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Ask Dr. Peering
Ask Dr. Peering
Q: DrPeering -
Does it make sense to help out competitors in a time of crisis?
Brian Jones
A:
During the fiber outage in the Taiwan Straits a few years back. several large ISPs lost their primary connectivity and saturated their alternative paths to the rest of the Internet. The result was seriously poor performance for their customers. We are talking really bad performance. Customers could not check out of hotels because their credit cards weren’t going through because of the congestion.
During this crisis, ISPs that did not meet the peering prerequisites stepped up and offered temporary free peering to help out during the crisis. And sure enough, after the crisis was over, the peering remained. Helping out a competitor in the time of crisis actually led to sustained peering. And this story was repeated several times, enough so that it will be added as a tactic in the next edition of the Internet Peering Playbook.
So the answer is that it is in your best interest to offer assistance to a competitor in a time of crisis, particularly one that you would like to peer with one day.
Help a competitor? Are you crazy? This is one sentiment. Another is that it is strategically advantageous to help one’s competitors and even those that denied peering requests in the past.
Peer During Time of Crisis
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
N E W
The Internet Peering Playbook: Connecting to the Core of the Internet
ISBN: 978-1-937451-00-4
Available Now in print, and as a kindle book on Amazon.com and as an ePub on lulu.com and on the Apple iBookStore.
Abstract: One can understand the protocols, the technologies, and the routing algorithms, but that doesn't tell the story. The Internet is a global ecosystem of cooperating and competing networks, strategically interconnected to maximize performance and minimize costs. If you are operating a growing Internet service, it is essential that you understand how the Internet Peering Ecosystem works at the core.
“...destined to be the Internet Peering Bible” – Jeff Turner, InterStream
“Essential Reading.” – Martin Sanne, SEACOM
“Great foundation in understanding the basis for ISP peering,
their interactions, and provides insight into where those relationships are heading.”
– David Mandel, Cisco Systems
“...the benchmark of the most useful technical workshop ever.”–Jaco Muller
