Internet Conncetivity

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Internet Connectivity: Your Business Lifeline to Electronic Commerce

by Scott Hayes

Today, the Internet affects business like no other modern technology. Financial companies such as E*Trade and Ameritrade now trade stock, in real time, over the Internet. More than 1.5 million people in more than 160 countries have purchased books from Amazon.com, touted as the world’s largest bookstore. Computer software companies such as Egghead Software now distribute software products through the Internet. As a result, Egghead is closing all of its retail outlets to focus exclusively on Internet distribution.

Some critics say the Internet is only a passing phase and will end as abruptly as it started. However, in a very short time, the Internet has changed from a consumer toy to a critical business tool. In addition, the tremendous revenue growth of companies doing business over the Internet doesn’t appear to be slowing down.

Internet Service Providers

At the core of every corporate web site, or “virtual store,” is the Internet Service Provider (ISP) that provides Internet connectivity. This link is crucial to the success or failure of any on-line venture because no connectivity, or spotty connectivity, dooms a web site to failure.

As a result of the level of service businesses are demanding, ISPs are re-evaluating the way they conduct business–from customer service to network development.

In order to understand the affect an ISP has on a business, you must first understand that the Internet was originally built with a single purpose: to exchange information with other networks. The Internet is comprised of several thousand networks owned by several thousand different companies. In order to

pass information from one network to the other, there are several public exchange points where everyone can meet and agree to exchange information.

Both large and small ISPs make some decisions on how to configure their networks to provide the optimal level of service to customers. The two key business choices facing an ISP business when it is planning to build a network are 1) How to reach as many people as possible and 2) How to deliver information as quickly and reliably as possible.

Two Choices for ISPs

1. Build connections directly to several different public exchange points. This gives customers the diversity they demand (if they go to more than one exchange point), and access to all other networks. Most large ISPs with national networks choose this route.

2. Exchange information with other ISPs through a “peering” arrangement. This occurs through the purchase of direct connections to other ISPs. This avoids the electronic traffic congestion that may occur at public exchange points and relies on larger ISPs as peering partners to carry the information to its final

destination.

Depending on which strategy your business chooses, there are advantages and disadvantages that could affect your Internet connectivity.

National Access Points (NAPS)

If an ISP decides to connect only to public exchange points, the level of service customers receive can be affected by the operations of other companies. Each public exchange point is owned by a different company that controls the amount of information coming and going. Electronic traffic jams frequently occur during peak usage. Many larger ISPs may be given priority access to the public exchange points allowing them to exchange information more efficiently. The connection to these public exchange points is less expensive than other methods, however, a major disadvantage is the unreliability of the connection.

Private Peering

A newer and increasingly popular option to transmit information to its final destination is through building private peering relationships with many other ISPs. As mentioned earlier, some of the national access providers have priority access at the public exchange points. If these national access providers are

used to provide connectivity, your business receives all of the benefits at these exchange points. The smaller ISP controls the connection to the national access providers much easier than if they were sending their information into the public network themselves.

Smaller ISPs that choose this route usually receive connectivity from the three largest Internet backbone providers in the country allowing them diversity. There are distinct advantages to this strategy, since the smaller ISP has the ability to choose where to send their information. If one of the connections to the backbone provider is not working, the information is routed to the other two. The biggest disadvantage to this method is the cost which can amount to $50,000 to $80,000 per month or more.

In addition to relying on larger ISPs to send information, smaller ISPs may also create private peering relationships with specific ISPs through which they will exchange traffic.

One example is an Electric Lightwave Internet connection to the three largest Internet Backbone providers. In order to exchange information with specific networks, Electric Lightwave arranges to trade information with a particular ISP. With this in place, all information that starts out on Electric Lightwave’s network and is destined for the ISP goes directly there, instead of relying on the connections to the three largest Internet Backbone providers to deliver that information. The advantage this offers to both Electric Lightwave and the ISP customer is direct control over their connection. If the network becomes congested, both private peering partners agree to add a larger capacity connection, and alleviate the problem. This provides additional advantages. Since the cost of the connection between the two companies is usually minimal, they both can provide better performance between the networks at lower cost.

As the applications residing on the Internet become more critical to business operations, it is imperative that a business investigates its Internet connection by asking some hard and fast questions. The Internet

connectivity a company receives from its provider is of the utmost importance in any on-line venture.

Scott Hayes is IP Product Manager at Electric Lightwave. Visit Electric Lightwave on the World Wide Web at www.eli.net.

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Questions to Ask Your Internet Service Provider

1. Does your ISP have connections nationwide? Regionally? Locally? It is important that the ISP you choose has, at the least, a regional network. This gives your ISP the flexibility and diversity it needs to

deliver your traffic.

2. Does your ISP connect directly to the NAP’s or MAE’s?

3. If your ISP uses connections to the MAE’s or NAP’s, what is the speed of those connections, and how many do they go into directly? If your ISP has chosen this connection, it is important that your ISP has

negotiated relationships with all of the other participants at the MAE’s or NAP’s, and that the connections are at DS-3 speeds (45Mbs) or above. (Be aware that there is no guarantee that your information will transfer across the NAP’s or MAE’s without being lost.) They must also have more than one connection to the MAE’s or NAP’s and have an average utilization on those links and on the backbone below 50 percent.

4. If your ISP does not connect to the NAPS and relies on peers or purchased bandwidth, how many connections does it have and at what speed? If your ISP chooses this route, it needs to have at least two DS-3 connections with two of the Internet Backbone providers, at two separate locations as well as less than 50 percent average utilization across those connections and on the backbone. This will give you network diversity, redundancy, and speed.

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