[Outages-discussion] Internet "backbone"

[Keegan Holley]

2011/11/18 Patrick W. Gilmore <patrick at ianai.net>

> 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?
>
> Maybe. I bet most of those countries transit large carriers in the US
and/or most of their traffic is destined for them. I think the point of
that post was that there is no such thing as a 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.
>

By this I meant ISP's with a large number of peerings since it would be in
lieu of peering with a large number of AS's yourself.  They are one in the
same in alot of cases, but no it's not tied only to traffic.

>
>
--
> 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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