[1921] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: ANS & the Mid-level's Role
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Kent W. England)
Wed Jan 8 08:52:00 1992
From: "Kent W. England" <kwe2@BBN.COM>
To: cook@tmn.com
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <9201051646.AA11956@tmn.com>
Date: Wed, 8 Jan 92 08:47:22 EDT
> Some of what Joel said reminded me of telling the mid-levels that their
> time had come. . . . and gone. So move out the way and don't try to block
> the progress
>
I didn't get that impression. My impression was that Joel wanted to
share some of his very real experience and I'm glad he did. It's a
great paper.
But Joel would be the first to admit that the lessons in what he says
are for ANS as well as each and every mid-level and regional network.
ANS is small change compared to AT&T, Sprint, MCI, WilTel, BT and
Infonet. You have to think long and hard today before you decide to
take on the big guys in areas where they have significant advantage: ie,
fiber, PoPs, international connectivity, ... You can't stand still.
But that doesn't mean there isn't a role for mid-levels and regionals
for what I call affinity groups (user groups if you like). It's the
affinity group closeness that some existing providers provide that
future "common internet carriers" will have a hard time duplicating.
I think Joel was really saying "find your niche" not "roll over and
die".
--Kent
