Equinix steps in as core peering traffic cop

Equinix has introduced a turnkey service to make peering at the core more reliable, scalable and economical for ISPs delivering large backbones. The service, Equinix Internet Core Exchange, sits in a centralized and neutral environment and allows direct interconnection for peering between major backbone networks.

“Seven of the major backbones have signed up to buy this product for strategic connectivity right from the get-go,” said Jay Adelson, Equinix’s founder/CTO.

Adelson, citing confidentiality agreements, declined to name the seven, but said service would be immediately available in Equinix Internet exchange centers in Silicon Valley, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas.

“This is focused on the larger backbone providers, solving their needs at the core,” said Adelson.

Product components are pre-provisioned fiber interconnections, premium service levels designed for the core of the Internet traffic to be protected and serviced and “a customer-service relationship that’s special for this product,” Adelson said.

The product removes the expense and potential quality risks of interconnecting point-to-point circuits between very large backbones using switches, Adelson said.

“This is just a cross-connect,” he said.

Customers can interconnect as many dark-fiber strands as they desire and run any technology, including dense wave division multiplex [DWDM].

“All of our products have been focused on scaling the Internet core,” Adelson said. “With this product, you’re getting into speeds that exceed a few gigabits just for one peer, [so] it makes sense to have a direct point-to-point connection with that peer.”