Internet Exchange Points: A Business & Policy Perspective
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Transcript of Internet Exchange Points: A Business & Policy Perspective
Internet Exchange Points: A Business & Policy Perspective
AFIX Decision-makers’ WorkshopSession 1
AFIX-TF, <Location> <Date>
Introduction African Internet Service Providers
Association - AfrISPA African Internet Exchange Task Force
- AFIX-TF
Types of traffic exchange The Internet would not exist without
agreements to exchange traffic!!! Competitor ISPs must co-operate to
serve their clients Two main forms of traffic exchange:
Transit – sell access to all destinations in routing table
Peering – access to each other’s customers
Transit: More detail Business relationship where one ISP provides
(usually sells) connectivity to all Internet destinations Carries traffic to/from third parties, including
own customers AND every other destination Bilateral business & technical arrangement Defined price, usually by volume (Mbps) Generally includes Service Level Agreement
(SLA), installation & Network Operations Center (NOC) support
Peering: More detail Business relationship where two ISPs give
reciprocal access to their own customers They will accept traffic from each other and from
each other’s customers BUT there is no obligation to carry traffic to third
parties Bilateral business & technical arrangement No cash payments (more like barter); no
settlement No Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Peering vs Transit
Economic Choices An ISP cannot peer with every other
ISP in the world (10,000+) So most ISPs try to do both:
Exchange as much traffic as possible with peers; AND
Pay for the rest ISP goal: Minimise transit to minimise
costs
Politics of peering Large ISPs that sell transit to developing
countries are nearly always US, European, or Japanese-owned
In most developing countries, domestic ISPs do not peer with each other!
Any country whose ISPs do not peer with each other relies exclusively on transit Needless export of capital Effectively subsidising the developed world
Developing country payments for transit are not small!
Overseas Interconnection Costs
Using your upstream provider to exchange local traffic over a trans-continental link is expen$ive
Bw InternationalLocal
64k $1,687 $190
128k $2,386 $274
256k $3,375 $378
512k $4,773 $535
1MB $6,750 $757Telkom Kenya Bandwidth Tariffs Dec. 2001
The alternative: IXPs IXP = Internet Exchange Point Places where ISPs come to interconnect
with each other – “clearing house” for Internet traffic
Keep local traffic local
“IXPs are the keystone of the entire Internet economy.”
Cisco Systems
Local Infrastructure
Local ISPs
Gateways
Internet Exchange Point
Keeping local traffic local ISPs within a region peer
with each other at local exchange
No need to have traffic go overseas only to come back
ISP A
ISP B
200-900ms 200-900ms
USA
5-20ms
200-900ms
IXP Benefits Better quality Cash savings Added value New revenue opportunities
Better Quality Reduced delays Improved performance
5-20ms
InternetInternet
AABB
Cash savingsBw International Local64k $1,687 $190128k $2,386 $274256k $3,375 $378512k $4,773 $5351MB $6,750 $757Telkom Kenya Bandwidth Tariffs Dec. 2001
Africa loses over US$400 million each year for traffic exchange via other continents
Added value Metcalfe’s Law: “The usefulness of a
network equals the square of the number of users”
Connect any number, "n" of machines – whether computers, phones or even cars - and you get “n” squared potential value.
n21 + n22 + n23 + n24 + n25 …………. n2n
Added value II A strong domestic Internet industry
creates high-paying knowledge worker positions
Domestic traffic exchange reduces the importation of foreign content and cultural values, in favor of domestic content authoring and publishing
New revenue opportunities Streaming video/audio Video-conferencing Telemedicine e-Commerce e-Learning e-Governance e-Banking E-Anything!
IXPs In Africa Uganda: UIXP – launched June 03 Tanzania: TIXP – semi-operational South Africa: JINX Mozambique: MOZ-IX Zimbabwe: ZIX Egypt: EG-IX Nigeria: “small” Ibadan IX Kinshasa: operational
Critical Factors for IXPs National exchanges Political support Policy reform (where necessary) Regulatory provisioning Regional co-operation Strategic partnerships Critical infrastructure
IXPs: Things to Do Any peering/IX initiative involves 10%
technical work The remaining 90% is relationships
(socio-political engineering) Official regulatory support Definition of internal peering policy
framework
Next steps Establish national IXPs Create opportunities for the
emergence of regional carriers facilitating regional peering/continental transit
Promote cross-border links and inter-country infrastructure
SAT-2, SAT-3/WASC/SAFE, SEA-ME-WE, ATLANTIS 2, FLAG
Current African Submarine Fibre Connectivity: Mostly “Perimeter”
Sourc
e:
CTiA
Rep
ort
20
02
/03
Planned inter-country fibre: COMTEL
Sourc
e:
CTiA
Rep
ort
20
02
/03
Planned inter-country fibre: SRII
Sourc
e:
CTiA
Rep
ort
20
02
/03
Planned inter-country fibre: EADTP
Sourc
e:
CTiA
Rep
ort
20
02
/03