On Sun, 29 Sep 1996, Scott Bradner wrote:

...

Nope. More and more people will peer with each other but not with the big 6 thus eventually creating a parallel universe at the core of the net

gee that sounds like a great idea - two Internets for the price of one

Not two Internets. Two Internet cores. These would be interconnected at numerous points on the periphery of the core thus forming one single cohesive Internet. This is not a lot different from what you already see between Europe and the USA. I'm just suggesting that within the USA if a provider is big enough to operate a contintent spanning mesh and cannot get the Big 6 to peer with them, then they should be looking at peering with others in a similar position. Whether this happens at the same physical exchange points as the current Big 6 peering is not terribly relevant although I thing from an XP engineering point of view they would be better off going to a separate set of exchanges even if they are in some of the same cities. As the Internet scales up, it is entirely possible that there will be several such Internet cores in the next few years. Michael Dillon - ISP & Internet Consulting Memra Software Inc. - Fax: +1-604-546-3049 http://www.memra.com - E-mail: michael@memra.com