but what if the *unnamed-ethernet-extension-company* wasn't providing access to public exchange points, but was rather enabling uncongested private peering over its network? That way latency and hop count are both mimimised.
But, *unnamed-ethernet-extension-company*, to me, only marketed access to other exchange points. Also, what does hop count have to do with latency and loss? Especially, when *unnamed-ethernet-extension-company* is using MPLS/IP (presumably) to do this?
BTW, public IXen in Europe don't tend to be congested. Whether this is the result of better management, or of lower traffic volumes, than IXen in the US I'm not sure...
Probably better management, is my guess.
================================================================= Giles Heron Principal Network Architect PacketExchange Ltd. ph: +44 7880 506185 "if you build it they will yawn" =================================================================