Sean writes:

Travis Pugh wrote:

...

I was able to procure extremely detailed route information from multiple CLECs and Verizon in the Boston area when researching both dark fiber and SONET purchases, up to and including street-level maps. Long-haul providers also are able to provide detailed route information, if you're willing to ask -- the key is to be an educated buyer.

Getting the maps is the "easy" part. Keeping track of where your circuit is after six months is the hard part. I've spoken to people who even had "dark fiber" groomed into a single path.

When even NORAD and VISA have had problems maintaining diversity, I find it hard to believe it is a simple as saying the key is to be an educated buyer. Heck, I know major, major carriers which have wiped out all the circuits to their own NOC.

If it was so simple, everyone would do it.

I think Travis does have a point, though, I bet there are a lot of people out there who didn't even bother to do the first try at it, partly out of lazyness, partly out of despair knowing that the maps will change eventually and tracking it may be impractical at some levels. I suspect more people need to make that effort, and the more people making that effort the easier it may become to actually track and maintain the diversity over time. That the tracking may not be in realtime and may not be 100% accurate doesn't mean that more info more of the time isn't an improvement. -george william herbert gherbert@retro.com