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=0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= Beating Internet Traffic Jams=0A= =0A= A Seattle start-up is attracting big customers who want to = avoid the Net's choke points.=0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= (7/17/97) -- What happens to your Internet requests after = you send them? According to InterNAP Network Services, a Seattle-based = start-up offering Internet service, commercial Internet backbone = providers play a game of "hot potato" in which they indiscriminately = bump traffic to other backbones, in a self-serving effort to reduce = their own congestion.=0A= =0A= The result is slow performance, and InterNAP is patenting what it sees = as a solution: symmetrical routing. "We're offering a high-performance = network that's able to bypass the public Internet exchanges--or network = access point (NAP) choke points--90 percent of the time," says Tony = Naughtin, president and CEO of InterNAP.=0A= =0A= When the National Science Foundation's sponsorship of the original = Internet backbone--NSFNet--gave way to the commercial Internet, the = commercial backbone providers (such as MCI and MFS) set up NAPs. How = much do they slow down performance? According to Naughtin, some of them = function as bottlenecks for the majority of global Internet traffic.=0A= =0A= Avoiding the Effects of Peak Traffic Periods =0A= Naughtin says that the NAPs known as Mae East and Mae West are the = biggest examples and that 65 to 70 percent of all Internet traffic = passes through them each day. "The result," Naughtin comments, "is that = during peak traffic periods such as the late afternoon and evening, = these big exchanges can be experiencing as much as 40 percent packet = loss, causing slow performance and latency for the Internet audience." = InterNAP Network Services aims to route Internet traffic through its = own P-NAPs (private network access points) to avoid the bottlenecks.=0A= =0A= According to Naughtin, "Symmetrical routing pushes and pulls traffic = directly in and out of backbones where uncongested routes reside." The = proprietary technology that InterNAP has submitted for a patent is = called Assimilator, and it relies on databases that track congestion at = public exchanges. "Assimilator allows us to route traffic to public = backbones that are less congested than others, while also ensuring that = the traffic is routed back over that same uncongested backbone, so from = point A to point B the traffic bypasses choke points." Naughtin = explains that in a normal scenario, Internet traffic going out over = MCI's backbone might be indiscriminately bounced back over, say, = UUNet's, whereas Assimilator avoids such traffic bouncing.=0A= =0A= Some large customers have already taken to InterNAP's technology. = Adobe, Amazon.com, LucasFilms, and Microsoft are using Assimilator in = anticipation of heavy traffic. LucasFilms' Web site dedicated to the = rerelease of the Star Wars trilogy uses the technology. Safeway is = another InterNAP customer, as are several large Internet service = providers, such as British Columbia's BCTel.=0A= =0A= Paying for Premium Service =0A= InterNAP's primary P-NAP is in Seattle, but the company is adding = access points in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco. = "Once we have established more private exchange points, we can = completely control routing between two such points, resulting in = guaranteed quality of service," says Naughtin. InterNAP cannot offer = such a guarantee now. But Naughtin claims that InterNAP currently has a = success rate of about 90 percent in avoiding public-exchange choke = points.=0A= =0A= InterNAP's services come at a premium compared with a standard ISP's = (although fees vary widely according to different service levels). = Naughtin defends the higher prices, though, and foresees a big future = for different price structures according to different levels of = Internet service. "In all technology businesses," he says, "whether = it's voice or data delivery, people will pay for premium service." -- = Sebastian Rupley=0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A=

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TOP	=0A= =0A= Copyright (c) 1997 Ziff-Davis Inc.

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