June 1999
KC has been allocated new 0867 numbers, these are 0867 10000, 0867 20000 and 0867 KCBBS. These should be effective from mid July 1999. The existing PRI numbers for dial up connection to KC will still operate normally (579 6209 and 579 5439) although Telecom have stated they will charge 2c/minute for residential connections after 10 hours connection time per month. This does not affect business users who already pay 5c/minute for all local calls.

5 June 1999
Strongnet connect via 128K mdds link to KC today.
BOPIS (Tauranga) have upgraded their DDS link to KC from a 128K DDS to a wideband 256K DDS.

28 May 1999
The Ark connected to KC via 128K MDDS today, relocating from Ponsonby to Mt Wellington.

22 May 1999
Previously connected to KC's RadioLan at Newmarket, Cashlink have relocated to Mt Wellington and now use a Telecom 128K MDDS for their internet connection to KC.

20 May 1999
Maxtel Software, New Lynn, connect via an MDDS 128k circuit to KC today.
This is an upgrade from an ISDN connection. They use a Zyxel v35 router and connect to one of KC's stacked wideband dds.

A new stacked wideband DDS was ordered today from Telecom, this will be the fourth SWA DDS for KC. This has become necessary as the existing three SWA DDS are all nearing saturation. This has been brought about by moving several DDS from the SWA at Hamilton and several new 128k and 256k dds internet connections to KCCS.

14 May 1999
Advanced Communications, Auckland, a Telecom installation contractor connect via ISDN to KCCS today.

26 April 1999
Newmedia, Tauranga, connected via Centrex ISDN today to Bopis.
A new Primary Rate ISDN was also installed at Bopis today to provide extra Centrex channels and additional 33k6 dialin lines.

18 April 1999
A new Centrex ISDN was ordered today for Trends Publishing, Penrose, Auckland.

16 April 1999
Brice-Parker Consultants, Gisborne, connected directtly to KC today, moving from the KC node in Hamilton to a stacked wideband DDS at KC in Auckland.

10 April 1999
Ram Management and Internet Hawkes Bay move to a direct 256K DDS link to KC. Previously they were connected to KC's node in Hamilton but with changes in Stack DDS it is now lower cost to connect directly to KC in Auckland.

4 April 1999
Rotorua Planet connects to KC today, the first DDS moving from the KC node in Hamilton to a direct link to stacked wideband DDS at KC in Auckland.

10 March 1999
With the recently announced Telecom price reductions in DDS circuits there have been several major changes in the DDS circuits connecting to KC from outside Auckland.
The Stacked Wideband DDS at Hamilton is being closed as there is now no cost advantage in connecting Napier, Gisborne and Rotorua to this stack. Instead all of these circuits have been moved to stack DDS in Auckland. A 256K DDS to Hamilton now connects Hamilton Planet to KC.

26 March 1999
Auckland City Council moved to Clear for internet services today. ACC were one of the first DDS connections to KC in 1996, first using a 48K MDDS then a 64K MDDS from mid 1997 connecting into one of KC' s stacked wideband DDS. A new Centrex ISDN was ordered for New Media, Tauranga. This will connect to BOPIS.

22 March 1999
Geographic Technologies connected to KC today via Centrex ISDN for internet services.

18 March 1999
CNS upgrade to a 128K MDDS link, from 64K, today. ISIS move to Xtra today, they were connected via a 48K MDDS, the last 48K MDDS still connected to KC.

17 March 1999
KC's 2meg local traffic link to Netgate replaced the local traffic link to Iconz today. There had been a delay in completing this circuit, the Netgate end had not been completed until today.

12 March 1999
A new Centrex ISDN internet connection was installed today to the second Citinet internet cafe in Auckland.

11 March 1999
A Telecom outage on their network from Auckland to Sydney for several hours this morning slowed international internet access to almost unuseable. Later in the morning normal international access was restored.

10 March 1999
A new 2meg local traffic link was installed today to Telecom's Netgate. This link will be commissioned over the weekend and will replace the local internet connection to ICONZ.

4 March 1999
A new Centrex ISDN circuit was commissioned today to Nadanet, a new private ISP in Auckland.

1 March 1999
A new Centrex ISDN to Sebel Furniture was connected today for internet services to KC. The new 64K MDDS to Pasadena Intermediate School was also commissioned and replaces an ISDN link to the school for internet services that connected to Auckland PlaNet.

28 February 1999
There was an outage on KC's link to Telstra tonight. An icmp flood attack succeeded in using all the bandwidth on the KC Telstra link. This attack originated at Purdue University in USA. After several hours Telstra finally installed a packet filter on their Auckland router and this removed the loading to KC (It did not relieve the loading on the Telstra Auckland to Sydney link which will be looked at tomorrow morning).

25 February 1999
Packing Shed ISP upgraded to a 256K link to KC today.

16 February 1999
Pasadena school are moving from a dial up ISDN connection to a 64K MDDS to KC. The DDS is due for installation 25 February.

10 February 1999
A new Centrex ISDN connection was ordered today for another new Internet cafe in Auckland. This is another branch of Citinet that will be opening shortly in Kitchener Street.

5 February 1999
Wellington PlaNet moved to a direct link to Netgate from the end of January. They were connected to KC in Auckland via a 64K DDS, their new 128K DDS connects to Netgate (Telecom) in Auckland.

2 February 1999
A new 2meg local traffic link to Netgate was ordered today from Telecom.
This will replace the 2meg circuit currently connected to Iconz. The original concept of several ISPs connecting to Iconz for local traffic distribution has now been abandoned as only KC (with a 2meg circuit) and Iprolink (with a Centrex ISDN connection) decided to beome involved.
With Netgate offering a 2meg fixed price local traffic link for not much more than the price of a Megalink service, it did not really prove cost effective to use the Iconz connection.
The new circuit is expected to be in place during February.

Over the last month or so the radio link in Newmarket between KC's node and Digital Post had gradually been degrading. A growing tree in the direct line of sight between the antennae was suspected to be the problem. A 2 metre increase in the height of the antennae at Digital Post has now returned the link to full performance.

31 January 1999
A new Centrex ISDN was connected to the Foundation for the Deaf today. This uses a Cisco 1003 router.

A new Centrex ISDN circuit was also installed for Webmasters in Auckland.

Nznet moved from KCCS to Clear for internet services today. After a long dispute with Telecom Nznet arranged over the last couple of months to move to Clear for all of their telephone, ISDN and internet services.
Their connection to KC was via a Telecom wideband DDS link and it appeared likely this would be unavailable in the near future, so moving to Clear would guarantee continuity of internet services.
Nznet were the longest connecting ISP to KCCS having initially connected via a dial up phone link in mid 1994.

28 January 1999
IDG communications moved today from a Centrex ISDN link to KC to a Starnet link with Ihug. For nearly all of last year the Centrex ISDN capacity for IDG was often overloaded and other options for increased link capacity were considered too expensive (WDDS circuits). IDG had been connecting to KC since 1993, initially with a 64K MDDS circuit and then from late 1995 with a 128K Centrex ISDN.

21 January 1999
This afternoon a power outage at KC caused several systems to reboot and this resulted in some DDS and ISDN outages for up to 10 minutes. One Centrex PRI did not recover and it's 2meg circuit showed an error condition. A fault was reported to Telecom and the circuit was restored about 20 minutes later.

