IP: UUnet peering policy changes

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

<excerpt>


</excerpt>UUNET details peering strategy; changing  Internet economics
prompt new policy 12 May 1997 13:47


   FAIRFAX, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 12, 1997--Stating that the 
economics of the Internet have changed radically in the past few  years,
UUNET Technologies Inc., the world's largest Internet service  provider
and a subsidiary of WorldCom Inc. (NASDAQ: WCOM),  today detailed its
policy regarding peering with other ISP's.  


           The company said it will continue to peer with ISP's that can  route
traffic on a bilateral and equitable basis.  However, UUNET  will no
longer accept peering requests from ISP's whose  infrastructures do not
allow for the exchange of similar traffic  levels.  


           "A few years ago all ISPs were generally the same size and used  each
other's infrastructures to a more or less equal extent,"  said  John
Sidgmore, president and chief executive officer of UUNET.   "Today that
situation no longer exists and consequently there are  many cases where
peering is not appropriate."  


           One of the major principles of UUNET's policy is to peer with  ISP's
that operate a national network with a dedicated, diversely  routed DS-3
(or faster) backbone, and which will connect to UUNET at  DS-3 or greater
speeds in at least four geographically diverse  locations.  Peering is an
arrangement whereby "peers", or ISP's of  similar size, route each
others' traffic to destinations on their  respective networks.  Because
the flow of data and use of  infrastructure are anticipated to be
approximately equal in both  directions, no money changes hands in
peering relationships.  


           UUNET said it has received numerous peering requests from small 
regional ISP's and companies which provide "web server farm"   services
rather than Internet networking.  These are, in effect,  requests for
UUNET to provide national and international data  transport, as well as
connectivity and support services, to companies which do not have the
ability to provide similar services in return. Essentially, companies
requesting peering in these situations are  seeking to use UUNET's
network for free, after UUNET has spent  hundreds of millions of dollars
to create its infrastructure.  


           "This is a purely economic decision,"  Sidgmore continued.  "We  are
100 percent in favor of interconnection and won't deny access to  anyone.
 However where the use of our respective infrastructures  would clearly
be imbalanced, we cannot reasonably be expected to  provide our
transport, route management and support resources at no  charge."  


           For those ISP's, or web server farms, seeking transport and route
management services from UUNET, but which do not qualify as peers,  UUNET
offers wholesale connectivity services beginning at monthly  rates of
$2,000 for T1 connections and $6,000 for fractional T3  connections. 
UUNET currently provides such wholesale connections to  several hundred
ISP's.  


           UUNET's network consists of a global backbone with multiple DS-3  (45
million bits per second) links on all major routes.  It has an  aggregate
capacity well in excess of 5 gigabits per second.  UUNET  recently
announced it was making a $300 million investment in its  infrastructure
which would quadruple dial capacity and raise the  speed of backbone
routes to OC-12 (622 million bits per second),  dramatically increasing
capacity.