Good reply, Ray, thanks. As I agree with your assessment about the charm of the way of the RFC, I can't help also observing some subtle shifts taking place with respect to stiffening up of proprietary fortifications, as time goes by in this space. This is not the same Internet as we had only a few years ago.
There has been, undoubtedly, a change during the past couple of years in the regard that the top tier Internet players have had for each other, and their smaller counterparts, with regards to the "sharing" ethic that has been a cornerstone of the 'net up until then/now. It's going away, IMO.
Do you sense this as well? Or am I looking at things out of wrong-colored glasses.
You put a LVLT next to a QWST, next to a UUNet, next to an IXC with a MFNX creeping right along behind them, and a few more like them all hitting the same NFL cities, and you suddenly have a different picture to look at.
Add to this that they are no longer simply co-mingling amongst themselves, but they now have the big three IXCs and a couple of hundred smaller insterstates competing with them in new markets (voice and other real time services) for the incumbents' bread and butter services, and voila! You've got the ingredients for an altered mood, and fiercer competition. The overall complexion that you characterized in your post as co-opetition could quickly change to outright cut-throat competition, in other words. Maybe not right away, we'll see.
In any event, thanks for the feedback. I'm sure it will add to my accumulation of facts in driving me forward to new conclusions, tomorrow. <smile>
Regards, Frank Coluccio |
