Hi there... We've done the financial study and we've taken great lengths in netflow analysis to do estimated traffic flows at each peering location etc. This was factored before I posted and as I mentioned in an earlier posting - the cost element is pretty much addressed already with our transit/peering coming in almost at the same cost when the built-out is completed. We are already peering locally with the folks where most of our transit comes from - been doing that for quite a period of time...
Cost of transport, opex and capital to build out to a peering point, ports for interconnect, vs the expected money saved by peering away sufficient traffic is the analysis that will inform your strategy. This is why I said if you are already at a place where you are buying transit, it probably worth it to peer with the folks locally.
My question was meant at a much higher level - a level where costs are equal for peering/transit and all the "technical" and the "financial" homework has been done already.... now I'm the stage of one last meeting with top level management to explain "peering" and it's magic. These are mainly non-technical people - so my question to NANOG was for viewpoints on peering of which hopefully I could reinforce some of my own thoughts with. Whether or not someone operating at scale isn't the discussion - and it's funny how many people involved with companies (that are "operating at scale") have emailed me offline since this discussion started a few days ago with questions/thoughts and strategy.
The point is if you are building out specifically to peer, the effort is not worth it if you are not operating at scale, and if you are operating at scale, you are not going to ask nanog about peering.
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