UUNET issued a press release today on their peering strategy. It is located at: http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/97/05/12/wcom_x000_1.html The gist of the press release is that UUNET will peer with anyone who has "a national network with a dedicated, diversely routed DS-3 (or faster) backbone, and which will connect to UUNET at DS-3 or greater speeds in at least four geographically diverse locations." UUNET is being taken advantage of by "small regional ISP's and companies which provide ``web server farm'' services rather than Internet networking." and must protect itself from abuse of its backbone. Sounds like they are backing off, since this line of reasoning (modulo bandwidth and number of interconnects) has been standard procedure for all the national backbones since the end of the NSFNET. However, if you read the fine print about "a dedicated diversely routed DS-3 or faster backbone" that lets out all the "no money down instant backbones" that many smaller national ISPs and web farmers have built of late. Are they still insisting on NDAs before talking? --Kent ------------- Monday May 12 8:32 AM EDT Company Press Release UUNET details peering strategy Changing Internet economics prompt new policy FAIRFAX, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 12, 1997--Stating that the economics of the Internet have changed radically in the past few years, UUNET Technologies Inc., the world's largest Internet service provider and a subsidiary of WorldCom Inc. (NASDAQ:WCOM), today detailed its policy regarding peering with other ISP's. The company said it will continue to peer with ISP's that can route traffic on a bilateral and equitable basis. However, UUNET will no longer accept peering requests from ISP's whose infrastructures do not allow for the exchange of similar traffic levels. ``A few years ago all ISPs were generally the same size and used each other's infrastructures to a more or less equal extent,'' said John Sidgmore, president and chief executive officer of UUNET. ``Today that situation no longer exists and consequently there are many cases where peering is not appropriate.'' One of the major principles of UUNET's policy is to peer with ISP's that operate a national network with a dedicated, diversely routed DS-3 (or faster) backbone, and which will connect to UUNET at DS-3 or greater speeds in at least four geographically diverse locations. Peering is an arrangement whereby ``peers'', or ISP's of similar size, route each others' traffic to destinations on their respective networks. Because the flow of data and use of infrastructure are anticipated to be approximately equal in both directions, no money changes hands in peering relationships. UUNET said it has received numerous peering requests from small regional ISP's and companies which provide ``web server farm'' services rather than Internet networking. These are, in effect, requests for UUNET to provide national and international data transport, as well as connectivity and support services, to companies which do not have the ability to provide similar services in return. Essentially, companies requesting peering in these situations are seeking to use UUNET's network for free, after UUNET has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to create its infrastructure. ``This is a purely economic decision,'' Sidgmore continued. ``We are 100 percent in favor of interconnection and won't deny access to anyone. However where the use of our respective infrastructures would clearly be imbalanced, we cannot reasonably be expected to provide our transport, route management and support resources at no charge.'' For those ISP's, or web server farms, seeking transport and route management services from UUNET, but which do not qualify as peers, UUNET offers wholesale connectivity services beginning at monthly rates of $2,000 for T1 connections and $6,000 for fractional T3 connections. UUNET currently provides such wholesale connections to several hundred ISP's. UUNET's network consists of a global backbone with multiple DS-3 (45 million bits per second) links on all major routes. It has an aggregate capacity well in excess of 5 gigabits per second. UUNET recently announced it was making a $300 million investment in its infrastructure which would quadruple dial capacity and raise the speed of backbone routes to OC-12 (622 million bits per second), dramatically increasing capacity. ...