Merit Network
Can't find what you're looking for? Search the Mail Archives.
  About Merit   Services   Network   Resources & Support   Network Research   News   Events   Home

Discussion Communities: Merit Network Email List Archives

North American Network Operators Group

Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical

Re: Two Tiered Internet

  • From: Per Heldal
  • Date: Wed Dec 14 06:59:36 2005


On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 10:54:43 +0000, Michael.Dillon@btradianz.com said:
> 
> But there is another way. If you provide enough bandwidth
> so that your peak traffic levels can travel through the
> network without ever being buffered at any of the core
> network interfaces, then everybody is a king. If you charge
> your customers a higher fee for such a network than your
> competitors do, then we have a tiered Internet. This
> unobstructed network was pioneered by Sprint on it's 
> zero-CIR frame relay network and they carried this forward
> into their IP network as well. Other companies have
> carried forward this architecture as well.

That's the way all serious providers did IP-backbone engineering when
there was no QoS. Local congestion in the access-network would happen
from time to time even back in the 90s, but a network with
congestion-problems in the backbone would soon be a network with no
customers. Even today, it's the superior principle for backbone
engineering. Most QoS-handling (and other traffic-engineering) gizmos,
although some look good on paper, are too complex and too
labour-intensive to offer cost-saving or other operational advantage in
large IP backbones. Bandwith in the form of long-haul dark-fiber or
colors would have to be much more expensive to change that equation.

//per
-- 
  Per Heldal
  heldal@eml.cc





Discussion Communities


About Merit | Services | Network | Resources & Support | Network Research
News | Events | Contact | Site Map | Merit Network Home


Merit Network, Inc.