[1st-mile-nm] Peering, a contrast between New Mexico and the rest of the world.

[John Osmon]

Everything John writes below is true.  Peering is a great way to
increase the robustness of your network.  It leades to greater
complexity in your network, but any engineering decision has trade-offs.

Any network big enough to be multi-homed between two ISPs has the
skillset required to peer.  Each new peer will reduce the traffic load
to the paid ISPs.  The engineering aspects will certainly have a price,
but that cost is relatively low for a modern large network.  In the end,
you can end up being "closer" to the networks you most want to reach it
you chose a path of peering.

Alternatively, you can pick your ISPs so that they bear the cost of
ensuring you're "close" to the networks you want to reach.  You'll
pay more to use their network -- but it might be a good trade-off.

Ultimately, the decision to peer comes down to business policy.  The
important point is to know that this "peering" exists so that you can
evaluate if the cost/benefit ratios works for your network.

I've crawled around in a number of networks around this state.  From my
direct sampling, I infer that the majority of NM networks already have
routing policies in place that support their business goals.  Some
simply chose a less complicated path to connectivity -- at the expense 
of a less efficient network path.  Those routing policies will certainly
evolve with time...



On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 01:47:14AM +0000, John Brown wrote:
> Recently we upgraded our connectivity to 1 Wilshire in LAX.  
> A nexus of internet providers, end users, content, education,
> governmental users all interconnecting to make packets work better.
> 
> In less than 30 days we have established over 250+ peers.  Many via a
> public fabric, some via private dedicated inter-connects.
> 
> We added 60,000 routes to our network and we can reach those routes
> WITHOUT having to go via a $$ TRANSIT $$ provider.
> 
> Places like the State of Oregon (Yes Martha, the entire state gov.) peered in a matter of a few hours.
> 
> UCSD, UCS, Various overseas educational entities (some very well
> known)  all just showed up and said SURE, here are our technical
> details.
> Let us know when your link is up and we will confirm.
> 
> Poof, just like that.
> 
> 
> Its funny, in a sad kind of way, that an ISP in New Mexico is better connected to places OUTSIDE of New Mexico.
> 
> Better connected to the State of Oregon
> University of Southern California
> University of California, San Diego
> Places in Australia , Germany, UK, etc
> 
> Yet our own State of NM, Our """""Leading University""""" (UNM) and
> others are so mired in politics that this isnt' the case in our own
> state.  
> Same could be said about various ISP's in this state...
> 
> If we want to see our state have better connectivity then we need to
> get past the petty politics and make engineering decisions that are
> based on sound facts and that IMPROVE our inter-connectivity.
> In the face of a disaster, we are better connected to those places
> OUTSIDE of our state, instead of inside our state.
> Shouldn't that be the OTHERWAY AROUND ???
> 
> Peering also SAVES MONEY.  IT SAVES THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS!!!!!!
> 
> 
> Here are some metrics.
> 
> Its 5 router hops from my desktop to the State of Oregon's web site.
> 	And the packets go via
> 	Albuquerque
> 	LAX
> 	State's Web Server
> 
> Its 13 router hops from my desktop to the State of New Mexico's web site
> 	And the packets go via
> 	Colorado Springs
> 	Denver 
> 	St. Louis
> 	Chicago
> 	then to Sprint,
> 	then to TW Telecom
> 	then BACK into New Mexico
> 
> 
> 
> Lets goto USC.
> 
> Its 5 router hops from my desktop to USC's web site
> 
> Its 18 (EIGHTEEN) router hops from my desktop to UNM's web site.
> And yet UNM is less than 3 miles from my desktop......
> 
> 
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