Highlights first synced by [[readwise]] [[September 2nd, 2020]]

• Definition: Internet Transit is the business relationship whereby an Internet Service Provider provides (usually sells) access to the global Internet. (Location 292)
• Definition: An Internet Service Provider (ISP), also called a “Transit Provider,” is an entity that provides (usually sells) access to the Internet. (Location 297)
• The Internet Transit service has two primary functions: 1. to announce Internet routes to the customer, and 2. to announce the customer routes to the rest of the Internet (Location 302)
• Definition: The 95th Percentile Measurement Method (also (Location 332)
• 1. Every 5 minutes the meter on the service is sampled. 2. The delta is calculated between the two adjacent samples and the result is stored. (It is in this step that corrections are made for wrapped counters, counter resets from reboots, anomalies in the measurement on the metering device, etc.) 3. At the end of the month, the 5-minute deltas are converted into Mbps and stacked lowest to highest. It is the 95th percentile value that is used to calculate the traffic volume for the month. (Location 337)
• The 95th percentile measurement uses the greater of in versus out, as shown in the following equation: (Location 375)
• You will pay for the cost of getting there, but the open-market effect may result in transit pricing 30% or more lower than if the transit provider has to build into your location. (Location 634)
• 3. Both content and eyeball networks pay you. Scenario #3 is the best-case scenario since you are being paid by your eyeball customers to reach content that you are also being paid to deliver. You are being paid on both sides and simultaneously reducing your transit fees. The only costs are the costs of the infrastructure to carry this traffic across your network. Economists call this scenario a “two-sided” market. (Location 739)
• Internet Peering is a local routing optimization, (Location 845)
• Definition: Internet Peering is the business relationship whereby two companies reciprocally provide access to each other’s customers. (Location 890)
• the dominant form of peering is settlement-free. (Location 899)
• Internet Peering is not a transitive relationship. The fact that WestNet is peering with MidNet and MidNet is peering with EastNet does not imply that EastNet customers can reach WestNet customers. (Location 929)
• Internet Peering is not a perfect substitute for Internet Transit. (Location 933)
• Internet Peering is typically settlement-free, (Location 936)
• 1. Transit costs are reduced. (Location 942)
• If the cost of exchanging traffic in peering relationships is less than the cost of sending that traffic through a transit service, then peering can be proven to be a financially rational decision. (Location 945)
• 2. End-user experience is better. (Location 952)
• Transit usually provides a more circuitous path than peering (Location 953)
• 3. Control over routing is strategic. (Location 961)
• the end-user experience was the primary driver for peering, and that control over routing was the means to accomplish a good end-user experience. (Location 969)
• 4. Traffic billing is usage-based. (Location 974)
• ISPs Make More Money by Peering Dave Rand first highlighted this effect, and conversations with European ISPs showed increasing adoption of the usage-based billing model. (Location 980)
• 5. ISPs enjoy marketing benefits. (Location 983)
• • Phase 1 – Identification of Peering Target • Phase 2 – Contact, Qualification, and Peering Negotiation • Phase 3 – Peering Implementation (Location 995)
• ISPs determine where their traffic is going to and coming from. They are looking for peering partners that should be similarly incentivized to directly interconnect their network, to save money, to improve performance, etc., (Location 1004)
• Finding the right person to speak with at the target ISP is more difficult than you might expect; in fact, it is a time-intensive process. (Location 1032)
• The top 10 ways seasoned peering coordinators contact target ISPs follow: (Location 1039)
• Traffic volume is often a key determinant. As a rule, the decision hinges upon whether or not there is sufficient value from peering to justify spending time and money. A Bilateral Peering Agreement (BLPA) is the legal form that details each party’s understanding of acceptable behavior, and it legally defines the arms-length (loosely coupled) relationship that each side agrees to. (Location 1098)
• Regional interconnection has two dominant forms: The Direct-Circuit Peering model and the Internet Exchange Point peering model. (Location 1107)
• Definition: Direct-Circuit Peering is peering using a point-to-point circuit. (Location 1110)
• The Direct-Circuit Peering cost model scales linearly; the more interconnections one has, the more it costs to interconnect. (Location 1135)
• Definition: An Internet Exchange Point (IXP) is a place where multiple ISPs interconnect their networks together (Location 1140)
• Transport fees for getting the traffic to the exchange point • Colocation fees • Equipment expenses • Peering port fees on the exchange point shared fabric (Location 1159)
