RE: wow, lots of akamai

["Tony Wicks" <tony () wicks co nz>]

This is not actually (as in yes it does matter) the case, if a file comes from a CDN it is often a close and low 
latency source that will run up to very high speeds. For example in our case we connect to local peering exchanges (or 
PNI’s/local caches) at 100G or Nx10G with latency to the end user in the 1-30ms range resulting in very large peaks of 
local backhaul traffic. If a file is delivers from source or from remote CDN’s/exchanges these are located in other 
countries with between 25ms (New Zealand to Australia) and 130-200ms (New Zealand to LA/SJC or Singapore) latency, this 
results in a much slower and normally barely noticeable traffic blip. Yes as an ISP we need to carry the traffic in 
both cases but the first case can result in a 20-30% local backhaul increase for a couple of hours and in the second 
case its just BAU traffic for a day or two. Local CDN is obviously the better option for cost and the consumer, but you 
certainly do notice the traffic in local backhaul.

 

From: NANOG <nanog-bounces+tony=wicks.co.nz () nanog org> On Behalf Of Tom Beecher
Sent: Friday, 2 April 2021 10:05 am
To: Matt Erculiani <merculiani () gmail com>
Cc: North American Operators' Group <nanog () nanog org>
Subject: Re: wow, lots of akamai

 

 

If thousands of users are downloading 50G files at the same time, it really doesn't matter if they are pulling from a 
CDN or the origin directly. The volume of traffic still has to be handled. Yes, it's a burden on the ISP, but it's a 
burden created by the usage created by their subscribers.