13 January 1999
KC's local traffic link to Iconz was offline today for about an hour while equipment was repaired at Iconz.
While this link was offline several cables were rerouted at KC to allow new serial interfaces on KC's 7507 router to be brought into service. These will improve compression throughput on several DDS links. No other services were affected by these changes.

12 January 1999
Kiwilink, an ISP connecting to KC, are now upgrading their internet link to a 256K Wideband DDS from the current 128k MDDS. A Cisco 4500 router at Kiwilink will connect to KC's Cisco 7507. It is planned in the near future to further upgrade this WDDS to a 2meg Megalink connection.

8 January 1999
Rotorua PlaNet, an ISP in Rotorua that connects via 64K DDS to KC's stacked wideband DDS in Hamilton has now moved to a different location and installed two ISDN BRI to provide four dial in phone lines.
These BRI will eventually connect to V90 digital modems to provide high speed dial in services.

21 December 1998
Citinet Cybercafe connected via Centrex ISDN to KC today. This is a new Cybercafe located at lower Queen Street in Auckland (see www.citinet.co.nz) and is opening on Christmas day.

11 December 1998
After testing a radio (Wavelan) connection to KC for several months, Cashlink are now using this link for their internet connection to KC. This replaces a 64K MDDS circuit to KC.
Access Productions connected to KC today using ISDN and Zyxel router.
Showoff connected to KC today with a 64K MDDS. This uses a channel in one of KC's stacked wideband DDS. The MDDS connects to an ACE 1803 router at Showoff.

10 December 1998
ECONZ changed from non-Centrex to Centrex ISDN today, connecting to KC's CBD Centrex BBG.

9 December 1998
MEC are now installing a Wavelan radio connection to KCCS at Newmarket, replacing their DDS connection. A new ISDN will be used as a backup circuit.

7 December 1998
A new ISDN connecting ITL to KC for internet services was installed today.
The 64K DDS link to Kiwilink in Orewa was shut down today. Kiwilink have closed their Orewa pop moving nearly all of their user accounts to the main Kiwilink system in Devenport.

2 December 1998
The latest Cisco v90 modem code was uploaded to the Mica modems in the 3640 server today. This now provides 48 v90 modems. The Cisco 5200 continues to provide K56flex connections and will be upgraded to v90 code early next year
A new Centrex ISDN was installed at Citinet Cybercafe today. This will provide the initial internet connection for the cafe which is due to open in mid December.
Profax moved their Centrex ISDN from KC to Ihug today. They had been connected to KC for two years using Centrex ISDN.

27 November 1998
Netco (a telecom installations contractor) connect to KCCS via ISDN today using a Cisco 1003 ISDN router.

25 November 1998
Tacit International upgraded from a 48K MDDS to a 64K MDDS connection to KC. This 64K uses a channel in one of KC's stacked wideband DDS.
The Apple Education Centre completed connection of a new Centrex ISDN connection to KCCS today.

23 November 1998
A small upgrade to KC's Cisco 7507 router was done this morning while Telecom had a 10 minute planned outage with ISDN services. Extra memory and sdram was added to a VIP2-40 controller to allow remote routing services for a stacked wideband DDS.
Computer Leasing connected to KCCS today via ISDN. This is the first ISDN connection using an Intel 8100 branch office ISDN router.

20 November 1998
The Ark connect to KCCS today with Centrex ISDN using a Cisco 1003 router. This is the second new ISDN to KC's Ponsonby exchange Centrex BBG. Also today Agility Systems move from non Centrex ISDN to the new Centrex BBG.

13 November 1998
McDonald Vadco connected to KCCS today via ISDN using a Cisco 1603 ISDN router

6 November 1998
Over the last two weeks there have been four new ISDN connections to KC, two of them Centrex. They include Shotz, The National Foundation for the Deaf and Auckland Software Consultants.

17 October 1998
Auckland Software installed a 64K MDDS link to KC, connecting to a timeslot in one of KC's stacked wideband DDS. Installed earlier this week, the link was commissioned today.
There are now a total of 47 DDS connections to KC in Auckland, with 38 connecting into three stacked wideband DDS.

15 October 1998
A radio link to RaceO in Newmarket was removed today as RaceO have closed their local office in Auckland. Connected three months ago to KC's POP in Newmarket, RaceO used a WaveLan radio link over a distance of just 100 metres. This link used an internal antennae at RaceO's Manakau Road office.
There are now four radio link connections to KC in Newmarket with one more pending in the next six weeks.

12 October 1998
ISP Netgate Communications connected to KC today via centrex ISDN. Previously connected to Netlink the move to KC was completed over the last few days.

10 October 1998
A new Primary Rate ISDN for KC was ordered today from Telecom. This will be given a Ponsonby exchange number and will be included in a new Centrex BBG. This PRI was ordered because of the increasing number of requests for Centrex ISDN services connecting to the Ponsonby exchange.
Included in the order were three new Centrex BRI and details of five existing BRI that are to be brought into the new BBG. A further three BRI are amaiting confirmation for connection to this BBG making a total of eleven BRI that should be using this BBG for Centrex ISDN internet connection to KC.
With at least four further enquiries for BRI from the Ponsonby area, this new Centrex service to KC is already proving very popular.

7 October 1998
Rainbow Systems changed their connection to KC from a Basic Rate ISDN to a 64K MDDS link. Increased usage of their internet link made the move to DDS more cost effective compared to paying Telecom a per-minute link charge.

14 September 1998
2Day Internet moved from KC to Telecom Netgate today. 2Day were connected to KC for internet services since early last year and only a couple of months ago upgraded their 64K DDS link to a 128K DDS. The international link problems with Telstra and intermittent local traffic routing issues proved difficult for 2Day who provide dns services to a local customer base, many with connections to Telcom Xtra. 2Day has now connected with separate 128K DDS links to Netgate, one for international services and the other for local connectivity.
(see business updates menu).

8 September 1998
A 512K link to Netgate was enabled today. This link has been set up for international traffic only and will be moving internet traffic for a few KC customers who have specifically requested that their internet traffic is handled by Telecom NZ. The default international traffic gateway at KC is to Telstra NZ.

4 September 1998
Two ISDNs connecting directly to KC from the Glen Eden exchange area moved to the new PRI that KC has recently installed to the Glen Eden exchange.
These BRI provide internet services to Maxtel and Glidepath. Two new Centrex BRI are awaiting connection during September and there are at least three more enquiries concerning Centrex services to this new PRI.

3 September 1998
Today DF Mainland moved from a 48K MDDS to a 64K MDDS that connects into one of KC's stacked wideband DDS. This was one of the last three 48K MMDS connecting to KC, in mid 1995 there were twenty-seven 9k6 and 48k MDDS connections to KC and nearly all of these have now moved to 64K, 128K or faster connections into KC's SWDDS circuits.

29 August 1998
The move to the Cisco 3640 router/modem server was completed tonight when the second PRI on 579 6209 was moved from the 5200 to the 3640. The 5200 is now being moved to the PlaNet ISP network and all modem dial in services to the KC network are now managed by the Cisco 3640.
In completing this upgrade KC now has forty-eight V90 MICA modems available for dial up services (PPP, uucp and shell connections). The sixty lines available via the two PRI have some reserved for ISDN usage although if the need is there for additional modems further MICA cards can be installed at short notice.
In addition to these sixty dial up lines there are three further PRI at KC which provide forty-two Centrex ISDN channels and thirty non-Centrex ISDN channels for business ISDN connections. These PRI connect to KC's Cisco 7507 router.

