This presentation was given by IX Reach's Head of Marketing, Ruth Plater at FranceIX's General Meeting in Paris, September 2013.

1. Remote Peering – A Shift in
Internet Architecture
Presented by Ruth Plater, Head of Marketing
France-IX GA, 26 September 2013

2. Who is IX Reach?
 Global wholesale connectivity solutions provider for national and international
Carriers, ISPs, Content Networks and Telco's
 Layer 2 Ethernet and MPLS network
 30 major global cities (and growing)
 20 Internet Exchanges in Europe and the US
 75+ data centres on-net
 Global leaders in remote peering

3. Our Global Network

4. Our Footprint in Numbers
30 Major Global Cities (and Growing)
Amsterdam, Ashburn, Atlanta, Brussels, Chicago, Copenhagen, Dubai, Dublin, Fra
nkfurt, Geneva, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Leeds, London,
Los Angeles, Manchester, Madrid, Miami, Milan, Munich, New York, Paris, Palo
Alto, Prague, Reston, San Jose, Stockholm, Vienna, Zurich, Luxembourg
20 Internet Exchanges in Europe and the US
AMS-IX, Any2 (Telx, NY), BNIX, DE-CIX, Equinix Ashburn, Equinix Paris, Equinix
Zurich, France-IX, INEX, IX Leeds, IX
Manchester, LINX, LIPEX, LONAP, MIX, Netnod, NL-ix, SwissIX, UAE-IX, LU-CIX
75+ Data Centres On-Net

5. Internet Exchange Partners

6. Network Services Portfolio
 Point-to-Point/Multipoint: city-to-city capacity
 Peering at major Internet Exchanges
 Amazon Web Services Direct Connect
 Transatlantic and coast-to-coast US capacity
 Metro Reach: extensive Metro Ethernet in London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Paris
 IP Transit
 Colocation
 Virtual PoPs
 Private Leased Lines and VPNs

7. Peering Vs. Transit
Peering
 Settlement-free interconnection between two networks
 Cost efficient
 Traffic optimisation and low latency
 Scalability and redundancy
 Improved end-user experience – closer to the eyeballs
 Community and marketing
Transit
 Connecting smaller ISPs, for a fee, to the larger Internet
 Historically more expensive
 No control over routes

8. Traditional Peering Model
Source: Re-Designed from Dr. Peering

9. Challenges to this Model
 Fixed costs (ports, colocation, routers)
 Faster decline in Transit costs, with no end in sight

10. Remote Peering Model
Source: Re-Designed from Dr. Peering

11. How does Remote Peering Help?
 Further cost reductions:
 No colocation or hardware infrastructure at each IX required
 No deployment/install fees
 Bundled transport and connections at the Exchanges
 Lower operational costs – customers only pay for the CDR they need
 Reduction in upstream costs and reliance on multiple transit connections
 Paperwork is vastly reduced for the IXPs
 Single point of contact for legal, technical and billing for the customer
 Turning up peering is a lot faster
Peering is therefore more accessible to smaller/medium sized networks and
developing markets.

12. More to Consider: International Vs. Local
 We used to say “peering keeps traffic local”
 Network operators in developing markets connecting “locally” with each other in
remote locations
 Remote peering promotes international traffic exchange
 But it makes less sense over longer distances
 Higher adoption of remote peering to cut costs and headaches
 vPoPs make it even easier to enter new markets and remote peer
 Content providers want to be closer to the eye-balls
 As a result more of a business case for local IXPs to be built

13. Reaction of IXPs to this Shift
 Larger IXPs with critical mass are less at risk than smaller IXs without
 IXPs are behaving more and more like networks:
 Expanding geographically (both domestically and internationally) - becoming
multi-site IXPs and using their “brand” (e.g. France-IX Marseille, UAE-IX
powered by DE-CIX, the US market and Open-IX community)
 Small IXs are expanding regionally and offering remote peering to bigger IXs
(e.g. LU-CIX’s Central European Peering Hub
 Some have their own partial networks and offer connectivity -
anything to help connect new members
 Most have, or are considering, a reseller program to help attract
international and diverse members
It is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate between international and local
peering, and Networks and Internet Exchanges.

14. France-IX via IX Reach
 Remote peering is crucial for building an IXP
internationally
 13 new members via IX Reach
 The time for diversification is now
 Transit is still expensive in some places
 Developing markets are looking to connect to
France and peer with French networks
(Francophone Africa, Middle East)
 Fractional ports via a remote peering partner
are more attractive given the costs of
international capacity

15. Conclusions
 Transit costs continue to fall and there’s no end in sight
 Peering is still valuable for a network and operators normally use (or at least
consider) a blend of peering direct, remote peering AND transit
 Remote peering reduces the costs of peering further
 However, this makes less sense over longer distances
 Remote peering is a great way to get closer to the eyeballs
 The roles of networks and IXPs will change in the future – it’s already happening!
 Developing markets will play a vital part in this shift

16. A Message from our London HQ