Hosting on a Fiber Optic Backbone

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What sets us apart from other web hosts? Our connection.

Good	Better	Best
T3	OC3	OC13c
45 Mbps	155 Mbps	1000 Mbps

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Great support and great features will get you nowhere without a wide pipe. We used to advertise an OC13c; now we've gone one better.

Our Network Operations Center is "OnNet" with Frontier Global Center (FGC), which means that we have a direct fiber optic connection between our Cisco 7200 router and theirs. Being OnNet with a Tier-1 provider means that we don't link to a backbone, we are actually on a backbone. We have no phone circuit, and don't use a Telecom link to get to the Internet; instead, we have an in-house connection directly to FGC's ATM fiber node, located a few floors below our servers in the same building. This fiber optic line can handle the bandwidth of a OC3 or an OC13c, and with FGC's Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology, it can handle several times the bandwidth of an OC12.

Multiple Backbones
We share the digital distribution architecture of FGC, which is comprised of more than 25 high-speed private peering connections to major Internet carriers such as MCI, Sprint, UUNET, AT&T, AOL, Best, Erols, and others. FGC also has high-speed links to 8 public exchanges including both MAE East and West and several NAPS. To use an analogy, the private peering connections allow data to travel from New York to LA on a non-stop flight, while the public exchanges enable data to fly into the Roseburg, Oregon airport.

"Sometimes the Net is slow.... "
What happens when your pipe is hooked up to a faucet that just trickles? Sometimes even though your ISP and your web host are both functioning properly, you may still have a slow data transfer rate. The Internet sends information all over the country and the world, through a dozen or more computers on its way to you -- and something's always getting serviced somewhere in that long chain.
Here's what we've done to speed things up:

Route Optimization
We have a large investment in BGP (Border Gate Protocol) technology, which allows the traffic to your site to travel more efficiently by finding the best route for data to travel. On a typical server the traffic always takes the same route from client to server. For them, if there is a bad node, traffic does not get through at all. Because we use BGP protocol, different and more efficient routes are taken between client and server depending on traffic loads and broken nodes. This means our servers automatically look for the fastest route available.

Low Latency/High Throughput
Often providers operate their networks at three to four times responsible capacity, and as a result the corresponding transfer times reach over 300ms for each hop along the net. Our network daily average is 6.5% of its capacity, with mid-day peak spikes reaching only 15.5% capacity. Our transfer times range from 15 to 80ms routinely.

Uninterruptible Power System
To guard against local power failures, we have two industrial-grade, three phase Liebert UPS systems. These act as back-up batteries, maintaining uninterrupted power in case of surges or power outages. With these backup systems in place, we can keep our network up and running indefinitely without relying on external power.

Industrial-Grade Air Conditioners
Our NOC has two Liebert ten ton industrial air conditioners, which condition our computer rooms and operations center. Our computer room is kept at an optimal temperature of 65 degrees fahrenheit.

The Lines are running BGP "border gateway routing protocol" to maintain the Speed, and uptime. If one line goes down, it will balance the load to the others, if one line gets congested, it will load balance the traffic etc...

Detailed Explanation:

Check Network Status Here

Each BGP router maintains a routing table that lists all feasible paths to a particular network. The router does not refresh the routing table, however. Instead, routing information received from peer routers is retained until an incremental update is received.

BGP devices exchange routing information upon initial data exchange and after incremental updates. When a router first connects to the network, BGP routers exchange their entire BGP routing tables. Similarly, when the routing table changes, routers send the portion of their routing table that has changed. BGP routers do not send regularly scheduled routing updates, and BGP routing updates advertise only the optimal path to a network.

BGP uses a single routing metric to determine the best path to a given network. This metric consists of an arbitrary unit number that specifies the degree of preference of a particular link. The BGP metric typically is assigned to each link by the network administrator. The value assigned to a link can be based on any number of criteria, including the number of autonomous systems through which the path passes, stability, speed, delay, or cost.

What is SONET ?

SONET technology is a high capacity, 100% fiber optic network deployed in a ring topology with a working, or "hot," path carrying data in one direction and a standby, or protect, path transmitting in the opposite direction around the ring. In the event of a fiber cut or service degradation, SONET equipment at the edge of each failing fiber segment isolates the failure and uses both working and standby fibers to create a new temporary ring. All of this happens within 50 milliseconds.

Having connection to only the major players such as Level 3 and  MCI/Worldcom,  you then have the shortest hops/routes possible such as  AOL, @home, @work, Mindspring, Erols, etc. These all link with the Backbones we have chosen.  As times goes by, we will be looking for even more Major Carriers to link up with to ensure even more redundancy and quicker routes.
LEVEL 3 Mapping - in 2 POPS

MCI/WORLDCOMMapping

 

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