LINXCaseStudy. LINX from Anywhere

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1 LINXCaseStudy LINX from Anywhere A Case Study with E4A Spring, 2009

2 2 LfA Case Study Introduction and Background Introduction This is a brief case study of an Italian service provider, E4A, who joined LINX in 2008 via the LINX from Anywhere service. Background LINX The London Internet Exchange (LINX) is one of the world s largest Internet Exchange Points (IXPs). We have achieved this position by building and maintaining a global reputation for quality, performance and technical excellence. LINX - a natural topological focus Since 1994, LINX has acted as the focus for development of the Internet infrastructure in the UK and, increasingly, the infrastructure between Europe, North America, Asia and Australasia. This is reflected by the composition of our membership across the globe - network operators who choose to exchange their Internet traffic here through co-operative peering agreements. LINX currently has over 330 members, including ISPs, content delivery networks, content providers, gaming & gambling companies, VOIP providers etc. These networks have origins in nearly 50 countries throughout the world. Peering IXPs allow network service providers (NSPs) to exchange their traffic - so an from a customer of network operator A can reach a customer of operator B through the IXP at which A and B connect their networks. Similarly, a customer of operator B can access a website hosted by a customer of operator A because the data can flow swiftly and cost-effectively between the networks of the two operators through the connections made at an IXP. This exchange of traffic between networks at an IXP is known as peering. Effective peering delivers performance and cost benefits for Internet users. LINX from Anywhere LINX from Anywhere connections are provided by layer 2 carriers enabling peering at LINX from around the globe. Over 50 LINX members currently use this method to connect, hosting no equipment in London, but taking an Ethernet port from one of our partners instead. Normally the member pays the carrier for the transport service and LINX for its standard fees though some carriers may bundle LINX fees as well. LINX provides a tool enabling prospective members to select the country and city they would like to take service from. Alternatively LINX provides a list of carriers, and has a policy of vetting carriers to ensure that their service will fit within the network hygiene requirements of the exchange. LINX from Anywhere is a LINX brand. E4A E4A is an Italian wireless Internet service provider, operating in North-Eastern Italy, who deliver wireless broadband and VoIP services where no xdsl/fibre is available. They offer a very cost effective wireless service (faster and/ or cheaper), even where xdsl/fibre is available. They also offer nonwireless broadband services delivered using fibre, where this is available in the area. Their point of view is that their customers want the following from them: E4A Customer Needs Fast broadband access: up to 62 Mbps, average requested service2/4 Mbps, but some are happy to have 640Kbps if they save money Low latency No traffic volume limits (and their customers don t want traffic shaping) To be able to obtain 100% line rate at any time they need it Fast resolution of connectivity problems Low cost: no more than 18 Euro/month

3 LfA Case Study 3 How to Deliver an Effective Service Peering E4A s view is that the best available approach open to them to be able to deliver a cost effective service to their customers is by peering their Internet traffic. Direct peering means: Direct Peering Benefits More bandwith Lower latency Direct routing management and contact with peers Lower costs than sole reliance on IP transit Peering in Italy For such direct peering needs, an ISP must join an Internet exchange (IXP). E4A were already members of the largest Italian Internet exchanges: MIX in Milan and NaMeX in Rome (see references), but this was not delivering the range of peering contacts that would allow them to significantly reduce their reliance on upstream IP transit. Although their membership of MIX and NaMeX allowed them to form peering relationships with most of the operators present in the Italian market), E4A s role as a consumer access provider meant that this only satisfied about 50% of their traffic since it has a significant international profile. The large international operators present at MIX and NaMeX have selective or restrictive peering policies, and also they found it more difficult to form peering relationships with the major content providers. Peering More Widely E4A decided to explore whether they could gain more peers, and obtain them in a cost-effective manner, by joining Internet exchanges outside Italy. They also had the goal of exploring whether they could obtain more cost-effective IP transit services by talking to the wider set of carriers that might be present at out-of-region Internet exchanges. Peering at LINX Why LINX? E4A met LINX staff face-to-face via participation at the first Italian Peering Forum in Pisa in the spring of They followed this up by study of the information available in the Peeringdb.com database, and also via the LINX website. The information given by LINX showed that it is relatively easy to get their traffic to London (a list of carriers is available in a dedicated section of the website, with many carriers to choose from), and they also found that the cost of ports at LINX was much less than they were expecting. In particular, they were delighted to discover that the cost of a 100Mb port at LINX was less than 400 Euros per month, including membership fees. They were also attracted by the support that LINX provides for peering at the exchange, both in the approach to joining (more on that later), and via multilateral peering on the route servers. E4A also commented that they were impressed with LINX s expansion programme, which resulted in three new points of presence (PoPs) being opened in 2008 making 10 PoPs in all. This gave E4A confidence that if in the future they need to expand their own presence in London, there will be both the space and choice of colocation operators to make this possible. How to get to LINX? E4A said that they found this quite straightforward, and summarised the simple process as follows: Joining LINX Check the LINX from Anywhere list, and ask carriers for quotes; Check the LINX joining process, and make sure they could meet the requirements; Ask the LINX sales staff (Jennifer and Richard, via sales@linx.net) to explain whatever you did not understand; Send the joining request form; Wait for confirmation (and the list of people interested in peering with you that LINX provide); Confirm and purchase the layer2 service with the chosen carrier.

