Patrick W. Gilmore wrote: > On Nov 4, 2008, at 9:49 AM, David Freedman wrote:
> >> 2. The Internet cannot "route around" de-peering > >> I know everyone believes "the Internet routes around failures". > >> While > >> occasionally true, it does not hold in this case. To "route > >> around" the > >> "failure" would require transit. See item #1. > > > > The internet "routes around" technical failures, not political ones. > If two transit free networks have a technical failure which disables > all peering between them, the Internet cannot route around it. Sure it can. The traffic just flows through any of the providers that still have reliable high-bandwidth connectivity to both of those providers. Unless, of course, a pre-existing political failure prohibits this traffic. The Internet can't route around that political failure. >From a technical standpoint, the Internet is always suffering from multiple political failures. This leaves it vulnerable to small technical failures it could otherwise route around. DS
