I love to stir up the pot... I should have mentioned - He works for an ISP, not an enterprise. He is new there, and I think that he is unsure how to initiate these relationships with other ISP's... Dale [=`) >From: "Howard C. Berkowitz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: "Dale Holmes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Re: BGP peering question >Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 12:01:18 -0400 > >>A friend of mine has the following problem: >> >>>I've been given the project of establishing peering connections >>>with >other ISP's/carriers. The biggest problem I have is finding >>>the >right dept to call or e-mail. Take AOL for example, 40% of >>>our >traffic is destined for AOL, can't find a clue on how to >>>contact >them about establishing a peering session via BGP. Is >>>their a list >of companies willing to peer? >> >>Any clues? >> >>Thanks! >>Dale >>[=`) > > >There are two meanings, in BGP operations, of "peer." One is simply >establishing the BGP connection. The second is an economic one, in >which the two parties agree they have comparable numbers of >customers, and it is in their mutual interest to exchange their >customer routes -- NOT full Internet routes. > >It's getting harder and harder to peer with national providers unless >you are also a national or substantial regional provider. At a >minimum, most bilateral peering arrangements expect both sides to >have 24/7/365 NOCs, a national or regional backbone of at least DS3 >and preferably faster, and a substantial customer base. There are no >enterprises at the major exchange points, although some of the large >hosting centers are almost exchange points in their own rights. > >If you don't qualify for peering, you need to buy transit from one or >more providers. > >One exception is the growth of local exchange points, which I happen >to think are very beneficial. The first generally known local >exchange started in Tucson, AZ. In a local exchange, local providers >and significant enterprises share either a small switch or a >distributed layer 2 subnet, and have a small router or route server >that does peering on behalf of the local organizations. By using a >local exchange, you can actually go across town rather than being >backhauled across half a continent to go between major provides. > ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ___________________________________ UPDATED Posting Guidelines: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/guide.html FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]