This is an interesting tale, and one that everyone involved with the ISP world should know about. Aproximately 8 months ago, several of the very largest ISPs, ones with names like WorldCom, Sprint, CW, Genuity, and others, came together to discuss the concept of peering. The all peered with each other, most with very large peering circuits - OC-12 or above. The problem was that the provisioning time and effort required for these circuits was getting quite out of control. Costs of interconnects were also high. So, these large providers did the "unthinkable". They decided to issue an RFP to 8 sites around the US, which they would jointly inhabit for purposes of peering. In order to avoid the appearence of collusion, they all issued similar RFPs, each originating from their own company, but otherwise almost identical. And the sites were choosen using essentially identical criteria. So, unsurprisingly, the same 8 sites were choosen, in such cities as Dallas, Chicago, San Francisco, New York, DC, and others. There are several rumors floating about as to which sites were choosen. This is unconfirmed and conjecture, so I won't go into it for this email. The key questions... 1) What are the selected sites? 2) How do the rest of us play? 3) Why wasn't this process more open? I know that this is a true situation, as I have confirmation from three different sources, and have seen copies of several of the RFCs. I eagerly await the comments of those providers involved with this effort, and hope that this will lead to a more open internet. - PR __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/