Re: Do ATM-based Exchange Points make sense anymore?

Given that your analysis could be used to make decisions about exchange point architecture, I wonder if you would consider adding RPR IEEE 802.17 into the mix? While I don't know of anyone using RPR in an exchange point, there certainly are products on the market and not just Cisco's SRP/DPT. Within Ebone we were using SRP/DPT rings quite successfully in our PoP architecture, i.e. it does work in the real world. I know that the marketing side of RPR is promoting it as a metro area solution, but it works just as well in a PoP. Given that you are comparing a PoP oriented technology (Ethernet) with a metro area technology (ATM), I think it makes sense to take a serious look at a technology that covers both. --Michael Dillon