<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<TITLE>RE: Broken Internet? [OT]</TITLE>
<META content="MSHTML 5.00.3019.2500" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=880540723-13032001>Yeah.
Just think of us as the "pork bellies" of the twenty first
century.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=880540723-13032001></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=880540723-13032001>K</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">
<DIV align=left class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Mathew Butler
[mailto:mbutler@tonbu.com]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, March 13, 2001 1:37
PM<BR><B>To:</B> 'Roeland Meyer'; 'Patrick Greenwell'; Steven M.
Bellovin<BR><B>Cc:</B> nanog@merit.edu<BR><B>Subject:</B> RE: Broken Internet?
[OT]<BR><BR></DIV></FONT>
<P><FONT size=2>*ponders*</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT size=2>Is it possible that our technical solutions are at least
contributorially responsible for the economic slowdown? (Small
businesses can't get connected, so large numbers of high-money dotcoms get
massive amounts of funding, but few of them can make any money, so their debts
skyrocket, and the massive power shifts happen?)</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>Don't mind me, I'm just pondering.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT size=2>-Mat</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT size=2>-----Original Message-----</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>From:
Roeland Meyer [<A
href="mailto:rmeyer@mhsc.com">mailto:rmeyer@mhsc.com</A>]</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2001 12:53 PM</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>To:
'Patrick Greenwell'; Steven M. Bellovin</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Cc:
nanog@merit.edu</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Subject: Broken Internet?</FONT>
</P><BR><BR>
<P><FONT size=2>> From: Patrick Greenwell [<A
href="mailto:patrick@cybernothing.org">mailto:patrick@cybernothing.org</A>]</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>> Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2001 11:29 AM</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT size=2>> to change the fact that these alternative root server
</FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> networks exist and</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>
that the Internet still works, mostly(as I'm sure you'd agree </FONT><BR><FONT
size=2>> it's always a little broken.) </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>That is an understatement (a little broken). I have just been
introduced to</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>one of those broken areas, the hard
way.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT size=2>Given:</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>1. Prefix filtering at
/20.</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>2. Most small busineses limited to /24, by
policy/procedure.</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>3. Multi-homing requirements for
multi-office businesses (many SOHO's).</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>4. Impending
business failure of many DSL ISPs.</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>5. Total lack of
responsibile behavior among DSL access providers.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT size=2>It is next to impossible for a small business to have reliable
internet</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>connectivity without moving into a large
co-lo. Even if they can afford the</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>multiple T1's, they
can't get portable IP addresses that will be advertised</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>reliably. Many of them need, at most, a pair of /24's and ARIN,
knowing</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>this, will not issue them portable blocks
larger than /24 without severe</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>justification
requirements.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT size=2>Many of you might think that is okay, but what if their
upstream dies off</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>(as recently happened to MHSC). In
the current day and age, business stops</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>until they get
reconnected. This disconnect is at minimum, 4-6 weeks, under</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>the best of circumstances. As one vendor recently pointed out in
their</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>adverts, most businesses, down for more than 14
days, will never survive.</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>More importantly, such an
outage flat-lines the revenue picture for that</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>entire
fiscal quarter, for the unlucky victim.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT size=2>What we have today is a manufactured dependence on a single
upstream</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>provider and no way to multi-home. Even co-lo
boils down to single-home</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>dependency.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT size=2>Yes, there are a bunch of hacks to work around this problem.
But, that is</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>exactly what they are ... hacks. They are
not something I could build a</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>sustainable business
around.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT size=2>Any business needs:</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>1. to be able to
change upstream providers without having to renumber.</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>2. to be able to change access providers without having to
suffer</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>multi-month down-times.</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>3. to be able to have its net-block(s) visible regardless of which ISPs
they</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>are currently using.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT size=2>Currently the only ones that can do that are those
that;</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>1. Are large enough to justify a /20 (begging
the question of how they got</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>that large).</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>2. Can afford their own datacenter.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT size=2>It looks like our technical solutions are raising unreasonable
barriers to</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>entry for small businesses.</FONT>
</P></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>