28 August 1998
IPC Publishers connected to KC today via Centrex ISDN using a Cisco 1003 router.

27 August 1998
One of the two dial up Primary Rate ISDN circuits to KC was moved from the Cisco as5200 modem server to A Cisco 3640 router with MICA v90 digital modems. This is the first stage in moving from Microcom digital modems to MICA modes and in the process replacing the 5200 modem server with a 3640 router/server. The PRI moved is 579 5439.

25 August 1998
Kapiti Internet install a second 128K DDS to KC. This connects their second ISP operation in Levin which had previously used a 64K DDS to the Kapiti site.

24 August 1998
There were two new ISDN connections to KC in Auckland today. The first is a centrex ISDN to Webmasters, the second an ISDN to Agility Systems which will be moved to KC's centrex group in the next few weeks.

17 August 1998
Today there are some major changes in local traffic routing for KC.
From the 2meg link between KC and ICONZ, KC is now seeing local routing to the Internet Exchange at Waikato University. This uses a 1.5mbit link between Iconz and the University.
This routing is managed using BGP. Routing to XTRA will be using a 256K link between ICONZ and XTRA, this is expected to increase to a 2meg link in the near future.
This change has removed all national traffic from KC's link to Telstra and frees up additional bandwidth for international traffic.

A new 512K link to Telecom for international traffic will be coming online in the next few days. This link is to supplement the international throughput via Telstra who are currently installing new circuits directly from NZ to USA..

14 August 1998
This afternoon Meridian Internet moved from a Centrex ISDN connection to KC at Glen Eden to Telecom via DDS. This brings to an end KC connecting flat rate ISPs in Auckland. Since Meridian went flat rate in February this year the relationship with them over internet connection charges had deteriorated.

13 August 1998
Premier Print connected to KC today via Centrex ISDN. This is the 43rd Centrex connection in the Auckland CBD to KC, and the 67th ISDN connection to KC for internet services.

6 August 1998
A new Centrex Primary rate ISDN was installed today at Glen Eden, Auckland PlaNet, where KC will be providing Centrex ISDN services to the Glen Eden exchange area. Already there three Centrex ISDN connections temporarily using ISDN channels in one of PlaNet's modem servers plus a Basic Rate ISDN. Two more companies are in the process of arranging connections to this Centrex ISDN. This new PRI will connect to a Cisco 4000M router.

5 August 1998
Rotorua PlaNet, a new ISP in Rotorua connected with a 64K DDS to KC's stacked wideband DDS in Hamilton. Other new connections to KC confirmed in the first few days of this month include three Centrex ISDN and two new MDDS.

4 August 1998
A second AC power supply was installed in KC's Cisco 7507 router today, This had just arrived from USA and now enables the 7507 to operate from fully redundant independant power supplies, one connected to mains AC supply and the other to AC produced by an inverter connected to a storage battery array. This now means that the 7507 and Cisco 5002 ethernet switch along with the stacked wideband NTUs are all operating from dual AC power sources and this should guarantee power failsafe operation.
An environmental monitoring system, included in the 7507, provides via SMTP regular reports of power requirements and power stability and switching to one or other AC power source is fully automated.

2 August 1998
A new Megalink connection was commissioned today between KCCS and KAON Technologies at Newmarket. This link will service the radio connections and DDS links at KAON. These were using channels from a Centrex PRI to connect to another Centrex PRI at KCCS.
One of KC's Cisco 3640 routers (replaced recently by a new Cisco 7507) was redeployed to Newmarket, replacing a Cisco 4000M router, which in turn will be redeployed to connect a new Centrex ISDN for KC being installed at Auckland PlaNet in Glen Eden, West Auckland.
KC's Centrex ISDN at KAON will now be used to provide additional centrex ISDN connections and may in the near future also provide K56flex/V90 modem access.

31 July 1998
Parex change from an ISDN connection to a 128K MDDS circuit today. This uses two timeslots in one of KC's stacked wideband DDS.

30 July 1998
Two new ISDN connection to KC this week, Glenfield College and a Centrex ISDN for KMAT Consulting. Both of these use Cisco 1003 ISDN routers supplied by KC. These are the 65th and 66th ISDN connections to KC.

26 July 1998
Yet a further upgrade to KC's 7507 router, with the installation of a new VIP2-50 controller and a dual port channelised E1 controller which will connect to KC's two main Centrex ISDN.

24 July 1998
Orix move from dial up ISDN connection to KC to a WaveLan radio connection into KC's WaveLan node at Newmarket. This is the fifth radio connection to KC in Newmarket with two more in the planning stage.

20 July 1998
Netbyte move to a 256K DDS link today. This new link replaces a Centrex ISDN connection to KC and was necessary as the 128K ISDN was becoming staurated at certain times during the business day.

15 July 1998
Glidepath in Kelston connected to KC via ISDN today. This ISDN will be moving to Centrex ISDN in the near future.

13 July 1998
A further upgrade to KC's Cisco 7507 router was installed today, a third VIP2-40 controller with two more channelised E1 ports and a four port serial controller. This has now enabled the second Cisco 3640 at KC to be disconnected as its stacked wideband DDS services and MDDS serial connections are moved to the 7507.

8 July 1998
NZNET increase their link bandwidth to KC to 384K today, they are now using six channels into a stacked wideband DDS at KC.
Telecom continue to work on trying to isolate the cause of carrier transitions on two of KC's Megalink connections. Again there were several link outages in the 2meg circuit to Telstra. Initial explanations for these outages are thought to be weather related as they have become more frequent during the present very wet stormy weather (which has also led to several power outages in areas of Auckland)

7 July 1998
A series of alarms on KC 2meg link to Telstra have led to several link outages today of up to 10 minutes. Telecom have been working on this fault today and are replacing part of the circuit in an effort to isolate the fault. Further brief outages are expected today and over the next two days as link testing proceeds.

3 July 1998
Late this afternoon a 30 minutes outage occured in KC's 2meg circuit to Telstra. A fault logged with Telecom was not actioned as the link returned before anyone was able to start investigating the outage.
Two new controllers for the Cisco 7507 arrived today, however further changeovers to the 7507 are being postponed until the situation with the link to Telstra is monitored over the coming weekend.

26 June 1998
Further channelised E1 controllers were added to the Cisco 7507 today and now two of KC's stacked wideband DDS and two Centrex PRI are moved to the 7507. This has allowed one of the 3640 routers to be made available for the Newmarket end of a new Megalink service between KC and KAON Technologies at Newmarket.
A further PRI and another stacked wideband DDS still use a Cisco 3640 router at KC. This will also be decommisioned when further interface processors for the 7505 arrive early next month.

22 June 1998
Over this weekend a new Cisco 7507 router was installed at KC. Initially it will only provide connections to two Megalink services, one to Telstra and one to Iconz.

18 June 1998
A radio link to RaceO is installed and tested today. This is the fourth connection via radio to KC in Newmarket using WaveLan equipment.

17 June 1998
All of KC's Primary Rate ISDN are working normally from about 6am this morning. A Telecom data technician reset some more of the PRI switch at the Central Auckland, Mayoral Drive exchange just after 5am.

16 June 1998
A major failure at Telecom's Mayoral Drive exchange has taken out three of KC's Primary rate ISDN circuits from just before midday today. As of 9pm tonight they are still not working properly. Repeated calls to Telecom result in a message that the faults are being worked on. No time for repair completion has been given.
A radio link was installed and tested to Cashlink this morning. This is replacing a 64K MDDS link to KC that was installed last month. The radio link connects to KC's radio system in Newmarket.