4 4 LfA Case Study Case Study Results Comment It was a real pleasure working with E4A and LINX on this project. Our team of field engineers were able to coordinate connectivity with both the Italian and English sites and E4A was up and running rapidly, with fast, affordable and reliable service to LINX in London. We are very pleased that E4A recognized the quality of our network and subsequently expanded our relationship by purchasing additional IP transit from us as well. Dave Schaeffer - CEO, Cogent Communications Ease and Speed? They were also surprised at how quick this was. They were up and running within three weeks from their decision to go ahead, with many peers even on the first day. They were also very pleasantly surprised at how easy they found it to do. They specifically mentioned: Ease and Speed All devices can be remotely housed, so no need to maintenance out of your country; Cabling is managed by a combination of the carrier and LINX; If you need support you get it (and fast); Initially, you are placed in a quarantine VLAN (so that basic traffic and configuration checks can be done safely); after these checks you are moved to peering LAN and can peer with a large number of LINX members via the LINX route servers; you can then start to ask other members (from the initial list, or from your own target list) for peering. In fact, when E4A s membership was confirmed, they were provided with a list of more than 30 networks that had already undertaken to peer with them as part of LINX s unique joining process. In addition, E4A joined the LINX route servers, and currently benefit from over 150 peers just by that method alone. Results E4A say that 70-80% of their entire traffic is now through direct peering, with 20-30% of that going through LINX. This was more than they either expected or had calculated. They attribute this to: Conclusions Their customers started using services that they didn t use before, or began using them more. Great performance increase on content streaming and latency (in some situations latency dropped from 150ms to less than 40 ms) They also say that their IP transit is now mainly used as a backup, and to reach networks they cannot peer with yet, or for those networks with restrictive/selective peering policy which they cannot meet. LINX as a Community Although E4A had already experienced similar things in their own country, they were delighted to find that LINX is still a very lively community of networks. This is reflected in the fact that LINX still holds four well attended member meetings per year, where topics of mutual interest to the network community are presented and discussed. E4A staff came to their first member meeting in London in August 2008, and said they were pleasantly surprised at how friendly everyone was, and how it helped them to forge more peering relationships. They found that they were encouraged to get up on stage and say a few words about their own network, to make themselves visible to the LINX peering community. Overall Satisfaction Overall, E4A say they are very happy with the outcome, and specifically mention how happy their customers are! In their words: Yes, peering is good!

5 LfA Case Study 5 Final Thoughts and Reference Information Final Thoughts First of all, we strongly encourage network operators and content providers to peer widely, and we specifically encourage our own members to consider peering at other Internet exchanges with the same mutual/not-for-profit structure as LINX. Both MIX and NaMeX fall into this category, and LINX has very good working relationships with both of them. Although LINX is one of the larger exchanges in the world, with more than 300 current members, we feel that this case study could equally well apply on the opposite direction so UK ISPs and content providers can benefit from this experience. We d also like to clarify that LINX bundles two 100Mb ports for the quoted price of less than 400 Euros per month (the second port is free, to encourage members to connect to both LINX peering LANs, for resiliency). We are grateful to E4A for their cooperation in writing this case study, and for speaking about their experiences at the third European Peering Forum, held in Dublin in the autumn of Contacts and References E4A: Riccardo Losselli E4A s.r.l. peering@e4a.it Peeringdb.com E4A strongly recommend that you register: it s useful for other people to know where they can peer with you E4A also suggest that you put Peeringdb in your peering policy: it helps people know that Peeringdb exists LINX strongly endorses these sentiments about Peeringdb. Italian Internet Exchanges Milan Internet Exchange (MIX, Milan) Nautilus Mediterranean Internet Exchange (NaMeX, Rome) European Peering Forum