I'm doing a research on BGP route optimisation and
the performance metrics used by commercial route optimizer appliances to
select better path to a prefix.
You may have discovered that already during your research, but just in case: basically, using those optimizers at full throttle is a bad practice and is generally discouraged.
A research into the deep-juju of BGP optimization is roughly equivalent to a research about how alcohol may make you a faster driver. I.e. it's fine in academy but you certainly may want to emphasize security considerations in your paper.
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Töma