RE: IPv6 news

["Hannigan, Martin" <hannigan () verisign com>]

> No.  Within a region.  Normally area codes are a region.  Sometimes
> entire country codes are a region in this sense.  Depends on the size
> of the region/country though.  In some cases there is even more than
> one area code for the same region.

LATA's are geographic areas and NPX(prefix) are switching 
areas within the LATA(Local Access and Transport Area). 
The geo regions(LATA) are set up to differentiate local 
and long distance inside the US. There's a three level
hiearchy within each LATA, and there are three levels in
the United States as defined by the regulators, post 
divestiture. I'd have to say your definition may be
accurate outside the US, but not inside.

[ SNIP ]
 
> The telco peering points is just a technicality.  It's there just for
> optimization.  Most regulators have set up an "easy interconnection"
> policy to prevent your favorite incumbant from offering 'peering' only
> on lands end.

They're more than a technicality. They are required by the 
regulator. There are commodity markets related to IXC minutes 
exchange as well. This helps to keep LD cheap (as it can be)
and reliable as if one carrier is unable to carry minutes, others
can.

The basic telco archictecture in the USA is EO, TO, and AT. 
In the case of LD, it's EO, TO, to a POP, and IXC. EO, TO and AT
are all interconnected some symetrically, some asymetrically, with
the exception of the IXC which is all symetric.

Personally, this is a very interesting thread to me, but I think
this is starting to go way off topic for NANOG.

-M<