• Definition: Transport Fees refer to the monthly recurring expenses associated with a physical/data link layer media interconnection into a peering location. (Location 1169)
• Unlike transit service, transport is not metered; it is sold as a fixed-capacity circuit that costs the same regardless of the amount of traffic exchanged over it. (Location 1171)
• Definition: A Colocation Facility refers to a specialized data center that houses telecommunications equipment for multiple network operators. (Location 1181)
• Definition: Colocation Fees are the expenses paid to the colocation facility operator for housing the telecommunications equipment and facilitating interconnections. (Location 1184)
• Not only do colocation facilities provide the operations environment necessary for the equipment, but the better ones also make it easy and cost-effective for their population to interconnect with each other. They understand their customers’ businesses and seek to establish and grow a community of participants. A handful of these colocation centers provide much more than space, power, and cross-connects. They facilitate peering. (Location 1186)
• Definition: Equipment Fees are the amortized costs of the networking equipment used for Internet Peering. (Location 1190)
• Definition: Peering Port Fees are the monthly recurring costs associated with peering across a shared peering fabric. (Location 1195)
• For the cost of the interconnection, both parties can then send and receive as much traffic as can fit across the transport circuit and peering fabric. (Location 1199)
• Definition: Private Peering is peering across a dedicated layer 2 circuit between exactly two parties, typically using a fiber cross-connect or a VLAN between two parties at an IXP. (Location 1204)
• In the U.S. the Private Peering cross-connects are run by the colocation provider with a nominal (~$300/month) recurring monthly charge. (Location 1212)
• Definition: Public Peering is peering across a shared fabric such as an Ethernet switch. Public Peering is the dominant method of peering in the peering ecosystems we studied, (Location 1220)
• Peering makes sense when it is cheaper to send traffic to peers than through a transit provider. (Location 1230)
• Definition: A Paid Peering relationship is a peering relationship with an exchange of compensation from one party to the other (Location 1234)
• When does peering become Paid Peering? My litmus test: If the peering is not a settlement-free and no-strings-attached peering relationship, then it is Paid Peering. (Location 1241)
• Paid Peering for Cash. (Location 1247)
• Why would you pay the market transit price when you receive only the Comcast routes? Peering generally provides a better performing path to the eyeballs, and if it costs the same and performs better, why wouldn’t you prefer to buy Paid Peering? (Location 1249)
• Paid Peering via Barter. (Location 1252)
• Paid Peering via Bundling/Barter. (Location 1255)
• The Peering Break-Even Point answers the question, “How much traffic do I have to peer for free to save enough money to cover the cost of peering?” (Location 1333)
• The Effective Peering Bandwidth answers the question, “What is the maximum amount of traffic I can realistically push through the peering infrastructure?” • The Effective Peering Range answers the question, “Where is the peering sweet spot – the peering bandwidth range where peering is financially rational?” • The Minimum Cost for Traffic Exchange answers the question, “What is the best possible unit cost for peering?” (Location 1336)
• Definition: The Effective Peering Bandwidth is the maximum amount of traffic that can be safely transported (without packet loss) across peering infrastructure. (Location 1387)
• The first thing to point out is that the ISPs generally have the following goals with respect to setting up peering: • Get peering set up as soon as possible • Minimize the cost of the interconnection and transit costs • Maximize the benefits of a systematic approach to peering • Execute the regional operations plan as strategy dictates • Fulfill obligations of a larger business arrangement (Location 1461)
• 1. How will I get transport into the IXP? (Telecommunications access) 2. How will I get equipment into the IXP? (Ease of deployment) 3. Am I and my target peer both in the IXP already? (Current presences) 4. How easy will it be for me to operate at the IXP? (Operations support) 5. Will a competitor benefit from my participation at the IXP? (Business alignment) 6. How much will it cost to peer at the IXP? (Cost issues) 7. Will the IXP be successful? (Credibility issues) 8. Whom else can I peer with at the IXP? (Exchange population issues) 9. Does the IXP exist today? (Existing vs. new IXP?) 10. What routes will I pick up at the IXP? (Regional route strength) (Location 1474)
• Access into the IXP data center is one of the most important issues that peers explore when selecting an IXP. (Location 1535)
• This fact may seem obvious, but ISPs tend to prefer to peer at IXPs where one or both ISPs are already present. (Location 1561)
• A network can easily aggregate a large number of relatively small peering sessions across a single fixed-cost peering port, with zero incremental cost for each peer. (Location 1727)
