Carrier Hotels and Net Neutrality

1. Carrier HotelsandNet Neutrality John R Savageau Managing Director CRG West

2. Path to the Carrier Hotel and IXP • Current Issues • The Carrier Hotel • Changing Dynamics of the Internet • Net Neutrality • The Bypass World and Internet Exchange Points Goal Start Barriers

3. Objective • Identify challenges the US Internet community faces bringing us into the next generation of Internet-enabled communications, entertainment, and commerce. • Offer discussion and potential solutions all stakeholders need to overcome existing and emerging technology, applications, and services available via the public Internet. Start Goal

4. Breaking Down Barriers In the early 1990s commercial Internet networks appeared in the United States, owned by companies such as Sprint, MCI, and AT&T.  About the same time the NSFNet announced plans to dismantle their backbone academic network, migrate traffic to commercial networks, and seed development of “Tier 1” Internet networks. 

5. Net Neutrality Example #1 In the "most drastic example yet of data discrimination," the Associated Press recently exposed that Comcast, the nation's largest cable company and second-largest Internet service provider, is actively interfering with its users' ability to access legal content. The company is cutting off legal peer-to-peer file-sharing networks such as BitTorrent and Gnutella, as well as business applications such as Lotus Notes. Comcast has claimed its actions were "reasonable network management."

6. Net Neutrality Example #2 Verizon has been implementing a DNS redirection service for select DSL and FiOS customers. The service redirects users who mistype URLs to an Verizon-run search page (complete with referral links) instead of giving a traditional error message. While Verizon insists the service was created to help users, it's really just a revenue generator. In essence, butterfingers create a revenue stream. Verizon DNS Redirection 'Service' SpreadsConsumer Affairs: Is this a network neutrality violation?10:31AM Monday Nov 05 2007

7. Net Neutrality Example #3 Last month, The New York Times reported that Verizon banned abortion-rights ads under a policy that prohibits “political messages that are controversial or unsavory”.

8. Role of the Carrier Hotel The Carrier Hotel provides an essential point for carriers to interconnect their networks, without a need for lengthy backhaul of their network to cable heads, metro, or long distance fiber terminals. The Carrier Hotel is rapidly evolving to include support for packet networks and other virtual network providers.

9. Born of Competition • One Wilshire is a product of deregulation • PacBell refused MCI access to their rooftop for microwave antennas • One Wilshire opened up their rooftop to MCI, Sprint, PacWest, and other emerging CLECs • End-to-End ownership of submarine capacity allowed foreign carrier presence in the United States – eliminating ½ circuits North American & Global Carrier Interconnection NTT POP NTT POP NTT Managed Capacity

10. Major Carrier Hotels Telehouse London Westin Seattle 60 Hudson New York One Wilshire Los Angeles NOTA Miami

11. Benefits of a Carrier Hotel • Eliminates backhaul • Promotes Tier 1 carrier bypass • Reduces interconnect provisioning time • Provides a “DMZ” for competitors • Carrier/Network interconnect • Disaster recovery • Internet Exchanges • MAE West • Any2 • PAIX • Telehouse

12. Getting to the Carrier Hotel • High density cable routes • Diverse carriers • Access to manholes • Access to cable heads

13. The Meet-Me-Room

14. The Meet-Me-Room

15. Challenges Facing Industry • HD/IPTV • VoIP • IPv6 (IP Everything) • Wireless (connected all the time) Internet-enabled communications that are moving “toward virtual worlds as a place for businesses and people to socialize, and be entertained, are an unstoppable force”Intel

16. Competition in the Old Days AT&T The Telephone Company

17. Growth of Competition in US 1/07 Release. As of 6/30/06 Provides summary statistics of subscribership data that facilities-based providers of high-speed services file twice a year on FCC Form 477 http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/iatd/comp.html

18. From Content to Eyeball • Content is not useful if it is not available • Eyeballs are available at • Access networks • Cable networks • DSL networks (usually owned by telephone company) • Tiers 1s would like to own the source Content Delivery Networks VoIP Service Providers Gaming Companies B2B and Online Commerce Entertainment Tier 1 Networks Tier 2 Networks Source Destination Barriers Barriers

19. Where the Carrier is Comfortable • Multiple carriers participating in an end-to-end connection establish a process for allocating associated revenues • Customer deals with one carrier, and that carrier purchases interconnecting services from other carriers (One Stop Shop) • Separate customer transactions with each carrier • Carriers participate in a mutual reciprocal settlement arrangement • When a carrier’s network is much larger than the rest, it can dictate terms and financial arrangements to its advantage

20. MA Bell Steps In AT&T’s Former CEO Ed Whitacre: “How do you think they’re going to get to customers? Through a broadband pipe. Cable companies have them. We have them. Now what they would like to do is use my pipes free, but I ain’t going to let them do that because we have spent the capital and we have to have a return on it. So there’s going to have to be some mechanism for these people who use these pipes to pay for the portion they’re using.”

