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North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical RE: Faster 'Net growth rate raises fears about routers
On Mon, 02 April 2001, Roeland Meyer wrote: > From the article: > <quote> > "Half of the companies that are multihomed should have gotten better service > from their providers," says Patrik Faltstrom, a Cisco engineer and co-chair > of the IETF's Applications Area. "ISPs haven't done a good enough job > explaining to their customers that they don't need to multihome." > </quote> Why would a rational customer pay for a second connection (usually more than doubling their cost) if a single connection was satisfactory? Although providers try to vertically integrate their operations, time and time again, vertical integration tends to increase the risk for the customer. Mid-level providers serve an important function in the Internet hierarchy. Multi-homing works well with mid-level providers aggregating local routes, and managing redudancy between long-haul providers. If you don't use a mid-level provider, to achieve the same reliability you end up needing to be your own mid-level provider. Why can't a large provider operate their network as a set of mid-level networks, and connections to multiple long-haul networks. They could. |