12 June 1998
Intouch Systems upgraded their existing 48K MDDS link to KC to a new 128K MDDS today.
An interface processor card (VIP2-40) for the Cisco 7507 router was ordered today from USA. This is part of the planned change to replace KC's 4500 and 3640 routers with a new Cisco 7507 system.

10 June 1998
2Day Internet upgraded from a 64K MDDS to a 128K MDDS to KC today.

8 June 1998
Two new business connections to KC today, one ISDN and one 64K MDDS. These are both to companies in the financial sector who are implementing VLANs. The ISDN connection is temporary and will be replaced with a radio link (WaveLan) in the next few weeks.

1 June 1998
A new Cisco 7507 router with G703/G704 and Channelised E1 interface ports was ordered for KC today. The plan to upgrade KC to use Cisco 7500 series routing equipment has been brought forward from August/September due to the need for extra 2meg ports for new Megalink services at KCCS.

31 May 1998
After nine months in business the Hive closed today as a result of a billing dispute with Telecom over ISDN services. Connected to KC via Centrex ISDN, they provided connections to several companies and an ISP. These have all relocated and arranged alternate internet connections.

28 May 1998
Two more companies in Newmarket currently connecting to KC via MDDS and ISDN have started the process of moving to use short range radio links to KC. Orix and Cashlink should have new connection operating within a few days.
A new radio connection to RaceCo is also expected to complete installation next week.

19 May 1998
Computer and Network Solutions (CNS) changed from an ISDN connection to KC to a 64K MDDS today. This connects to one of KC's stacked wideband DDS using a 3Comm router at CNS. The change had become necessary due to the increasing cost of ISDN charges as CNS's internet business increased over the last six months. CNS are am internet consultant who have managed the installation of several other customer installations to KC.

KC's main usenet newsfeed from InternetMCI (in USA) has been broken for several days. News resumed just before midnight and will take a few days to return to normal.

18 May 1998
The WaveLan radio connection to Digital Post was commissioned today. This link is between KC's node in Newmarket, Auckland to Manakau Road in Newmarket. The actual distance is about 600 metres so link quality is excellent and link speed/reliability is quite high.
There was a few days delay in getting antennae erected, bad weather the main cause, but by the end of last week the KC end of the link was installed.
Work is now processing in connecting three other sites in the immediate area, all within 100 to 200 metres of KC's antennae.
KC's Primary rate ISDN at Newmarket is now being replaced by a Megalink DDS (2Mbits/second), this will provide internet bandwidth to the existing connections and an expected five new connections.

16 May 1998
Kiataia Training Centre in Northland disconnected from KC this weekend. They have moved to Voyager who offered a flat rate 64k connection service, this move was planned a month ago.

14 May 1998
Heaney and Co. solicitors, connected to KC today via Centrex ISDN

8 May 1998
A new radio link from KC's Newmarket location to Digital Post was partially installed today. This is a short range (< 1Km) link which should be commissioned by the end of this week. This is the first of two, possibly four radio connections in the Newmarket area.

7 May 1998
A new 64K MDDS link to Cashlink was installed and connected to KC today and a dial up ISDN link to Comphrensive Health was also set up and connected.

6 May 1998
A 256K DDS link to Waikato University was re-installed and connected today to provide a local link to the NZIX while several new local links are waiting for Telecom to install in Auckland.

24 April 1998
Today a new 2Mbit link between KC and Iconz was installed and commissioned.
This fast data link has been on order from Telecom since last year but due to many delays the installation is only completed now. This link replaces a Centrex ISDN (128K) link and will be used to provide much improved local connectivity as well as faster distribution of usenet news.
This is the first of three planned local links from KC with a possible two more using Centrex ISDN connections.

21 April 1998
Maxtel Software Ltd, Glen Eden, Auckland connected to KC via ISDN today.
This will be the third isdn which will connect into a new Centrex ISDN PRI from Glen Eden exchange.

14 April 1998
A major reorganisation of KC's hardware and data links took place over the easter weekend.
A new upgrade to the firmware and DSP software in the Microcom digital modems in KC's Cisco 5200 modem server has resulted in a much improved service on the K56flex modems. Many reported problems where certain makes/modems of modem would not connect have now been resolved.
(especially Motorola k56 and Zoom K56 modems)
The previous connect success rate of 94% has increased to over 99%. KC's main dial in services are now via two Primary Rate ISDN connected to Ellerslie exchange. Both these PRI connect to the CIsco 5200 providing sixty K56 modems.
The Cisco 5200 routers at PlaNet Auckland, North Shore PlaNet, Bay of Plenty Internet and Blenheim PlaNet were also upgraded with this software

A backup dial in service with 12 MICA modem is available via a digital modem card installed in one of KC's Cisco 3640 routers. This uses a PRI connected to Mayoral Drive exchange.
The three stacked wideband DDS, two Centrex PRI and two 2meg PDL circuits at KC were redistributed bewteen a Cisco 4500 and two Cisco 3640 routers.

7 April 1998
Datapulse connect today to KCCS via 64K DDS into one of KC's stacked wideband DDS. This is the first of five new DDS connections and DDS speed upgrades expected this month.
Kapiti PlaNet connect directly to KC today. This is an upgrade to 128K from their present 64K internet link to Napier.

27 March 1998
A new Cisco 3640 router was installed today at KCCS. This is the second 3640 and will be providing ports for a new Primary Rate ISDN and a new stacked wideband DDS service.

20 March 1998
MPA connected to KC today via Centrex ISDN, this is the fourth new ISDN connection to KC this month with another two expected before the end of March.

18 March 1998
For most of this week two of KC's Primary rate ISDN circuits have been having intermittent problems with complete outages for periods up to 15 minutes. One was fixed yesterday and the other today as faulty cables and connections were replaced.

17 March 1998
Today a new stacked wideband DDS service was ordered from Clear. KC already has three SWDDS circuits from Telecom and these connect just over fourty DDS circuits to customer sites. Over the last three months there have been several enquiries from Clear customers who would like to user Clear DDS services to conneect to KC.
Of the ninety 64K channels (timeslots) in the three Telecom SWDDS, sixty-seven are allocated to customer DDS circuits and other KCCS circuits to Hamilton, Tauranga, Napier and Blenheim.
Of the thirty channels in the Clear SWDDS, six are already allocated, four to an existing ISP connection and one each to two new KC customers.
Installation is expected by early to mid April.
Telstra have indicated that they will soon be in a position to offer Primary Rate ISDN services. When this is available KC willmove at least one of the existing four PRI to Telstra.

12 March 1998
Chadwick Healthcare, Tauranga, connect to Bopis via ISDN today.

6 March 1998
CyberTech connect to KCCS via Centrex ISDN today. CyberTech who were sharing an ISDN connection to KC with Orion Systems have now moved offices and taken up their own Centrex ISDN connection to KC.

2 March 1998
Several more companies connecting to KC have moved web and other servers to KC's network as the power problems in the CBD continue. Recent statements by Mercury Power that it could be up to 8 weeks before full power is restored has seen many more enquires to KC to provide internet connections.

21 February 1998
Major power outages in Auckland Central Business District.
With the recent failure of Mercury Energy's power cables to the CBD, many of KC's business customers are having power blackouts. These are expected to continue all of next week (to 28 February 1998).
About twenty-five ISDN and DDS connections to KC are affected.
ALready some web servers have been relocated to the KC network and PPP dial up connections have been set up so that internet related work can continue.

