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North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical Re: Private and Public Peering
At 21:42 06/18/2000 -0700, Steve Feldman wrote: > >The closest to a real distinction that I've been able to come >up with is whether or not a third party is involved >*and* whether packets (or cells) are switched. > >For example, peering through a FDDI, Ethernet, or ATM switch >is always called "public" (unless perhaps the switch is >owned by one of the peers). And peering through a wire or >SONET/SDH circuit seems to always be called private, >even though the data might pass through SONET/SDH >multiplexers, cross-connects, and switches operated by >a third party... Steve, this happens to be true in most cases, but I would view it as being sort of coincidental. What most people term "public peering" is effected at a public traffic interchange point, where many providers appear, or can choose to appear. Note that the decision whether to interconnect is still, in almost all cases, a bilateral business decision between each pair of providers. The word "public" is thus something of a misnomer. It's usually implemented over FDDI, ATM, whatever, because the traffic interchange point needs to implement any-to-any connectivity. That's a matter of engineering practicality, but the definition should not rest on it. What most people mean by "private peering" is a direct interconnection between two providers. That's most often implemented over a circuit between the two, without either deploying equipment to the other's premises; again, however, that's simply a matter of engineering convenience. These connections are conceptually point-to-point. Hope this was helpful, - Scott
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