This BOF is targeted for ISPs who are interested in establishing peering relationships. Attendees will have a chance to meet and exchange business cards; Norton will then email participants an Excel spreadsheet with everyone's contact information. The hope is that this will help facilitate peering in the 'net.

Norton will also discuss a forthcoming paper titled "The Peering Decision Tree." Interviews with Internet Service Providers have highlighted three decision phases that customers go through prior to selection of a particular peering solution: identification (traffic engineering data collection and analysis), contact & qualification (initial peering negotiation), and implementation (peering methodology discussion). The first phases identify the who and the why, while the last phase focuses on the how.

The paper is based upon interviews with Internet Service Providers (specifically Peering Coordinators) and documents phases leading up to selection of a peering method and Internet Business Exchange environment. The appendix includes a diagram highlighting key questions asked when identifying peering candidates and determining the method of peering.

About the Presenter
As Co-Founder and Director of Business Development at Equinix, Bill Norton focuses his attention on building strategic relationships among companies participating at the Internet Business Exchanges. Previously, he was the Chair of NANOG and Manager of the Internet Engineering Group at Merit, leading a variety of national and international network research and operations projects.

HTML slides from the BOF
Notes from the BOF
"Peering Decision Tree" (Full paper in MS Word, updated 1/11/00)