17 February 1998
All of KC's 2 meg circuits were disconnected today and reconnected over a period of almost 4 hours between 11pm to 3pm.
Most circuits were unavailable for no more than 30 minutes although the 2meg circuit to Telstra was offline for near two hours.
Telecom were replacing a section of cable.

13 February 1998
KC's part owned system mlp.planet.gen.nz was moved to a new location in Blenheim today. At the same time a new Primary rate ISDN was installed with 16 channels enabled. This PRI connects to a Cisco 5200 modem server with 12 K56flex modems. Two of the previous nine analogue lines/modems are retained to provide a total of fourteen dial in lines.

6 February 1998
Franklin ISP - The Packing Shed, upgraded their DDS link to KC from 64K to 128k today. The 64K was nearing saturation over the last few months and with increasing usenet news loads to the upgrade to 128K was necessary.

5 February 1998
KC's third Primary Rate ISDN for customer dial up services was connected to another Cisco 5200 today and commissioned. This modem server contains 24 Microcom V34 modems (33k6) and these are available via 5796209. The other two dial in PRI (3594740 and 5395439) are also connected to a Cisco 5200 with 48 K56flex modems - the other 12 channels are reserved for ISDN connections.

2 February 1998
Marlborough PlaNet ISP, acquired last November by KCCS and Auckland PlaNet is now in the process of upgrading dial in services to use a Primary Rate ISDN and Cisco as5200 modem server.
At the same time as Mlb PlaNet is moving premises, Telecom have installed a PRI to replace the nine dial up phone lines. This will initially provide twelve ISDN channels that will answer either digital ISDN calls or analogue calls using K56flex modems (Microcom K56 MNP10).

20 January 1998
Implemented and tested today were a set of spam=relay blocking filters in the ruleset for KC's sendmail (8.8.8)
Although many spam originating sites are blocked using access lists in KC's main routers (that connect to international and local sites) the spammers keep appearing from new ip addresses as quickly as they can be blocked.
This next stage in the fight against spam now prevents KC's mailer from being used as a relay site for spam. There are plans over the next few weeks to get sendmail (and smail) on some of the ISP and business sites connecting to KC, upgraded to recent versions of sendmail and smail that support anti-spam measures.

19 January 1998
Walker Co-Partnership, Architects, connect today to KC via Centrex ISDN

14 January 1998
After one year of a 'temporary' internet connection to KCCS, the Masterton PlaNet ISP has now connected to Xtra/Netway in Wellington for internet services. Starting with a 64K dds connection to Napier, they then moved to a frame relay connection to KC is Auckland.

11 January 1998
Yesterday the final changeover of KC from a Sun Sparc 4-110 system to an Axil UltraSparc 200Mhz system took place.
The kcbbs system is now running on the UltraSparc. Apart from the hardware change the operating system changed from SunOS 4.1.4 (Solaris 1) to Solaris 2.5.1. This change required most of the system programs to be recompiled for Solaris 2, the latest available versions of major programs such as sendmail, uucp (Taylor), bind, elm, pine, tin, nn, gcc, plus editors and shells.
Many other support programs were also updated and additional utilities to improve general security, anti-spamming measures and accounting procedures.

8 January 1998
The first of the two new Primary Rate ISDN circuits installed late last month was commissioned today. This is connecting to a Cisco as5200 providing another 30 dial in lines to KC.
These two new PRI are connected to Ellerslie exchange and (I am told by Telecom) this is much less loaded and has never yet reported to users the infamous 'busy due to overloading' message.

28 December 1997
A major power outage occured at KC about 11pm 27th December and lasted until midday today. Apparently a power transformer melted somewhere in the power feed to the West Auckland area causing a surge that took out the junction boxes atop power poles to many homes and businesses in the area.
KC was one of the unfortunate locations that suffered an exploding junction box and hence no mains power.
All of KC's main routers, ntus, modem server and dns system stayed alive as they are connected to the battery backup system. The news server, web cache server and a modem rack all remained offline untl the mains power was restored.

The last new connection of 1997 was completed today with the commissioning of a 64K MDDS link from a school to KC.

26 December 1997
In the last two weeks of 1997 there have been eight new connection enquiries, with two connecting just before Christmas and at least three more expected in the first week of January. Of these, four are via ISDN (two Centrex), three are DDS and one a leased line connection. All are dependant on Telecom installations.

17 December 1997
A 64K DDS was installed today from wn.planet to KC in Auckland. wn.planet were connected to Napier and have moved temporarily with a direct DDS to Auckland until KC's new Megalink service to Wellington is installed early next year.

Telecom install the first of two new Primary Rate ISDN at KCCS. This PRI will provide thirty more Centrex ISDN channels for business connections to the KC network.
The first of five new Centrex ISDN will connect to this new PRI in early January.

16 December 1997
The first major move away from Waikato University was completed today with DDS circuits terminating in the stacked wideband DDS - SWA/KCHN being moved directly to KCCS' SWA circuits in Auckland.
This move involved the 256K DDS to Napier, a 128K DDS to Bopis and two 64K DDS, one to Cambridge and one to Tauranga. The DDS between KC in Auckland and the University was reduced to 512K and will be further reduced to 256k then 128k as other DDS and radio connections are moved.
The circuit to Waikato University should be shutdown by mid January 1998.

15 December 1997
Lanscape upgraded their 48K MDDS to KC to a 64K DDS connecting to a timeslot in one of KC's stacked wideband circuits. Near all of the exiting 48K MDDS to KC have now upgraded to either 64K or 128K dds, taking advantage of the reduced cost of a 64k DDS because the KC end of the DDS terminates in stacked wideband.

11 December 1997
Early December is becoming a very busy period for the KCCS network with a major redesign of the network outside of Auckland. In a major change at Hamilton KCCS is moving out of Waikato University to a new location in central Hamilton. This has been prompted by a change in business conditions in dealing with the University and will mean that KC will no longer use the University a its main access point for local traffic to other NZ sites. This brings to an end nearly four years of KCCS using the NZ Internet Exchange (NZIX).
Four radio connections to KCCS's router in the University will now be redirected to the central Hamilton location, the stacked wideband DDS will also be moved to this new location automatically taking with it the 768K DDS to KCCS in Auckland, the 256K DDS link to Napier and four other 64K and 128K dds links to Tauranga, Rotoroua and Hamilton.

KCCS will now be using the connection to Telstra for local traffic as well as the 128K ISDN link to Iconz. The link is soon to be upgraded to a 2meg circuit so that KCCS, Iconz and Iprolink will have a 2meg interconnect in Auckland for exchange of Usenet news and other local traffic. Already local traffic to other Telstra connected sites is directed to Telstra.
Other short term plans include a 1Mbit link between KCCS in Auckland and Wellington and a Centrex Primary Rate ISDN in Hamilton for business ISDN connections.

4 December 1997
A new isdn connection to KCCS today, from Market Pulse Ltd, using a Cisco 1003 router to connect to one of KC's Pri ISDN.
Lan1 moved today to use Ihug for ISDN services.

28 November 1997
Igrin connected to Xtra for internet services today.
Igrin had been connected to KC since mid 1996 and has steadily grown over the last 18 months with data link bandwidth increases from 64k to 256K.
With a need for more bandwidth Igrin has connected via a 320K DDS to Xtra which uses Netway for internet services.

