About REANNZ

REANNZ (Research and Education Advanced Network New Zealand Ltd) is the Crown-owned company that owns and operates a high-speed, unrestricted broadband network for the New Zealand education, research and innovation communities - KAREN.

About REANNZ

REANNZ is an expert purchaser of networks and services. As a not-for-profit membership organisation, we work on behalf of our community for the good of our community, aggregating demand to procure the best and most cost effective networks and services from the market to meet their specialist needs.

For a quick snapshot about REANNZ - who we are, what we do and how we do it - experience the KAREN 102 - about REANNZ video. Narrated by Bill Choquette. You can download a PDF of the KAREN 102 presentation with helpful explanatory notes from our Presentations page. For further YouTube videos from us, visit our KARENmedia Channel.

Objectives

The objectives of REANNZ are to:

Operate in a financially sustainable manner and manage foreseeable upgrades and increases in network capacity through the accumulation of reserves
Run the company in such a way that it:

enables leading edge e-research
facilitates universal connectivity throughout the New Zealand and international research and education community
encourages broad participation by the research and education sector in New Zealand through accessible technology and reasonable pricing
connects research and education sector to the broader innovation community for pre-commercial, research and development based collaboration
facilitates participation by multiple telecommunications sector partners so as to ensure the greatest possible flexibility for ongoing evolution.

Endeavour to transfer the Crown's share in the company to users (for example, tertiary education institutes and Crown research institutes) within a reasonable timeframe.

Organisation form

REANNZ is a Crown-owned company, listed under schedule 4 of the Public Finance Act 1989 and incorporated under the Companies Act 1993. Its shareholders are the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Research, Science & Technology. Each shareholder holds 500 shares on behalf of the New Zealand public.

Although REANNZ is not a Crown Entity listed under the Crown Entities Act, it is the intent of the shareholders that it act in a manner consistent with the Crown Entities Act. REANNZ is subject to the Official Information Act.

Accountability

The functions and purpose of the company are contained in its Constitution and further augmented by its Statement of Intent.

Its performance is monitored by CCMAU, in conjunction with the Treasury. The Ministry of Research, Science & Technology maintains a policy oversight role on REANNZ's outcomes.

Working Groups

Comprising representatives from academia, science and information technology from across our membership, the KAREN Working Groups will ensure an agreed, community-owned way forward on the development of shared services on KAREN and for the evolution of KAREN's architecture. There are two Working Groups:

Updated 17 June 2010