This is even considering if MAE-Houston will have more than
one customer by the end of those 1 year service agreements in Feb.
Most of the people there don't feel $2000/month is worth it for
10mbps connections, particaurlly when other providers will give me
point to point 10mbps connections for $1000month (on-net). Oh
and those are full duplex also.
Now if MFS has gotten some other players to show up and peer, then
it might be different, but there just isn't that much value in the
MAE-Houston right now.
I almost would venture a guess that the whole value in public
interconnects is largely dead, due to the restrictive peering polices
in place by the larger networks, and the lack of interest/clue in
smaller providers.
I hope not, I have got a lot of people asking about Atlanta-NAP. I think
MFSs problem is they way they start them. I mean yes it may take selling
the first few people a gigaswitch port for next to nothing, but it will
grow after that. MFS has taken the cheap way out to start most of the other
MAEs. I think they needed to start with Gigaswitch, UPS system, generator,
and a little better priceing. If they did that then I think other would
come. The hard part (and it is very very hard) is to get the first few
people to come, after that it is all down hill. Just look at how fast
MAE-East and MAE-West have grown, and that is with hardly any colo space
at all.
Nathan Stratton President, NetRail,Inc.
The reason MAE-east and MAE-west have grown so much is because they
are located in areas where there is lots of traffic flowing. The
popularity of peering points has almost nothing to do with the
interconnect costs, those are peanuts to most companies. Why on earth
would I drag a DS3 n-thousand miles to some city that doesn't have any
traffic flowing to/from it? I wouldn't, because it would be a waste
of money.
Also, I daresay MFS has substantially more experience in selling
access to and operating peering points than you do, as they've been
running the two biggest ones for years, and obviously haven't had any
problem whatsoever selling access to them. The newer MAEs might not
have all that many connections into them yet, but the pricing of the
connection to the switch is not the limiting factor. It's the tens of
thousands of dollars for the DS3/OC3 to the colo point.
Alec
My own experience is that the vast majority of networks at the MAE's
are happy to peer with DataXchange. The present system of n*(n-1)
negotiations and the lack of easy to obtain contact information makes the
process much more difficult and time consuming than it has to be. I
recently spoke with the new Director of CIX about this, and she agreed
that CIX would setup a database to make this process a bit easier, by
listing the contact information of those networks who *do* wish to
generally peer. Of course the largest networks will not participate, as
lately it seems to be a matter of pride to have the most restrictive
peering policies. But for the rest of us, it will make life a little easier.
Regarding "having a clue", I find nearly every MAE connected network
to have knowledgable and capable people, who just usually have more to do
than time to do it. I do not think the size of the network corralates
well to the "clueness" of the personal.
Best Regards,
Robert Laughlin
The reason MAE-east and MAE-west have grown so much is because they
are located in areas where there is lots of traffic flowing. The
popularity of peering points has almost nothing to do with the
interconnect costs, those are peanuts to most companies. Why on earth
would I drag a DS3 n-thousand miles to some city that doesn't have any
traffic flowing to/from it? I wouldn't, because it would be a waste
of money.
You would not, but most providers have DS3 or OC3 to Atlanta anyway, so it
is not a lot to extend a 0 mile DS3 or even OC3. Also Florida is one of
the fastest growing ISP markets in the US and it is MUCH better to go to
Atlanta-NAP to exchange traffic then to go to MAE-East or MAE-Dallas.
Also, I daresay MFS has substantially more experience in selling
access to and operating peering points than you do, as they've been
running the two biggest ones for years, and obviously haven't had any
problem whatsoever selling access to them. The newer MAEs might not
Ya, and most of them will work for me, I get so many calls form MFS people
it is not even funny. I don't know what is going on over there, but they
want to jump.
have all that many connections into them yet, but the pricing of the
connection to the switch is not the limiting factor. It's the tens of
thousands of dollars for the DS3/OC3 to the colo point.
Well I am not saying Erols should drop a DS3 to Atlanta-NAP, you need to
connect to the NSF NAPs first. Atlanta-NAP is not the place for people
like you who just sit off MAE-East and buy transit from other ISPs that do
that same. It is more for people who have a nationwide network and would
like to spend a little money to exchange traffic in Atlanta and not bring
it all to MAE-East.
Nathan Stratton President, NetRail,Inc.
I'm not going to bother continuing this argument in public, as Nathan
seems to desire to turn this into a personal flamewar (which was not
at all my intent). Apologies.
Alec