[Outages-discussion] Internet "backbone"

[Patrick W. Gilmore]

On Nov 18, 2011, at 5:09 PM, Keegan Holley wrote:

> This is one of those buzzwords the was never given a real definition, like the concept of tier I, II and III ISP's.  I can't recall ever using the term internet backbone in a sentence but it does help people who may not understand the specifics to describe the "big pipes" that carry their traffic.  This industry is full of buzzwords that are no longer accurate or never were.  I would say anyone that carries 30G or more of transit is as close to being a backbone provider as it gets.  It's true that just about anyone can peer with anyone else directly, but most talk through the large ISP's so I understand why some may still use the term.

There are entire countries that do not have 30G of traffic.  Does that mean they are not on the backbone?

And I am not sure what you mean by "most talk through the large ISP's".  If you mean most traffic touches a network with 30 Gbps of traffic or more, well, that's kinda tautological.

-- 
TTFN,
patrick



> 2011/11/18 Joseph Jackson <jjackson at aninetworks.net>
> I think we should disabuse the notion that there is a Internet "backbone".  With all the interconnection of networks and POPs that services Internet connectivity is it correct to still consider that the internet has a backbone?  This isn't the NSFnet anymore with a few long haul links between sites.  When someone says Internet Backbone what are they trying to describe since such a physical infrastructure doesn't really exist anymore.
> 
> Just a thought I had...
> 
> Joseph
> 
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