David Holub was fired because he took a took a tough stance in the negotiations between Whole Earth Networks (WELL) of which he was the CEO and UUNet, one of the largest internet backbone providers. His board of directors refused to back him up.
David, challenged one of the handful of companies that now controls the internet's central arteries. And failed to stop its plans. Interestingly, this happened only a few weeks after the complete privatisation of the Net after the National Science Foundation withdrew from the scene. Are things going to get worse?
Holub is no stranger to the Net after all, he was the president of a company which started off as one of the hottest communities on the Net. The WELL earned acult status as serious netizens frequented it, and it almost becamea religion.
But even WELL had to negotiate, and very nicely too, when UUNet flexed its muscles. The issue was exchange of traffic (what is known as peering) which can be simply put as an arrangement where each internet service provider agrees to carry each others internet traffic. UUNet believed it wasnt exactly peers to some of the lesser ISPs, and refused to carry their traffic unless they paid up. Holub said he had reason to believe that things should stay the same, and that UUNets stand was possibly illegal. Well, he said too loudly. Heres his posting to a newsgroup explaining his viewpoint.
I am attempting to get largely the same statements/ thoughts out to a wide variety of interested parties, many of which have been asking for a statement from me or have put related material on-line in an effort to receive comments. For those of you on the nanog list, this material is not strictly operational in nature, but I feel it is sufficiently related to the operations of the internet to merit posting.
The information contained herein is not proprietary information and can be assembled through a variety of public sources. Nothing contained herein is to my knowledge covered under any non-disclosure or proprietary information agreements to which I am currently or have been previously bound. What follows are some of my thoughts on the matter of Peering/Interconnection on the internet as a Telecommunications
Carrier/internet Service Provider (ISP).
For the last year I have been actively working to forge a future as a Utility/Telecommunications Carrier for the ISP business that I started nearly four years ago.
Throughout this process I have had the privilege of working with Mr. David Simpson of Young, Vogl, Harlick, Wilson and Simpson LLP of San Francisco. Much of what I will discuss about peering has been shaped by what I've learned from Mr. Simpson.
Unlike Mr. Simpson, I have no license to practice law and thus legal questions that arise from this discussion are best forwarded to him. (His address is: das@yvhws.com). Beyond my work with Mr. Simpson in this area, as a daily matter I have been directly involved in all aspects related to the engineering, maintenance, operations, purchasing and contract negotiations necessary to produce internet connectivity over multiple internet Exchange Points (often called NAPs or MAEs but hereafter referred to as "IXPs") for the last two years.
Universal reachability is a fundamental tenet in public networks. It is assumed that if you the customer pay for a connection to a public network all points within that public network are reachable by you the customer.
This is true of both the internet and the more traditional Public Switched Telephone Network (hereafter referred to as the "PSTN"). As most of us know, these networks are not single entities but are comprised of many networks that connect together and co-operate to produce universal reachability.
To do this they must interconnect and exchange their respective traffic. The notion of "free peering" is directly analogous to a "bill & keep" interconnection relationship between traditional telephone companies, pursuant to which Carrier A agrees to accept and terminate - at no charge - all of the traffic originating on Carrier B's network which is destined to Carrier A's customers in return for Carrier B accepting and terminating - at no charge - all of the traffic originating on Carrier A's network which is destined for customers of Carrier B.
The other method of interconnection between Common Carriers is called "reciprocal billing". It works the same as the relationship above except replace the phrase -for a negotiated sum- for the phrase -at no charge- . In the internet we would call "reciprocal billing" "settlements".
In this age of telecommunications deregulation, it is very common for there to be significant differences in the size of networks during the phase when one carrier is the incumbent and other carriers are entering the market. It has been argued for years (often by these new networks) that the public is better served by a competitive marketplace and that given the impact of the incumbency of some networks certain inequities between the new networks and the incumbents will need to be accepted for a period of time, in order for that competitive marketplace to emerge in ameaningful way.
As a practical/business matter, it is logical "free peering"/"bill & keep" interconnection relationships are formed when there are not substantial differences in the associated costs for Carrier A and Carrier B.
However it is common that there are substantial differences in these costs for some period of time and they are either negotiated with money or time until parity can be achieved or new negotiations take place.
Most importantly, as with other Utility interconnection issues, there exists an established non-discriminatory framework for these negotiations and the resulting interconnection agreements with time limits for specific phases, procedures for arbitration, required public disclosure and regulatory approval for theoutcome.
In the context of peering, many mid sized ISPs have currently or have been willing to build out their networks to exchange traffic with the largest networks in multiple geographically diverse points only to find that these larger networks will neither exchange traffic once these competitive networks have arrived at these points, nor will these large network operators even disclose under what criteria they would exchange traffic over these geographically diverse points.
This refusal even to make public their criteria for interconnection is at the heart of a very serious threat to the continued growth and openly competitive nature of the internet. It is also illegal.
