Internet exchange points and Internet routing

Abstract

The Internet is a network of Autonomous Systems (ASes) comprising of a complex and complicated ecosystem of networks used for a wide variety of applications. ASes exhibit varied functionality and communicate according to predefined rules to maintain distinct business objectives; termed intra-AS relations. These relations are one of two types: customer-provider (hierarchical) or peering (flat). Recent studies of intra-AS relations indicate the gradual transition of the Internet ecosystem from the hierarchical structure to a flatter peering architecture [1]. This infrastructure level flattening is characterized by the constant growth, rewiring and deaths of inter-AS links. Primary driving forces behind these changes are economic; especially the meteoric rise in popularity of organizations such as Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, who have lately deployed large, private WAN infrastructures [1]. The transition from the hierarchical Internet has also accelerated with the deployment of multiple Internet eXchange Points (IXPs) worldwide, the facilitator of peering. Numerous peering links (between ASes) at these IXPs have recently been uncovered but their effects on Internet topology and inter-domain routing performance not yet examined.