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To: djane who wrote (46110)5/6/1998 4:05:00 AM
From: djane  Respond to of 61433
 
5/98 Boardwatch article. BPP (Part II)

boardwatch.com

Peering Rules

Peering is direct across level-2 virtual circuits, no level-3 route services are
currently provided by the BPP exchange point provider. The development of
enhanced services (RADB etc.) to be collocated at the exchange points will be
studied at a future date by the TAB or an appointed committee.

The development of standardized routing interchange modalities will be studied
by the TAB or designated working groups of the BPP Group at a future date.
At the present time, peering interoperation rules are left to the individual peers
to decide.

Operating Principles

The interconnect between peers is modeled as a dedicated bandwidth
connection at fractional DS-3, OC-3 or OC-12 or greater rate. Each peer is
expected to professionally manage its ingress and egress bandwidth to achieve
zero data loss between each peer. The current technology model for the
BPP level-2 interconnect is ATM. The rest of this document will detail how
that technology will be used to provide the service quality demanded by the
BPP peering model. The use of other technologies for BPP interconnect is
for further study.

The minimum bandwidth assigned for a peer-to-peer interconnect will be 5
Mbps equivalent SCR with Peak Cell Rate (PCR) set equal to SCR. The ATM
service type will be VBR.

At such time that peering bandwidth exceeds sustained (more than 2
consecutive hours a day) peak transfers exceeding 70% of the assigned
fractional Peak Cell Rate (PCR) bandwidth (sampling period of 5 minutes) then
the PCR bandwidth should be increased by the BPP exchange point provider
and each peer in order to make room for the increased utilization. Bandwidth
will be increased in increments of 5 Mbps SRC/PCR up to one half of the
effective link rate (minus link framing overhead). When sustained peering
exchange bandwidth exceeds 70% of one half of the effective link rate then it is
expected that the peers will move their peering connectivity to a direct peering
relationship (directly connected via dedicated local loops) or expand their
peering link rate accordingly. In either case maintaining low latency and zero
loss must be achieved.

The BPP service provider will automatically provide weekly and monthly
bandwidth reports to all peers for each peer virtual circuit. It will be a
cooperative process between the peers and the BPP service provider to
recognize a port approaching capacity and arrange for movement off the BPP
to dedicated private peering or to increase link capacity. Reports on individual
peers inter-exchange bandwidth will be kept confidential by the peers and the
BPP exchange point provider unless explicit written permission is granted by
each party to disclose the reports. Aggregate reports of the BPP exchange
point bandwidth and operational performance that do not detail BPP members
specific statistics may be made public by the BPP exchange point operator if
approved by the BPP Director and TAM.

Method of Interconnect

Each BPP peer must connect to the BPP ATM switch with a minimum of a
clear channel DS-3. Connections between peers will be established with a
Virtual Channel Connection (VCC) or a Virtual Path Connection (VPC) in
increments of 5 Mbps Sustainable Cell Rate (SCR) using the Variable Bit Rate
(VBR) ATM service class. A separate VCC or VPC will be established for
each peer. This will create a meshed interconnect such that for each physical
port, a peer will have (possibly many) dedicated VCCs or VPCs for each peer
they have agreed to or are required to connect to.

Location of BPPs

Savvis Communications and Williams Communications will act as two of the
three BPP exchange point operators (one operator position is open). Initially,
BPPs will be located at eight geographically distributed locations. Savvis will
support BPP exchange points in New York, Chicago, Dallas, and Santa Clara.
Williams will support BPP exchange points in Washington D.C. and Los
Angeles. Locations in Atlanta and Seattle will be hosted by Savvis or Williams
if a third provider is not located. Additional locations in Boston, Miami, St.
Louis, Denver and Phoenix are possible if approved by the BPP TAB or
appointed committee.

Williams Communications has been designated as one of the BPP backbone
providers. two other backbone providers are being sought.

Responsibilities of BPP Exchange Point Provider

The BPP exchange point provider is responsible for provisioning one or more
approved ATM switches (the TAM will designate approved equipment) for
BPP cross connects. The providers will provision ports for members,
coordinate local loop installation and set up the virtual channels through the
switch to connect peers. The BPP exchange point provider is responsible for all
day-to-day activities to insure the smooth operation of the exchange point in
order to maintain carrier class operations as delineated by the following SLA.

The BPP exchange point provider will commit to the following Service Level
Agreement:

No greater than 20ms average latency across each participating peer
virtual circuit.

No congestive packet loss within the BPP ATM switch. Loss due to line
errors is excluded.

Non-maintenance related virtual circuit availability from peer
demarcation point to peer demarcation point of no less than 99.99%.
The peer demarcation point will typically be at the cross connect
between the peer's local loop and the exchange point provider's ATM
switch. This excludes announced scheduled maintenance.

Announced scheduled maintenance (at least 24 hour notification
requirement) will only be performed between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and
6:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Maintenance and non-maintenance down time will not exceed 30
minutes per month.

If any elements of the SLA outlined above is not met then 25% of the monthly
port fee will be forgiven for that month. The peer must notify the BPP exchange
point provider within 30 days for credit.

The BPP exchange point provider's Network Control Center (NCC) will act as
the clearing house for BPP announcements that affect multiple peers. Peers may
use the NCC to notify attached peers of scheduled maintenance, unplanned
outages or other important information that affect the peering community at a
particular BPP exchange point.