The conduct of certain telecommunications carriers with regard to these current peering/interconnection issues also raise broader legal questions of Anti-Trust.
This is true, especially given that the most anti-competitive of these Carriers are the very same telecommunications Carriers that own and operate the IXPs in which most of the public and private inter connection/ peering takes place.
This is a situation directly analogous to the control of and manipulation of costs and flows in railway switching yards during an earlier "industrial" revolution.
The behavior of the owners and operators of these yards were an integral part of the reasoning behind the creation of Anti-Trust Law in the first place. There too economic justifications were made for the discriminatory and anti-competitive behavior of large business combinations.
The key to non-discrimination and open competition is disclosure. By definition, the non-disclosure of peering /interconnection requirements and agreements, especially the non-disclosure and fair application of criteria for establishing or maintaining peering between networks is the engine of this discriminatory and anti-competitive behavior.
Many of us in this industry have heard for years from the largest networks in our business that they will not establish/maintain peering with our networks nor will they disclose their criteria for establishing or continuing peering.
It is largely for this reason that I confess, I am a proponent of some level of regulation in the internet as soon as possible. I think this minimal level of regulation is critical to the internet's open and unrestricted development. As an entrepreneur and a professional in this industry, I urge some minimal level of immediate regulation such that the application of accepted telecommunications law and practices are upheld.
If they are not, I fear we will suffer the consequences of the accumulation of all the economic power over the internet in to a very small number of hands. To me this is a very big problem, perhaps one even worth losing your job over.
As these issues unfold there are several arguments that will be used by those that resist what I am suggesting and I'd like to address them forthwith. As with all good arguments there is some truth in what is said by those that see this issue differently.
I submit that the facts are being manipulated to mislead the public, obscure the anti-competitive motives and cover-up the refusal to abide by the law which calls for non-discriminatory interconnection. By way of example.
It has been said that some ISPs are "looking for a free ride". This may be true of a few, though I know of none. The more relevant fact is that there are scores of mid-sized ISPs that are willing to pay or are currently paying all the costs required for interconnection at current or future traffic levels between them and those that claim that they are "looking for the free ride".
As ridiculous as it sounds I have heard it said that "internet Traffic is not telecommunications, it is rather an "Enhanced Service". This is particularly absurd in the light of the Telecom Acts definition of "telecommunications", which, as quoted above, by its own broad terms, easily covers internet traffic.
I have heard that in order to negotiate these inter connection/peering agreements it is necessary to enter into highly restrictive long term non-disclosure arrangements. The history behind the negotiation of interconnection does not support this view. To the contrary, this practice of enforcing "secrecy" will only result in discriminatory results.
lIt is argued by the largest ISPs that they are not Telecommunications Carriers and therefore under no obligation to interconnect with other ISPs, who likewise are not Carriers under the Telecom Act.
This argument lacks merit for two reasons. First the large ISPs making this argument are themselves wholly owned subsidiaries of self-acknowledged, FCC-licensed carriers. These ISPs are fully-integrated technically, financially, personnel-wise and infrastructure-wise, into their Telecom corporate parent. No regulatory agency in the country would accept the fiction that the ISP "business" of the carrier is somehow separate and distinct from the telecommunications business of that same carrier. And, of course, from a marketing perspective, all these carriers are billing their internet services as merely one element of their bundled, integrated service offerings.
Second, the "you're not a carrier" argument can't apply to Whole Earth, because it is a licensed carrier - it has a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (just like Pacific Bell/TCG, etc.) to provide facilities-based local and long-distance telecommunications services. Even if we didn't have this particular status it seems clear that the definition of Carrier within the Telecom Act (above) would include all ISPs.
On a personal note, as some of you are aware there has been some turmoil over these issues for me and for Whole Earth Networks LLC. Words alone are not sufficient to express the appreciation I have for the support I have received from the employees, customers, friends and other industry professionals over these tumultuous days.
Recently the ownership too has been more supportive. I am beholden to all of you and simply can't express how deeply
appreciative I am. These extraordinary circumstances have produced such unqualified support and admiration of my efforts in this area that I have been moved to tears on more than one occasion. I am thankful to the employees of Whole Earth for their commitment to stay at work and produce the services that we are all proud of. I remain convinced that Whole Earth Networks
LLC is a Company with a bright future and I endeavor to ensure that future.
David S. Holub david@hooked.net
Reprinted with permission.
David S Holub is the (former) President, CEO and CTO of Whole Earth Networks. Mr. Holub, is an entrepreneur and recognized expert in a wide variety of internet development issues including; telecommunications engineering, regulatory matters, internet networking and UNIX system administration. He founded Hooked in 1993 and built the company into one of the most successful ISPs in California.
Hooked was merged with the ISP business of The WELL in July 1996 and he was given the top job at what is now Whole Earth Networks.
He has been responsible for virtually every management, technical, financial and marketing decision during the growth and development of these companies.