27 November 1997
The DDS link to Napier was upgraded to 256K this morning.
A recently installed PRI ISDN at Bopis was brought into service today, connecting to a Cisco as5200 modem server with 24 K56flex modems. This is one in a series of expansions planned for Bopis.

17 November 1997
KC's main data link to Telstra was upgraded to just over 1.5Mbits/second today. This increase is to provide additional international bandwidth for nine new business customers connecting via DDS and ISDN to KC for Internet services.
Further planned increases in bandwidth for this link to 2Mbits/second should occur from December through to March next year as demand continues to rise for international bandwidth at KC.
New MDDS connection - MWK Ltd changed today from a dial up ISDN link to KC to a 64K MDDS connecting into KC's stacked wideband DDS.
A new ISDN connection was commissioned yesterday from MPL connecting to KC via a Zyxel router.

13 November 1997
A new ISDN link to Orix was tested and commissioned today. Orix use a Cisco 1003 ISDN router.

12 November 1997
Repeated power outages this morning (due to stormy weather) and a major blackout about 5am took out some of KC's services for an hour or so. Most seriously effected was a Cisco 2522 multiport router that failed to restart, its power supply was dead and had to be replaced. This took out several 48K MDDS connections into KC between 6am and 10am. At 8:45am a replacement power unit was obtained and the 2522 was available again just after 9:20am.
KC's core routers, a Cisco 4500 and 3640, and ethernet switch were not effected as they connect permanently to a UPS.

8 November 1997
Photo Warehouse connect to KC today via ISDN using a Cisco 1003 ISDN router provided by KC.

7 November 1997
In the first of two upgrades to KC's data link from Auckland to Hamilton an extra four 64k channels were added to take the link from 512K to 768Kbits/second. The next upgrade to 1Mbit is planned for mid-November and requires redeploying several customer DDS connections to a new stacked wideband DDS being installed in the next week.
This bandwidth increase has become necessary as local traffic volumes (ie to and from NZ internet sites) has substantially increased over the last three months and international traffic from KC, via KC's Telstra connection, to Tauranga (128K), Napier (256k) and several 64K connections, have all steadily increased this year.
This link to NZIX at Waikato provides some 80% of KC's NZ internet bandwidth. Further expansion of the 128K ISDN link to ICONZ (and from there to other ISPs) is planned for the near future with a 2Mbit Megalink being the most likely connection.

5 November 1997
ATL connected to KC today via dial up ISDN using a Zyxel isdn router.

2 November 1997
The Cisco 2800 ethernet switch at KC was replaced this morning by a new Cisco 5002 switch. The 5002 is configured with fourteen ethernet ports, two 100baseT ports and twelve auto selecting 10baseT/100baseT ports.
This is the final step in upgrading all of KC's existing core network routers and servers to fast ethernet. There is now only the Cisco 5200 modem server on a 10baseT switched port, this server will be replaced in January 1998 by a Cisco 5300 server that has a fast ethernet network port.

29 October 1997
Today, NZNET increase their dds connection to KC to 256Kbits/second.

25 October 1997
Today, KC's news server was offline for several periods of about 20 minutes to allow upgrades to the server. These included extra main memory from 128Megs to 256Megs then a later addition of another 128Megs to give 384Megs in total. An additional 4.3gig wide scsi disk drive and a 12X CDrom drive were next installed and the Raid array adjusted to include the new disk capacity. Finally a new CPU card, a 250Mhz UltraSparc2 replaced a 200Mhz UltraSparc1 cpu.
The memory and disk additions were necessary to allow the news server to keep up with the continuing growth in usenet news volumes. The CPU change is to allow the replaced 200Mhz cpu to become the second cpu in a new Axil UltraSparc system recently acquired to replace the Sun Sparc 4 currently used as kcbbs.gen.nz

23 October 1997
KC in conjunction with Auckland PlaNet has acquired Marlborough PlaNet, an internet service provider in Blenheim. This ISP has recently come up for sale as its owner and founder, Les Gibbs, moved to Greymouth several weeks ago.
This is an establised ISP with a 64K DDS connection directly to KC in Auckland.
Immediate plans are to extend the number of dial in lines and upgrade the existing computer equipment and Cisco router.
Marlborough PlaNet

22 October 1997
Two exiting MDDS connections upgrade from 48K MDDS to 64/128K MDSS Installed and commissioned today were an upgrade to Kiwiplan's exiting 48K MDDS to a new 128K MDDS connected to KC's stacked wideband servive, and for Stevenson's an upgrade from 48K MDDS to 64K MDDS, again connected into KC's stacked wideband service.
A Centrex BRI installed last week to ESP was commissioned today. This uses a Cisco 765 router to connect to KC's PRI Centrex ISDN.

17 October 1997
Computer and Network Solutions Ltd connected via ISDN today using a Cisco 1003 router supplied by KC. The decision to use a 1003 was made after near two months of trying to get a Zyxel ISDN router to work dialback to KC's PRI.

16 October 1997
Two new 64K MDDS connections to KC are commissioned today.
A 64K MDDS to Advanced Management Systems, Takapuna, installed by Telecom earlier this week, was commissioned today. This uses a Cisco 2503 router supplied by KC.
The second 64K MDDS connects to Nutricia Ltd, Mt Wellington, and uses a Cisco 1601 router.
Both of these links each connect to a 64K timeslot in KC's second stacked Wideband DDS.

10 October 1997
KC's Cisco 5200 modem server was upgraded to K56Flex modems this morning. Initial tests showed no major problems and normal connections for PPP and other logins via this modem server.

8 October 1997
A Centrex ISDN connection to Alpha Publishing was commissioned today and this connects into one of KC's Centrex PRIs.
A 64K DDS link to Orewa, for NZ Product Link (aka North Shore PlaNet), was commissioned tonight, this uses a channel in KC's second stacked wideband DDS. This is NS PlaNet's second DDS to KC, the first being a 128k MDDS to their main site in Devenport.

6 October 1997
A Centrex ISDN connection was installed at Expert Solutions Providers Ltd (ESP) today although it will not be setup for connection to KC until early next week.

Telstra have now reported that the international link to Australia is now fully repaired and all congestion over the circuits is now gone.
The fault was due to the main tasman link being damaged some 15Km off the coast of Sydney after being caught by a trawler. It has taken five days for a kink in the cable to be repaired.

3 October 1997
International services via Telstra have been slower than usual over the last few days while more permanent repairs are made to data links in Australia. Link congestion was evident for several hours yesterday and today and Telstra expect repairs to be completed today and normal bandwidth become available again.

1 October 1997
A failure in the data link from Telstra Auckland to Telstra Sydney about 8am this morning has resulted in variable international internet access today. Several periods this morning had no connectivity past Telstra Auckland then from 10:45 am to 2:30pm the link was operational again, although performance was low. A further half hour outage to 3pm then back to normal service again after that.
Telstra explained the outage as due to a fault in a digital bearer some 90km outside Sydney.

26 September 1997
The testing of the Cisco 5300 modem server finished today. The modems proved only about 80% successful in connecting calls so testing was stopped today and a Cisco 5200 reconnected to the PRI. The 5200's Microcom modems have an over 98% success rate at connecting incoming modem calls.
The Microcom K56flex modem cards are now expected to be available on 6 October and the 5200 should be upgraded shortly after that.

24 September 1997
Another new 64K MDDS connection was ordered today, to Advanced Management Systems in Takapuna. A new ISDN connection to Parex Industries and another to a school were ordered today.

