I do still think UUnet is in a downward spiral, just like C&W. Strong peering policies are not good for the Internet.
Greetz, Peter.
I'm not so sure that's true. Personally, I think the Internet is better served by having a smaller number of larger and better maintained meeting places than by just having a large number of peering points were everyone connects to everybody else. Here are just a few reasons why, for example, it's better if you use transit to FooNet to reach BarNet rather than BarNet peering with you directly (assuming you are not too big yourself): 1) FooNet and BarNet are more likely to keep their peering points scaled to handle the load than you are. They are more likely to monitor performance and shut down failures. 2) FooNet and BarNet will meet at more places than you will meet BarNet, allowing traffic to get off the source network faster and providing better fault tolerance. 3) Fewer BGP sessions means faster convergence and less instability. 4) You may be more likely to meet BarNet at public peering points while FooNet is more likely to meet BarNet at private peering points. Your traffic to BarNet will get the benefit of the higher amounts of effort FooNet and BarNet will put into keeping their meeting points efficient. DS