AFAICT there is only one orderable, deployable and tested IP router which observably terminates multiple 622-Mbit/s bit pipes, notably that made by cisco.
Hmm, well, the lack of knowledge I suppose shouldn't be held against you. http://www.ascend.com/505.html lists their support for such interfaces. ( nonsequiter comments deleted )
These can be disaggregated into OC3 ATM pipes that can be fed into many routers with proven technology and reliability. Granted, the disproportionality of the edge ckts to the backbone ckts provides for interesting flow aggregation dynamics, but it does work.
Oh sure it works if you turn LS IGPs on their head and
On their head? I can assure you the IGP is still a manageable problem in larger ISPs with meshed backbones. In fact, there is one solution available that is not yet even exercised.
try to avoid thinking too hard about how to build spanning trees without building a physical VC topology for multicast and can put up with interesting buffering and switching effects
Okay, I'll bite: Which interesting buffering and switching effects?
and, as you say, the dynamics of WHY it works vs. why it doesn't work when things break.
Yes, indeed this is a tradeoff. But, the more I think about the KISS principle, I become convinced that only our own limitations, ignorance, and hesitancy prevent us from adding complexity to achieve increased control. Certainly, when solution A and solution B have net effect Z, we should choose the simpler. But to say that the benefit of B, even with increased complexity, isn't needed because we don't understand it, is just silly (unless you live in the real world, and have to work with people, as we do, but still, we should consider the question "Is the benefit + the increased knowledge worth the education and increased risk" not just "which is simpler".)
I hate to say it but I think I have become old and this might explain why I like really simple and straightforward failure modes.
See above comments.
Your disdain for ATM does not stop its existence and use by the larger NSPs.
Technical merit has only been offered up as a reason for using cells by your organization and ATMNET, AFAIK.
Yes, we at 'bythetrees.com' are avid supporters of ATM in today's technology. Why do you always insist on linking one's place of business with their technological idealogy? Certainly I work at UUNET and my opinion is occasionally involved in certain decisions. However, I am tempered by people more wise, experienced, and quite frankly, smarter, than me. I don't speak for UUNET, I speak for me. Golly. Novel concept.
Many of the people who did actual engineering work at cisco were also not very agnostic when it came to cells, and had an effect on the company, which is one of the reasons I have always liked cisco compared to its competitors, who were not quite agnostic either but in the opposite direction.
Hmm, I tend to be atheistic about technology -- what can it do for me today, and what will it to do tomorrow with a reasonable chance of success.
There may be choice in what you can put at the end of an OC12 though, but it's either something smart or something you'd find at Hobson's Tavern.
How do you define smart? -alan