Responsibilities of BPP Backbone Provider

The BPP backbone operators will work with the various BPP exchange point
operators to connect the BPP via ATM "clouds" to provide VCC and VPC
interconnectivity between one or more BPP exchange points. This service may
be used by BPP peers to gain a peering presence at a BPP exchange point
where they may not otherwise have a physical presence. The use of the BPP
backbone service is wholly optional.

The BPP backbone provider will commit to the following Service Level
Agreement:

No greater than 50ms average latency across each participating peer
virtual circuit connecting two peers between two BPP exchange points.
No congestive packet loss within the BPP ATM "cloud." Loss due to
line errors is excluded.

Non-maintenance related virtual circuit availability from peer
demarcation point to peer demarcation point of no less than 99.99%.
The internal ATM mesh connecting the two BPP exchange points must
have sufficient re-route capability to guarantee automatic re-route within
a target mean time to re-route of no greater than 5 seconds. The
demarcation point will typically be at the cross connect between the
backbone provider's local loop and the exchange point provider's ATM
switch. This excludes announced scheduled maintenance.

Announced scheduled maintenance (at least 24 hour notification
requirement) will only be performed between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and
6:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Internal backbone provider mesh
maintenance that does not directly affect the port or loop connecting the
BPP exchange points to the BPP backbone providers ATM mesh will
not be considered maintenance events. (ATM Mesh re-route capabilities
should be able to provide for non-service affecting internal maintenance.)
Maintenance and non-maintenance down time will not exceed 30
minutes per month.

If any elements of the SLA outlined above is not met then 25% of the monthly
service fee will be forgiven for that month. The peer must notify the BPP
backbone provider within 30 days for credit.

Responsibilities of Peers

In order to encourage carrier-class peering between professionally managed
NSPs, peers will commit to the following Service Level Agreement (in addition
to any SLAs agreed to in the bilateral peering agreement between two BPP
peers):

No congestive packet loss at the router closest to the private peering
point.

Provisioning of additional bandwidth in a timely fashion in access circuits
(60 days), attached routers (60 days) or virtual circuit configuration (10
days).

Attached router availability of 99.9% excluding scheduled maintenance.

Timely notifications (within 24 hours) of scheduled maintenance to the
BPP service provider so that notifications of attached peers can be
made. Consistent and sustained (over 120 days) disregard of the above
SLA can be cause for termination of BPP peering access at that
exchange point and/or termination of BPP Group membership.

Additionally, peers in the BPP will agree to work towards a maximum of
100ms end-to-end latency (one direction) from the ingress edge of one peer
through the BPP exchange to the egress edge of another peer.

Technical Details

1)

DS-3 Local Loop Properties:
Line Code: B3ZS (clear-channel DS-3)
Cell payload scramble: enabled
Physical Link Control Protocol (PLCP): enabled
Transmit clock source: loop-timed (from BPP service provider)
Maximum Bandwidth 40.704 Mbps

2)

ATM Properties
VBR Permanent Virtual Circuit (PVC) or Path (PVP)
ATM Forum Compliant UNI Version: 3.1 (3.0 can be used as option)
VPI/VCI: 1/32, 1/33, 1/34 etc.
ILMI & Signaling: disabled at VCC level for PVC and at VPC level for
PVP
OAM alarms: segment OAM only enabled
EFCI marking: enabled
HEC single bit error correction: enabled
ATM VBR traffic shaping: peer router must be capable of shaping to the
established SCR/PCR rates.

Fees

All fees associated with each local loop connecting a peer's network to the
BPP will be paid by the peer.

A small installation and port fee will be paid to the BPP service provider to
cover hardware and operating expenses. The fees are: $3,000 installation fee
(one-time at install or when physical port changes are requested, such as an
upgrade to OC-3) and $2,000 recurring monthly port fee for a DS-3 circuit,
$4,000 recurring monthly port fee for an OC-3 circuit, and an $10,000 monthly
port fee for an OC-12 circuit. A de-installation fee equal to 40% of the monthly
port fee is also required on disconnect. These prices will be subject to change
but only if approved by the BPP TAB and BoD.

Fees for long haul bandwidth between two BPPs provided by a BPP backbone
provider is subject to further study.

Modification of This Agreement

Changes to this agreement can be made only by the unanimous consent of the
BPP founding members after initial sign-off of the founders. This document will
provide the basis for the specification of the bylaws of The BPP Group
Corporation at which time the operation and rules will be controlled by the
BoD and the TAB.

Confidentiality

Disclosure of BPP Group peer membership shall be public information.
However, specific peering connectivity at the BPP shall remain confidential.
Specific BPP peering relationships can only be disclosed by the BPP Group or
by member companies with the written permission of the each BPP member of
the peering pair. Agreement to disclose BPP general membership does not
imply agreement to disclose peering pairings within that membership. Similarly,
two members may agree to disclose their peering relationship without disclosure
that the connectivity is through the BPP.

Termination Rights

A BPP member may terminate membership and connectivity with 90 days
notice without cause. Maintaining connectivity between the peering partners
established between the terminating peer to other BPP peers is the
responsibility of the terminating peer. Any costs associated with the disconnect
(such as local loop termination fees) will be borne by the terminating peer.

1 Dedicated computer accounts mean a single web hosting customer on
one or more computers. This excludes smaller web host accounts that
share a computer resource. Also, a large web host account that use
more than one physical computer counts only once.

Editor: Jack Rickard - Volume XI: Issue 5 - ISSN:1054-2760 - May 1998
Copyright 1998 Jack Rickard - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Fable Of Contents