Re: Middle Eastern Exchange Points

[Joe Abley <jabley () isc org>]

On 7-Feb-2006, at 20:50, Martin Hannigan wrote:

> > As Joe's pointed out, what's available in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and
> > Kuwait are governmental monopoly incumbent transit services, a la  
> > STIX, as
> > opposed to Internet exchanges where peering takes place.  There are
> > several private colocation facilities which sell transit, but are not
> > IXes, in Dubai and Kuwait.
>
> ISC has equipment out here. 192.228.85.0/24 is being announced out  
> of emirates.net
> can't be that bad. :-)

The F-root node in Dubai is facilitated by Emirates Telecom/Etisalat/ 
EMIX, as per <http://f.root-servers.org/>. At the time we installed  
there was no facility available for peering or other multi-point  
interconnect with operators in UAE. I am not aware that this has  
changed. Woody's comparison with the STIX is spot on, as far as I know.

In pragmatic terms, due to the local regulatory environment and in  
the absence of a neutral exchange point, obtaining transit from EMIX  
in Dubai is the best approximation to a comprehensive set of  
bilateral peering arrangements with local ISPs. However, it's not  
peering in a topological/routing policy sense. The fact that F-root's  
covering prefix doesn't propagate beyond the region is due to special  
handling of that prefix by our colleagues in AS 8966.

ISC's intention in Dubai, as in all regions, was to provide the best  
access possible to F-root within the immediate surrounding region. I  
believe we achieved that goal.


Joe