19 September 1997
New connections to KC, two new 64K MDDS connections to KC in Auckland confirmed today, a second link for North Shore PlaNet who are opening a POP in Oraki and Nutricia Ltd, a food manufacturer at Mt Wellington.
These will bothe be connected to timeslots in KC's second stacked wideband DDS.

A Centrex ISDN was installed today to OMP Ltd and three more Centrex ISDN connections are in the installation process. OMP took delivery of a Cisco 1003 ISDN router today so that the Centrex ISDN link could be commissioned over the coming weekend.

Kaon Technolgies completed their move of several DDS connections to their new offices in Newmarket (from Victoria St in the city centre), their 128K MDDS is now disconnected and KC's Primary Rate ISDN at Newmarket will be providing a network connection for Kaon with up to 256k bandwidth.

Today a new Cisco as5300 modem server was obtained from Cisco Auckland for testing. Over this weekend the PRI connected to the as5200 server will be moved to the as5300.
This new server will be used until the K56Flex modem cards arrive for the as5200 server, these are expected within the next two weeks. When the as5300 becomes available one will be obtained to manage the two stacked wideband DDS and the two PRI ISDN at KC.

14 September 1997
Most of KC's main services were moved today from the kcbbs.gen.nz Sun Sparc 4 system to the new Axil Ultra 200E. The Axil now has a 2gig and a 4gig barracuda wide scsi disk drives that will provide additional space for KC's expanding ftp files and web pages. The Axil should take over completely from the Sun SS4 before the end of September.
The SS4 will be moving to bopis.

11 September 1997
Netbyte reconnect to KC today.
Netbyte, who moved from KC in February this year to Iprolink, have now reconnected to KC after problems with their ISDN connection to Iprolink could not be resolved.

8 September 1997
Two new Centrex ISDN connections to KC today.
Centrex ISDN business connection enquiries continue to arrive at KC almost every day. With five pending new connections, all awaiting installation of BRI from Telecom, ISDN is the fasted growing area of internet connections for KC. Although it looked as if TalNET and their short range radio connections would offer a low cost and faster service than ISDN, it appears the recent news reports of TalNET's parent company ceasing trading has encouraged some existing TalNET customers to look again at Centrex ISDN.
At least one company moving from a TalNET ank to a new ISDN connection to KC has cited technical difficulties with their TalNET link where IP routing issues have not been solved.

3 September 1997
A small increase in international bandwidth is added to KC's overall bandwidth thois morning. An additional 128K was made available as private bandwidth for a new DDS customer who required guaranteed international access.
KC's new Cisco 5002 ethernet switch is replacing the Cisco 2800 switch this week. This is the last item of hardware for the planned upgrade of KC's local ethernet to switched 100baseT between all network devices
The routers in use at KC, a Cisco 4500 and Cisco 3640, and the Sun servers all have 100baseT interfaces.

1 September 1997
Enquiries in August to KC in Auckland have seen a significant increase in the number of new ISDN connections, With the new Centrex Primary Rate ISDN at Newmarket, KC has been able to connect five new Centrex BRI and two non-Centrex in Auckland during August. Further enquiries for Centrex ISDN during August have a further three ISDN installations underway which should complete during September.
The most surprising development has been the surge of interest in new ISDN business connections in Tauranga. For near six months there has only been one ISDN BRI connection to Bopis from The Zones, a computer dealer in Tauranga.
However, in August there have been seven enquiries for new connections, six ISDN and one DDS. Of the ISDNs two have already connected and a further three are in the process of installing BRI and acquiring routers.
It also seems that Bopis will install a WaveLan radio connection, possibly connecting to one of more City Centre businesses.

August has also seen the largest number of new individual user accounts on KC. New users are normally only accepted when recommended by existing users and since KC offers no installation, training or ongoing helpdesk facilities there are normally very few new users each month. There have been between 300 and 400 users since 1993 with an average of 330.
It is not known why an additional 27 new users have joined KC in August although several computer 'consultants' now arrange connections to KC while providing support for their clients.

KC's involvment with PlaNet in a new ISP at Warkworth has been very pleasing as within 2 months some thirty users have joined up. It appears that offering a local ISP operation at Warkworth is attracting users from Xtra and other national ISPs.

29 August 1997
Another ISDN connection in Tauranga from a local school, there are now three ISDN connections and a further three going through the process of having BRI installed to Bopis in Tauranga.
A Primary Rate ISDN is now being installed by Telecom, delays in starting this installation were due to the lack of suitable cables in Spring Street, a new cable is the first stage of the PRI installation.
A Cisco as5200 modem server with 24 56K modems is ready for Bopis, in meantime further Basic Rate ISDN will be installed as needed.
This as5200 will replace a Cisco 4000M temporarily installed at Bopis which connects a DDS link to Hamilton and two BRI.

27 August 1997
New computer for KC, An Axil 200E Ultrasparc system was delivered this week from BCL. This will replace KC's current Sparc 4 110 (Sparcserver 1000) system which is becoming too loaded.
The new Ultra will host KC's web pages and provide all the existing facilities for the KC Network currently handled by the SS4.

25 August 1997
KC experienced its worst failure of DDS services today. Just before 2pm this afternoon the 2meg DDS to Telstra and the stacked wideband DDS to Waikato both failed. When Telstra and Telecom were contacted the SWDDS to Waikato was recovered within 15 minutes but the 2meg link took near 5 hours for the fault to be found and corrected. Then within minutes of the link to Telstra coming up the SWDDS to Waikato failed again. This took a further hour to repair and included an after hours callout to Waikato University to reset KC's Cisco 3620 router.
The faults were traced to a switch patch faulty cable at Mayoral Drive exchange in Auckland. Telecom have now promised a complete investigation to discover why the fault occured and why it took so long to locate and repair.

This episode has highlighted the futility of having KC's main data link and the backup link as Telecom DDS. Never before have both links been down at the same time causing complete disconnection from the internet.
Within the last few weeks KC has been changing to BGP routing management to facilitate automatic fallback to use alternate routing in the event of link failure. Although this is not yet fully installed it is doubtful that anything could have been achieved while both links were out..

Telstra will be moving KC's data link to use a radio modem once the fibre connection between Telstra Auckland's internet exchange (in the Stock Exchange building) and the Skytower is installed. Other connections via Primary Rate ISDN circuits will also be looked at as a temporary data connection if all else fails.

22 August 1997
Two new Centrex isdn connections to KC have been installed this week, one to Aim Direct via a Borderware Firewall system and the other to Networx who provide internet connection services.

20 August 1997
Midland Internet in Hamilton connect to KC via a 64K link. This is to provide a connection for some of their dial up customers and a backup service although most of Midland's traffic still uses their link to Netway.

15 August 1997
The Cisco 2503 router at Bopis in Tauranga was replaced today by a Cisco 4000M router. This upgrade is to allow additional Basic Rate ISDN connections, there is an 8 port BRI interface controller installed in the 4000M. A second BRI was installed by Telecom this week and a third BRI is likely to be installed in early September. These are needed to connect business ISDN until Telecom are able to provision a Primary Rate ISDN at Bopis.

8 August 1997
The DDS link to BOPIS in Tauranga was upgraded today to 128K from 64K.
This link connects to KC's stacked wideband DDS at Waikato University, Hamilton. This upgrade is part of a planned series of changes that will see hardware and router changes at BOPIS.
New commercial customers at Bopis connecting with dial up ISDN and with radio (Wavelan) connections have required this additional bandwidth.

