Do you feel that UUNET's own network doesn't meet the criteria set out in the press release? How so?

Which of UUNET's peers who are able to continue to peer with them, would you say do not follow the criteria set out in the press release?

Actually I was thinking of a few other providers, but it is a common occurance among all providers with requirements for peering. MCI's requirement for a fully-meshed backbone. AGIS's requirement to connect to five exchange points, and already have peering agreements with many other providers. I haven't seen UUNET's actual peering requirements, just the press release, so maybe this is just a case of poor PR writing. But the press release does give some details about the backbone. It says DS3's or higher are used on "major" routes. Which begs the question, what does the backbone use on "minor" routes? Few providers have homogenous backbones. They usually have a wide range of circuit types, speeds, media. The definition of backbone, major, route, diverse, dedicated, etc are ratholes you go down when you venture past the 'public' interface between providers. I'm not trying to pick on a particular provider, just pointing out things you need to consider if you plan to write a requirements document. I don't like putting ratholes into requirements if they aren't really requirements. Last summer, you could substitute AGIS for UUNET, and had the same debate. In the end its not a techinical decision, its a business decision. I would really like to avoid the fiasco that happened with Western Union and the whole notion of "International Record Carriers" and "Record Carriers" that happened before the FAX machine made the teletype obsolete. -- Sean Donelan, Data Research Associates, Inc, St. Louis, MO Affiliation given for identification not representation