Hi all - If you have no interest in Internet Peering in Asia, read no further. Otherwise,... Over the last year I have been working with the Peering Coordinator Community, particularly those that have built into and throughout Asia, to document what is *different* about peering in Asia as compared to say the U.S. and Europe. In February of this year I pulled together a group of Peering Coordinators for the APRICOT Peering Track. I asked them to share Peering processes that they found different, interesting, counter intuitive, or unexpected. This white paper documents the lessons learned and insights gained from Peering Coordinators experienced with peering in Asia. The Asia Pacific Peering Guidebook follows the path set by "The Evolution of the US Peering Ecosystem" white paper that I presented at the last NANOG, but focuses on the common dynamics and experiences that folks shared with me over the last year and at the APRICOT Peering Track. First, the paper documents what I call the "Foreign Tier 1 Peering Dynamic" that casts a Tier 1 ISP in one Peering Ecosystem as a Tier 2 ISP in another. We focus on the motivations, the reasons why this occurs as ISPs expand globally. Next, Peering Coordinators shared five reasons that they expanded into/within Asia: 1) Incumbent Tier 1 ISPs to peer their routes outside their home market 2) Meet US Tier 1 ISP Peering Prerequisites 3) Customers want them in Asia 4) Global Marketing Benefits 5) Sell transit in a more attractive transit market using four methods of interconnection: 1) Extend into foreign country 2) reciprically peer in each others coountry 3) Half-Circuit peering 4) Buy an ISP with Tier 1 peering in the foreign ecosystem The Peering Coordinators shared nine lessons, things they wish they had known before expanding into Asia: 1) Tier 1 ISPs will not want to peer in their home market 2) There are several challenges peering in Asia 2a) Peering Process is different - peering@ does not uniformly work 2b) Many language zones 2c) Many time zones - logisitics issues here 2d) Oceans add cost, latency - transpacific transport prices estimated in the paper 2e) local loops still a major expense 2f) transit prices highly variable across countries in Asia - transit street prices quoted 3) Creative peering deals 4) Watch for Inadvertent Tromboning 5) Local Presence is required 6) Separation of Int'l Transit from Domestic Transit in some markets 7) Content that transcends the language barrier is not allowed to be hosted in country 8) No true regional content in Asia 9) Content Peering works in Asia 10) Understand the Internet Peering Ecosystem prior to building in On this last point, the paper enumerates several data points including naming the Tier 1's, the emerging broadband players, the peering inclinations, etc. for Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney and Singapore. Some of the Yahoo!Broadband activities for example in Japan show that some places in Asia are leap-frogging the US in terms of next-gen access bandwidth. How would you like 40Mbps DSL access for $50/mo or FTTH for $100/mo? I'm at the point where I'd like to do a dozen or so final paper walk-throughs, where I email the white paper and walk interested folks through the paper to solicit comments and suggestions. I've found that talking people through the paper is this is the most effective way for me to make sure the paper (and subsequent presentation) flow well, and also increases the likelihood of me getting some feedback. If you have any interest in the topic and can spare about 30 minutes for a walkthrough over the next few weeks, send me a note and let's schedule a time I can talk you through the paper. I'm also planning a group walk through (a concall basically) towards the end of the month. As with all the Peering White Papers, this one will be made freely available to the community when it is finished. Bill Here are the other Peering White Papers that are available (google for "William B. Norton" to find them on the web, or email wbn@equinix.com with the white paper title in the subject line and I'll send you the latest version of the white paper.) 1. Interconnection Strategies for ISPs documents two dominant methods ISPs use to interconnect their networks. Over 200 ISPs helped create this white paper to identify when Internet Exchange Points make sense and the Direct Circuit interconnect method makes sense. Financial Models included in the paper quantify the tradeoffs between these two methods. All relevant data points are footnoted as to source. 2. Internet Service Providers and Peering answers the questions: "What is Peering and Transit? What are the motivations for Peering? What is the ISP Peering Coordinators Process for obtaining peering? What are criteria for IX selection?" 3. A Business Case for Peering builds upon the previous white papers but focuses on the questions important to the Chief Financial Officer: "When does Peering make sense from a financial standpoint? When do all the costs of Peering get completely offset by the cost savings?" 4. The Art of Peering: The Peering Playbook builds on the previous white papers by asking the Peering Coordinators to share the "Tricks of the Trade", methods of getting peering where otherwise they might not be able to get peering. These 20 tactics range from the straight forward to the obscure, from the clever to the borderline unethical. Nonetheless, Peering Coordinators might be interested in field-proven effective ways of obtaining peering in this highly controversial white paper. 5. The Peering Simulation Game finishes up my half day Peering Tutorial by engaging the audience in the role of the Peering Coordinator. Each ISP in turn rolls the dice, expands their network, collects revenue for each square of customer traffic, and pays transit fees to their upstream ISP. They quickly learn that if they peer with each other, the costs of traffic exchange are much less, but they need to negotiate how to cover the costs of the interconnect. ISP Peering coordinators have commented on how close the peering simulation game is to reality in terms of the dialog that takes place. 6. Do ATM-based Internet Exchange Points Make Sense Anymore? Applies the "Business Case for Peering" financial models to ATM and Ethernet-based IXes using current market prices for transit, transport, and IX Peering Costs. 7. The Evolution of the U.S. Peering Ecosystem, introduces and focuses on several fundamental changes in the Peering Ecosystem spurred by several events following the telecom collapse of 1999/2000. 8. The Art of Peering: The IX Playbook follows the same tact as The Peering Playbook; we first introduce the framework theory of how and why IXes are valuable from an economic perspective. We then enumerate about a dozen tactics IXes use to get over the "Start Up Hump", to build a strong critical mass of participants, and finally, defense tactics to maintain that population. (To be released at a future date.)