Cogent (AS174) has established a direct connection to the America Online Transit Data Network (ATDN) (AS1668). This long-awaited connection completes Cogent's effort to directly connect with every transit-free network in the world and qualifies them, for the first time, as being transit-free.
In one sense, this is an unsurprising event. ATDN has been shrinking its transit network for some time in order to focus on their revenue-producing ad business. AOL/Time Warner has been selling off their European access networks since 2006. At the same time, Cogent has been adding customers and growing and peering. So that these two networks would eventually connect (re-connect) is unsurprising.
But the history between these two organizations is textured and murky. This connection is particularly interesting in part because of this history. It's also interesting because of how different these two networks are, in almost every respect: history, revenues, business model, culture, brand. I'll take a look at where Cogent is, the history between Cogent and AOL, and what this all might mean for the Internet.
