Re: Current street prices for US Internet Transit

[Patrick W Gilmore <patrick () ianai net>]

On Aug 16, 2004, at 4:28 PM, Burton, Chris wrote:

>         Those problems you describe may be the providers initially and
> on a on going basis, but they can very quickly become your problem.  
> The
> SLA you have with your provider may allow for a recoup of some money
> lost in the form or credits or contract termination; but in the end
> money lost is money lost and I don't believe upper management would 
> take
> kindly to any Network Engineer saying "oh well" to any issue at the
> provider level inadvertent or not. Your selection of provider and the
> understanding of the providers network and how it will work with your
> environment is paramount.

Of course - if your transit provider falls over, Bad Things happen, 
especially if you placed all your bets on one network.

Doesn't change the fact that the most expensive equipment doesn't stop 
someone from fat-fingering a config.

End of day, I believe the people running a network and the history of 
that network's performance & stability are orders of magnitude more 
important than whether they have GSRs vs. 7600s or Junipers vs. 
Force10s.  But that's me.  Feel free to pick your provider because they 
run all Foundry in the core if it makes you happy.  Your bits, your 
decision.

Of course, if you look at all the stable networks run by good people, 
you may find a correlation with the equipment being used.  Dunno, you 
might not.  Either way, I'm putting my faith in the engineers to run a 
good network, not the box vendors.  My bits, my decision.

--
TTFn,
patrick