Level 3 Communications Inc. and tw telecom have inked a long-term Internet traffic peering agreement.
The deal will allow the two Internet service provider networks to exchange data, so that channel partners’ Internet customers on either network can send and receive content and traffic across both seamlessly.
Better peering and traffic exchange among ISPs translates to higher performance and faster speeds to better support new, innovative high-bandwidth applications. Broadband consumers now download much more data than they send, requiring Internet carriers to dynamically adjust traffic routing and interconnection locations to maintain a fair and equitable relationship between the two networks.
The Level 3 and tw telecom peering agreement measures both the volume of traffic exchanged and the distance over which that traffic is carried by each network, in an approach called bit-mile peering. In order to keep the relationship equitable, both networks carry approximately the same “bit miles” of data. This model promotes efficient, high-quality service for customers, while ensuring a balanced cost burden across each network.
“Level 3’s primary focus is on providing quality service for Internet consumers,” said Jack Waters, Level 3’s CTO. “We look forward to working with our peering partners to drive broader adoption of this bit-mile model to ensure fair and equitable interconnection. We are also working with providers of traffic-flow monitoring systems to make the measurement process straightforward and consistent across the industry.”
The Level 3 – tw telecom peering agreement also contains provisions to add capacity and establish new interconnection locations between the two networks to stay ahead of growing traffic demand. This approach offers flexibility to each network while improving performance and reliability for customers and is based on efficient interconnection principles for non-managed Internet traffic. The agreement does not cover the exchange of managed voice traffic.”tw telecom supports this settlement-free Internet peering approach based on bit-mile balance as a model that assures the most efficient interconnection in the evolving Internet,” said Harold Teets, tw telecom senior vice president of Network and Information Technologies. “This agreement will support high-quality service for our respective customers, and will keep the backbone cost burden balanced between our two networks.”