• Public Peering Administration Is Easier. (Location 1742)
• It is common for a network to set up a trial peering session to determine the amount of traffic that would be exchanged should a session be turned up. (Location 1746)
• Definition: The Global Internet Peering Ecosystem is the set of loosely coupled Internet Regions, each of which contains an autonomous Internet Peering Ecosystem. (Location 2015)
• Definition: An Internet Region is a portion of the Internet contained within the boundaries of a country. (Location 2021)
• Definition: The Internet Peering Ecosystem is the collection of Internet services providers that interconnect their networks in various business relationships within an Internet Region. (Location 2043)
• Definition: A Tier 1 ISP is an ISP that has access to the entire Internet Region routing table only through its settlement-free peering relationships. (Location 2058)
• Tier 1 ISPs are not motivated to peer with anyone else to reduce the cost of transit since, by definition, Tier 1 ISPs don’t pay for transit. (Location 2106)
• Definition: A Peering Inclination is a predisposition towards or against peering in a particular Internet Peering Ecosystem. (Location 2126)
• Definition: A Peering Policy is an articulation of the Peering Inclination; it documents and defines (for others) the prerequisites to peering. (Location 2128)
• Definition: A Restrictive Peering Policy is an articulation of an inclination not to peer with any more entities. (Location 2166)
• Definition: A Tier 2 ISP is an Internet Service Provider that purchases transit to reach some destination(s) within an Internet Region. (Location 2219)
• The basic Content Provider does not peer. A separate type of Content Provider, called a “Large-Scale Network-Savvy Content Provider,” has a strong network engineering team and does peer. (Location 2272)
• Definition: Content Providers are companies that operate an Internet-based service but do not sell transit within the Internet Peering Ecosystem. (Location 2274)
• Definition: A Large-Scale Network-Savvy Content Provider (LSNSCP) is a content provider that sees networking as strategic enough to build a backbone and peer. (Location 2399)
• Examples of these Large-Scale Content Players are Yahoo!, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Walmart.com, Apple, Electronic Arts, and Sony Online. (Location 2430)
• The Access Power Peering scenario however is problematic in that it leverages the lack of alternative paths to the eyeballs. (Location 2637)
• “Bro-lo,” (Location 3183)
• real estate to house the gear • security infrastructure to prevent unauthorized access to the equipment • reliable power infrastructure to make sure the gear continues to operate even when utility power fails • Heating, Venting, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems to keep the equipment within its operating range • data center operations staff to monitor and manage the operations environment in the data center (Location 3513)
• Gallery 12-3. Colocation facilities are being built to support the nationwide fiber plants being incrementally built across the U.S. (Location 3546)
• Since fiber often runs along preexisting rights-of-way along railroad tracks, real estate that opens up near these locations often comes up as key IDC locations. (Location 3556)
• 1. Fiber. Ideal sites will be near or on fiber paths, or within a couple miles of dark fiber and telephone company Points of Presences (POPs). (Location 3562)
• 2. Size, floor loading, configuration, expandability. Sites must be large enough to support the intended operations, with floor loading sufficient for the equipment expected. (Location 3575)
• Definition: Carriers are layer 2 transport providers. (Location 3907)
• Definition: A Carrier POP is space within a carrier data center that is operated solely for the use of the carrier itself. (Location 3915)
• Definition: A Carrier Hosting Facility is space within a carrier data center that is purpose-built for the use of hosting the carrier and its customers. (Location 3921)
• Definition: A Carrier-Neutral Data Center is a data center that is neither owned nor operated by a company that offers carrier services. (Location 3926)
• Definition: An Internet Data Center is a data center with Internet access. (Location 3985)
• Definition: An ISP POP is space within a data center operated by an ISP that is solely for the use of the ISP itself. (Location 3995)
• Definition: An ISP Hosting Facility is space within a data center that is operated by an ISP providing conditioned space and power along with Internet Transit services for its customers. (Location 4001)
• Definition: Remote Peering (aka ‘tethering’)is peering without one’s own physical presence at the peering point. (Location 5134)
• Definition: A Remote Peering Provider is an entity that sells access to exchange points across their transport infrastructure. (Location 5137)
• I believe the video ecosystem will require wider distribution across many more peering points, perhaps helping to establish the viability for many more IXPs across the Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. (Location 5883)