[menog] RE: [ncc-regional-middle-east] Peering

[Hank Kilmer]

Bill Woodcock wrote:
> Hello, Salman.
> 
> With regard to the above, I think that if we were having this conversation 
> fifteen years ago, it would still have been reasonable to discuss the need 
> for a single IXP for the region.  But the time for that is pretty clearly 
> past...  If you look at this map of IXP distribution:
> 
> https://prefix.pch.net/applications/ixpdir/summary/
> 
> You'll note that the Middle East is the only developed region of the world 
> other than Mexico that doesn't already have a fairly dense distribution of 
> IXPs to support communications growth, at this point.  Rather than 
> thinking about one location, I think you'd need to be looking at thirty 
> or forty, to reach parity.  And if you think about what thirty or forty 
> cities in the Middle East means, you don't have to do any winnowing: it 
> includes every capitol and every major city in the region.  Just as every 
> capitol and every major city in Europe and East Asia have them.
> 
> So if the question is "Jeddah or Dubai" the answer is "yes, and Manama and 
> Doha and Muscat and Riyadh..."
> 
>                                 -Bill

Bill is absolutley right: Rich connectivity has many benefits for the
network administrators as well as their customers.  Each major area
needs *at least* one IXP.

-Hank