User:Warnellw/Internet backbone

The Internet backbone refers to the principal data routes between large, strategically interconnected networks and core routers in the Internet. These data routes are hosted by commercial, government, academic and other high-capacity network centers, the Internet exchange points and network access points, that interchange Internet traffic between the countries, continents and across the oceans of the world. Traffic interchange between the Internet service providers (often Tier 1 networks) participating in the Internet backbone exchange traffic by privately negotiated interconnection agreements, primarily governed by the principle of settlement-free peering.

History
The first high speed backbone was created by the National Science Foundation in 1987. It was called the NSFNET, and was a T1 line that connected 170 smaller networks together. The following year, IBM, MCI and Merit would create a T3 backbone. In the early days of the internet, backbone providers exchanged their traffic at government sponsored network access points, until the government privatized the internet, and then transferred the NAPs to commercial providers.

Architectural principles
The Internet, and consequently its backbone networks, do not rely on central control or coordinating facilities, nor do they implement any global network policies. The resilience of the Internet results from its principal architectural features, most notably the idea of placing as few network state and control functions as possible in the network elements, but instead relying on the endpoints of communication to handle most of the processing to ensure data integrity, reliability, and authentication. In addition, the high degree of redundancy of today's network links and sophisticated real-time routing protocols provide alternate paths of communications for load balancing and congestion avoidance.

Infrastructure
The internet backbone is a conglomeration of multiple, redundant networks owned by numerous companies. It is typically a fiber optic trunk line. The trunk line consists of many fiber optic cables bundled together to increase the capacity. The backbone is able to re route traffic in case of a failure. The data speeds of backbone lines have changed with the times. In 1998, all of the United States backbone networks had utilized the slowest data rate of 45 Mbps. However the changing technologies allowed for 41 percent of backbones to have data rates of 2,488 Mbps or faster by the mid 2000's. The FCC curently defines "high speed" as any connection with data speeds that exceed 200 kilobits per second. An Azerbaijani based telecommunication company, Delta Telecom, has recently developed a very efficient trunk line with possible speeds of to 1.6 terabits per second. Internet traffic from this line goes through the countries of Iran, Iraq and Georgia. Fiber-optic cables are the medium of choice for internet backbone providers for many reasons. Fiber-optics allow for fast data speeds and large bandwidth; they suffer relatively little attenuation, allowing them to cover long distances with few repeaters; they are also immune to crosstalk and other forms of EM interference which plague electrical transmission.

Modern backbone
Because of the enormous overlap between long distance telephone networks and the internet backbone networks, the largest long distance voice carriers such as AT&T, MCI, Sprint and Qwest also own some of the largest internet backbone networks. These backbone providers will then sell their services to ISPs. Each ISP has its own contingency backbone network, and at the very least, is equipped with an outsourced backup. These networks are intertwined and crissed crossed to create a redundant network. Many companies operate their own backbones, that are all interconnected at various NAPs around the world. In order for data to navigate through this diverse web that the backbone creates, backbone routers are desperately needed. These backbone routers are routers that are powerful enough to handle information on the internet backbone, and they direct data to other routers in order to send it to its final destination. Without these backbone routers, information would be lost since data would not know how to locate its end destination. The very largest providers, known as Tier 1 providers, have such comprehensive networks that they never need to purchase transit agreements from other providers. As of 2000 there were only five internet backbone providers at the Tier 1 level in the telecommunications industry. These carriers included Cable & Wireless Worldwide, UUNet, Sprint, AT&T and Genuity. As of 2010 however, Verizon has become "the world's most connected internet backbone." Verizon has a very large internet footprint that reaches all over the world due to their diverse customer base which includes small and medium size businesses, large corporations, content providers, and many more. They have held this top spot for 11 of the past 12 years. Verizon also plans to increase backbone speeds in the U.S to 100 GB/sec, the first company to do so. Some of this enhanced data speed can be seen on routes from Chicago to New York and Minneapolis to Kansas City.

Peering agreements
Backbone providers of roughly equivalent market share regularly create agreements called peering agreements. These agreements allow the use of another's network to hand off traffic where is ultimately delivered. They usually do not charge each other for this use as they all get revenue from their customers regardless.

Transit agreements
Backbone providers of unequal market share usually create agreements called transit agreements, and usually contain some type of monetary agreement.

Regulation
Antitrust authorities have acted to ensure that no provider grows large enough to dominate the backbone market. The FCC has also decided not to monitor the competitive aspects of the Internet Backbone interconnection relationships, as long as the market continues to function well without regulation.

Egypt
Egypt's government effectively shut down the backbones of the four major ISPs on January 27, 2011 at approximately 5:20pm EST. Because the internet traffic that runs through Egypt, such as that from Europe to Asia, was unaffected, the backbones had not been physically cut. Instead, the government shut off the Border Gateway Protocol. BGPs are responsible for the communication between different ISPs, and route traffic accordingly. They also broadcast the associated IP adressess to the other ISPs. When the government forced the ISPs to turn off their BGPs, they were effectively able to shut off the internet because the packets of data did not know where to go.

Only one of Egypt's ISPs was allowed to continue operations. The ISP Noor Group provided connectivity only to Egypt's stock exchange as well as some government ministries. Other ISPs started to offer free dial-up internet in other countries.

Europe
Europe is a major contributor to the growth of the international backbone as well as a contributor to the growth of internet bandwidth. As of 2003, Europe is credited with 82 percent of the world's international cross border bandwidth. The company Level 3 Communications has begun to launch a line of dedicated internet access and virtual private network services which gives large companies direct access to the Tier 3 level backbone. Connecting companies directly to the backbone will allow enterprises faster internet service which meets a large market need. One European company developed an internet advancement that was an innovative way to utilize the backbone and provide internet access to mobile users. This advancement allowed users to access broadband internet on a high speed train that travels to cities such as Paris and Amsterdam while moving at speeds of up to 300 km/hr. The connectivity worked by having internet cables on the train connect to a satellite on top of the train. This satellite then establishes a connection with a satellite in space which is connected to the internet backbone. The users then set up a connection between their device and the train’s internet cables to have access to the internet. Certain countries in Europe have very simple backbone networks. One example showing this was when a woman pierced a fiber backbone line with a shovel and left all of Armenia without internet access for 12 hours.

India
India's backbone is very extensive due to a very large population. This country alone has nearly 250 million internet users as of 2009. Three of India's top Internet Service Providers are BSNL, MTNL, and Reliance Communications who have market shares of 56.8%, 13.2%, and 10.2% respectively.

Japan
Japan's internet backbone needs to be very efficient due to the high demand for the internet and technology in general. Japan had over 86 million internet users in 2009, and it is projected to climb to nearly 91 million internet users by 2015. Since Japan has a demand for fiber to the home, Japan is looking into tapping off of a fibre-optic backbone line of NTT, a domestic backbone carrier, in order to deliver this service at cheaper prices.