> On Oct 15, 2023, at 01:01, Dave Taht <dave.t...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am under the impression that many IXPs remain very successful,

I know of 760 active IXPs, out of 1,148 total, so, over 31 years, two-thirds 
are still successful now.  Obviously they didn’t all start 31 years ago, they 
started on a gradually-accelerating curve.  I guess we could do the 
visualization to plot range of lifespans versus start dates, but we haven’t 
done that as yet.

> states without them suffer

Any populated area without one or more of them suffers by comparison with areas 
that do have them.  States, countries, cities, etc.  There are still a 
surprising number of whole countries that don’t yet have one.  We try to 
prioritize those in our work:

https://www.pch.net/ixp/summary

> I also find the concept of doing micro IXPs at the city level, appealing, and 
> now achievable with cheap gear.

This has always, by definition, been achievable, since it’s the only way any 
IXP has ever succeeded, really.  I mean, big sample set, bell curve, you can 
always find a few things out at the fringes to argue about, but the thing that 
allows an IXP to succeed is good APBDC, and the thing that most frequently 
kills IXPs is over-investment.  An expensive switch at the outset is a huge 
liability, and one of the things most likely to tank a startup IXP.  Notably, 
that doesn’t mean a switch that costs the IXP a lot of money: you can tank an 
IXP by donating an expensive switch for free.  Expensive switches have 
expensive maintenance, whether you’re paying for it or not.  Maintenance means 
down-time, and down-time raises APBDC, regardless of whether you’ve laid out 
cash in parallel with it.

> Finer grained cross connects between telco and ISP and IXP would lower 
> latencies across town quite hugely...

Of course, and that requires that they show up in the same building, ideally 
with an MMR.  The same places that work well for IXPs.  Interconnection 
basically just requires a lot of networks be present close to a population 
center.  Which always presents a little tension vis-a-vis datacenters, which 
profit immensely if there’s a successful IXP in them, but can never afford to 
locate themselves where IXPs would be most valuable, and don’t like to have to 
provide free backhaul to better IXP locations.

                                -Bill

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