I have a question on public peering agreements. I have seen some providers using them while others are not. What is the general opinion on peering agreements? Are most peering agreements used mainly for private peering? Also, what are the pros and cons and what kind of protection should I expect from such an agreement? Thank you in advance, Robert Tryce
On Thu, Dec 13, 2001 at 03:00:27PM -0500, Robert Tryce wrote:
I have a question on public peering agreements. I have seen some providers using them while others are not. What is the general opinion on peering agreements? Are most peering agreements used mainly for private peering? Also, what are the pros and cons and what kind of protection should I expect from such an agreement?
Since, as far as I know, there is no direct legal precedent I would suggest it would be wise to at least have a "no warranty expressed or implied, use at your own risk, may be terminated at any time without notice" contract. Some companies may want to get fancier. Without any contract you're ripe pickings for a long court case only to see a judge "make new law", IMHO. -- Leo Bicknell - bicknell@ufp.org - CCIE 3440 PGP keys at http://www.ufp.org/~bicknell/ Read TMBG List - tmbg-list-request@tmbg.org, www.tmbg.org
Having been through protracted sessions of due dilligence, involving an ISP with a large number of peers, and many peering contracts, the general rules about them seem to be... 1) The vast majority of lawyers, especially those who specialize in peering matters (and they are actually a few), regard bilateral peering contracts as useless instruments for purposes of securing or maintaining peering, due to the ever-present cancellation clauses. 2) Some folks, usually those largely unfamiliar with peering, place unusual weight on the presense or absence of BLPAs. This can sometimes include lawyers who are unfamiliar with peering, as they are almost always unaware of the cancellation clauses. 3) Peering contracts are most useful in their addendums and attachments, as a method of establishing agreement about parameters of peering, such as locations, circuit sizes, who is paying for which circuits, etc. This can be useful, as these agreements tend to survive past the employment of those who negotiated them. Otherwise, there can be confusion about the details. The key is, if you are just getting started peering, you will frequently be presented with other folk's peering agreements. Attempting to negotiate terms or wording of the pre-existing BLPAs is both pointless and a waste of time. - Daniel Golding
-----Original Message----- From: owner-nanog@merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog@merit.edu]On Behalf Of Robert Tryce Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2001 3:00 PM To: nanog@merit.edu Subject: Peering Agreements
I have a question on public peering agreements. I have seen some providers using them while others are not. What is the general opinion on peering agreements? Are most peering agreements used mainly for private peering? Also, what are the pros and cons and what kind of protection should I expect from such an agreement?
Thank you in advance,
Robert Tryce
might want to open this up for discussion in the model-peer group. model-peer@yahoogroups.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/model-peer On Thu, 13 Dec 2001, Robert Tryce wrote:
I have a question on public peering agreements. I have seen some providers using them while others are not. What is the general opinion on peering agreements? Are most peering agreements used mainly for private peering? Also, what are the pros and cons and what kind of protection should I expect from such an agreement?
Thank you in advance,
Robert Tryce
/rf
participants (4)
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Daniel Golding -
Leo Bicknell -
Rich Fulton -
Robert Tryce