5 August 1997
A 64K DDS to Kiataia was commissioned today. This had been moved from a business in Kaitaia to Kaitaia Training Centre to provide internet connectivity for the centre. There are now two internet nodes in Kaitaia, the first installed there was a point-of-presence for Igrin, the Whangarei based ISP, who have a terminal server and modems based in the local hospital.

4 August 1997
KC's primary internet link via Telstra was upgraded to 1152K today. This provides the KC network with four main internet connections - 1152k to Telstra, 512K to NZIX, 256K to BOTHG and 128K to ICONZ. Most international traffic uses the Telstra link, the 256K international circuit is a backup and the 512K NZIX and 128K ICONZ link distribute national and local traffic.

1 August 1997
KC's Centrex Primary Rate ISDN at Newmarket was commissioned today. A Cisco 4500M router is connected to this PRI and this connects via ethernet to KAON Technologies ethernet LAN.
The PRI will be used to provide a 256K to 384K internet connection to KAON and other companies in the Newmarket area.

24 July 1997
A 64K MDDS was installed to Transdata at Auckland Airport to replace an existing 9k6 MDDS. This DDS connects to KC's new stacked wideband DDS.

A new Cisco as5200 modem server was delivered to day to KC, this is to be installed in Tauranga at BOPIS.

22 July 1997
Routing problems. Throught last weekend and to early this morning there are still intermittent routing problems occuring. The last was just after 1am this morning when routing disappeared for about 15 minutes and all traffic ended at an MCI router in USA.

A fast ethernet (100Mb/sec) controller was delivered today for KC's 3640 and installed/tested this afternoon. This was the last of KC's routers waiting for a fast ethernet interface. An 8 port fast ethernet hub card in KC's Cisco 2800 ethernet switch is providing fast ethernet ports until the new Cisco 5002 switch arrives. This is now expected in early September.

21 July 1997
This month, July, is the last month Acorn Computers connects to KC for Internet Services. The recent decision by Acorn UK to appoint product distributors instead of maintaining their own Acorn presence in overseas countries will mean the closing of Acorn Computers in Newmarket, Auckland at the end of July. Acorn have connected to KC since 1991, initially by dial up UUCP and from January 1994 via a 48Kbit MDDS link.
Kaon Technologies, who also connect to KC, will be moving into the Acorn offices in Newmarket and KC will be taking over an installed but unused Primary rate ISDN in these offices, using this to provide a 256K link to KC in west Auckland and to provide connection for additional Centrex ISDN services.

20 July 1997
A 90 minute power black out over a large area of Auckland took out some of KC's systems and services today. Starting just after 6pm, KC's backup power system took over and services continued for nearly an hour. After this the various systems progessively shut down leaving only the ethernet switch, Cisco 4500 and 3640 routers on line to provide uninterrupted services on KC's two stacked wideband DDS and the Centrex ISDN.

Other DDS connections on 48K and 9k6 DDS closed down and a frame relay service also closed. Most of these 48K DDS are each already planned to move to a 64K channel in KC's new stacked wideband DDS. The frame relay atil circuit to KC that uses a 64K MDDS to Netway in Auckland will also be moved to a 64K channel. A major reason for this move is to provide continued DDS connection at KC in the event of power outages.

19 July 1997
Problems continue with periods of total routing failure to many sites in USA. Today there were two periods of approximately 15 minutes when no USA site could be contacted. Traceroute showed that there was nothing beyond Telstra Sydney's router. Faults have been logged with Telstra although it looks as though the InterNIC failure with root name servers could still be the real problem.

17 July 1997
Webmasters connect via radio to Waikato University. Webmasters become the fourth company to connect into KC's local radio LAN and Cisco router for Internet services at Waikato University.
Web Innovations, Tauranga, make a connection to KC's Internet LAN at Bopis, in Tauranga. This is the second dial up ISDN business connection to Bopis and two more are currently proceeding with ISDN installations for Internet connections to Bopis. These new connections will be using channels from the new Primary Rate ISDN at Bopis, installation is expected in mid August and will use a Cisco as5200 mode server to provide 24 ISDN/v34 dial up lines and six dedicated ISDN channels.

15 July 1997
Bopis today upgraded its DDS connection to 128K, this DDS connects to KC's stacked wideband dds at Waikato University.

11 July 1997
A new isdn connection to KCCS in Auckland from Creative Resource & Management was commissioned today. This uses an NT sewrver and ISDn modem to provide services to a MAC network.

10 July 1997
Another Primary Rate ISDN (PRI) was made available to KC today. This is located in Newmarket and is connected to the Mayoral Drive exchange. This PRI will be part of KC's Centrex ISDN with about twenty channels available for customer connections. It will connect to a Centrex PRI at KC to initially provide a 256K connection to KC, channels will be reserved to allow this to move up to 512K in the future. A Cisco 3620 router with E1 PRI interface will connect to this new PRI.

Two new ISDN connections from companies in Tauranga were confirmed today and will connect to existing BRI at the KC site in Tauranga. Plans for this site will see a Cisco AS5200 modem server,Primary Rate ISDN and a Sun Sparc4 installed there before the end of August 1997. The main data link from Tauranga to KC's stacked wideband DDS at Waikato University has just been increased to 128K and with these new ISDN connections will increase to 192k in the near future.

Two new Centrex ISDN connections were ordered from Telecom today. These will connect to Two companies in the Central Business District of Auckland and are expected to be commissioned before the the end of July.
One new 64K MDDS connection to South Auckland was also ordered today.

7 July 1997
North Shore PlaNet took delivery today of a new Cisco AS5200 modem server. This will be connecting to a new PRI and will replace the existing analogue lines at ns.planet. A new 128K MDDS link to KC will replace their existing 48K MDDS link and this will also connect to the AS5200, replacing a Spider ATTO router currently in use with the 48K MDDS.

5 July 1997
A new 64K DDS to Marlborough PlaNet at Blenhiem in the South Island was commissioned today. This used one of the three available timeslots in KC's first stacked wideband DDS. mlb.planet use a Cisco 1601 router and were previously connected to Wellington PlaNet. This move has become necessary due to the increasing traffic load mlb.planet was imposing on wn.planet who are connected vai a compressed 64K DDS to KC's node at Napier. Both PlaNet ISPs should now have significant better throughput.

3 July 1997
A new Cisco AS5200 modem server was installed at Auckland PlaNet today, initially with 24 modems available via a dial-up Primary Rate ISDN. This will soon be upgraded so that all 30 ISDN channels have modems available.
Another Cisco AS5200 arrived for North Shore PlaNet today and is being configured for installation in mid-July when ns.planet's PRI ISDN is installed. Initially this will have 24 33k6 modems.
The first circuit into KC's second stacked wideband DDS was installed this morning, a 64K DDS link. Three more DDS are expected to be installed in the next two weeks.

1 July 1997
Two new business customers for KC confirmed connections today, a 64K DDS to Kaitaia in Northland and a Centrex ISDN connection to Logical Methods Ltd. KC is supplying routers for both of these new connections.
During June 1997 there have been eighteen enquiries to KCCS about business connection either via DDS, ISDN or radio connection. Ten of these have now already installed connections to KCCS or are in the process of doing so and a further two are waiting on Telecom feasibility studies. Five enquiries have connected to other ISPs or are in the process of doing so, two because they are within short range radio distance with line-of-sight to their ISP.

Further stats for June show that KC's international connections were on average 72% loaded with inbound traffic, 24% loaded with outbound traffic and saturation on inbound was a total of 9 hours 22 minutes for the month.