There have been a number of questions that have been fielded wrt the EP.NET domain and traceroute failures within that domain. For your edification, here is a brief note on the EP.NET domain.
EP.NET operated as a service by the RA for exchange points around the globe. Any exchange point may become part of the EP.NET domain. The default assignment algorithm follows. The next level identifies the specific exchange. The next level identifies the attaching organization.
So, the default for BillsBait&SushiShop (BBSS) at MAE-WEST is:
bbss.mae-west.ep.net
When BBSS attachs to the AADS NAP, the default name is:
bbss.aads.ep.net
Selection of provider specific names is encouraged. So when BBSS gets around to it, they may change the names to something like this:
mae-west.bbss.org aads.bbss.org
Bill, Personally I think that this is actually a value-subtracted service, as the EP.NET organisation does not run the named boxes, or the exchange points. It would be much more helpfull the the interfaces that faces the NAP and another provider where following each providers naming conventions, and had a domain-name that would point the users to the organisation that actually operates the boxes. You can still provide the service of running the nameservice. --Peter