[11231] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Options (was Re: What is an "Internet reseller"?)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Marc Horowitz)
Sat Mar 26 04:16:15 1994
To: karl@mcs.com (Karl Denninger)
Cc: com-priv@psi.com, tenney@netcom.com (Glenn S. Tenney)
Date: Fri, 25 Mar 94 00:02:50 EST
From: Marc Horowitz <marc@MIT.EDU>
>> Because they're not selling the services to others (engaged in the
>> practice of IP packet resale).
What is "others"? At MIT, any group on the net pays $27/month per IP
address for MITnet service. This includes everything you expect:
packet transit, nameservice, telephone support, etc. The network
operations group operates entirely out of this income, including the
hardware, service contracts, salaries, etc. This does not include
stuff which comes out of general institute overhead (like heat).
Is this reselling?
MIT recently put all undergraduate living groups (on and off campus)
on the net. This costs a fair bit of money, but comes from the
Provost's budget, which in turn comes from tuition and general
institute funds. Each student on campus has a UTP drop by their bed.
Each living group off campus (fraternities, etc) has an ethernet port
on a Cisco router connected to a frame relay net to use as they see
fit. This service is, in effect, purchased in bulk by the Provost
from the network operations group.
Is this reselling?
MIT is in the process of setting up SLIP/PPP service for staff and
students who live in apartments. MIT will subsidize this service, but
there will be a small (probably flat-rate) cost. Service is only
available to people affiliated with the Institute.
Is this reselling?
Note that all of these addresses are allocated from the network
numbers assigned to MIT many years ago. So all this service isn't
visible to the routing tables.
Does MIT have to join the CIX to guarantee routing to the CIX's
customers?
Just to make things interesting, six months ago, NEARnet was really
MIT d.b.a NEARnet. NEARnet (legally MIT) was a CIX member. At this
time, the undergrads were obtaining service from a CIX member. When
MIT spun off NEARnet as a separate for-profit company, did they create
a situation where they effectively lost their routing guarantees?
Turning black-and-white into fractal uncertainty,
Marc