21. Internet Competition: Today • ISPs are in a network-based industry • ISPs must interact at a variety of levels to interconnect their networks • If one ISP cannot directly connect to another, they must use a transit network to reach the distant end • The transit network is at or near the top of the “tiered” Internet • This “tiered network effect” means providers with the largest and most diverse networks dictate terms and prices of global routing and backbone interconnection • Pricing is based on competition, which is a limited marketplace at the Tier 1 level

22. Role of the Tier 1 Network(Internet) • Provide global routing • Wholesale bandwidth • Top of the Internet “food chain” Verizon NTT/Verio Tier 1 Network World Sprint Level 3 C & W AT&T

23. “Tiered” Internet Relations

24. Net Neutrality • The FCC’s Four Net Neutrality Principles • To encourage broadband deployment, and preserve the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, consumers are entitled to: • Access the lawful Internet content of their choice • Run applications and use services of their choice • Connect their choice of legal devices • Competition among • network providers • application providers • service providers • content providers • Note that the principles are focused on consumer rights • Note further that principles preserve and promote both the open and the interconnected nature of the public Internet

25. The 3 Tiered Cloud With Peering/Bypass The Internet was born of a need for communications to bypass outages and blocks The 3 Tiered Cloud The Net Neutrality debate can be overcome by continuing to follow the underlying principles of Internet design The Tier 1 Cloud

26. IXP Defined(by Wikipedia) An Internet exchange point (IX or IXP) is a physical infrastructure that allows different Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to exchange Internet traffic between their networks (autonomous systems) by means of mutual peering agreements, which allow traffic to be exchanged without cost. IXPs reduce the portion of an ISP's traffic which must be delivered via their upstream transit providers, thereby reducing the Average Per-Bit Delivery Cost of their service. Furthermore, the increased number of paths learned through the IXP improves routing efficiency and fault-tolerance.

27. IXP Traffic Growth • European IXP Traffic • IXP traffic increased +78.22% in one year • Traffic increased 11.5% in August 2007 • Total traffic at Euro-IX points >1.1223Tbps • US IXP Traffic Growth • Traffic increased 7.44% in August 2004 • Asian IXP Traffic Growth (overall) • Traffic increased 4.3% • Japan-only IXP Traffic Growth • Traffic increased 5.85% Source – Euro-IX

28. Major US IXPs SIX Large IXPs are generally Located near the coasts, supporting both US domestic and international participants PAIX NYIIX MAE-W Ashburn IBX Any2 LA NOTA

29. Major European IXPs(Greater than 10Gbps) • AMS-IX (Amsterdam) • LINX (UK) • DE-CIX (Germany) • NetNod (Sweden) • ESPANIX (ES) • BIX (Belgium) • MIX (Milan) • NIX.CZ (Czech) • SFINX (Paris) • PARIX (Paris) • NL-IX (Den Haag) • VIX (Vienna) • NIX (Norway) • FICIX (Finland) • TOPIX (Torino) On 3 Oct AMS-IX was peaking IXP traffic at 331Gbps – higher Exchange traffic than all major US IXPs combined Sources: Euro-IX and AMS-IX RSS Feed

30. The Power of Community At 42 Members Community Value = 861 Any2 Exchange at 123 Members Community Value = 7503

31. US Model Tier 3 Regional ISP IXP VoIP CDN Online Entertainment Tier 2 Regional ISP Tier 1 Networks Gaming Company Tier 2 Networks 15% 85%

32. European Model Tier 3 Regional ISP IXP VoIP CDN Online Entertainment Tier 2 Regional ISP Tier 1 Networks Gaming Company Tier 2 Networks 60% 40%

33. Why Don’t Americans Peer? • Tier 1 and 2 networks dominate • Large networks sell, they don’t peer • Geography – North America is BIG • American IXPs are expensive • Long distance circuits are expensive • Carrier hotel interconnects are cheap • Reluctant to upgrade ports • IXP Ports • User ports

34. Why Go to an IXP? • Multiple relationships at one location • Save money on interconnections • Common use of route servers • Reduce cost • Direct –vs- wholesale or transit • Bandwidth sells from $20~$40/M • Increase Resiliency • Additional routing when primary links fail • Performance • Eliminate transit networks • CDNs want to peer and eliminate hops

35. How the Carrier Hotel and IXP Help Make Net Neutrality a Non-Issue • Large number of networks present • Direct network interconnections available at low cost for high volume Internet peering • One or more IXPs present for virtual interconnections • Route servers • Bi-lateral peering • Diversity • Lower cost barriers for interconnection and IXP peering

36. Strategies to Make Net Neutrality a Non-Issue • Consider IXP as first choice • Have a POP in or near a carrier hotel • Support local IXPs • Focus on access revenues, not ratios and settlement • Educate your representative! “…the internet is not something you just dump something on. It's not a truck. It's a series of tubes.” (Sen. Ted Stevens, Alaska)

37. Summary The issue of net neutrality is one of barriers. Like a good Internet packet, we must design our relationships and networks to bypass barriers. Through effective planning and use of available tools, such as IXPs and carrier hotel facilities, barriers to entry and network operations can be minimized.

38. A Better Internet… by Design Any2Exchange