Articles By Bob Fletcher

Undersea cables are expensive to install. But if you're an Asian Internet hub trying to connect to other Asian Internet hubs across un-cabled waters, what else can you do?

Well, one alternative we see is Internet Providers heading to California, as many Asian providers opt for Internet paths out of Asia to the west coast of the US, and then back to Asia. These tortuous routes, aptly called hair-pinning (observe their supple shapes), may be cost-effective initially, but generate latency, which can be a problem for some businesses (and their end users).

The view from seat 22A

Long ago in a faraway Internet backbone galaxy

You remember 2005, don't you? Back then you could book wholesale IP transit for about $15 (€18 in Europe) per megabit a month. Data volume commits were much smaller then, as little as 1Gb. Those were the good old days. Today, traffic volumes have increased by as much as 10 times, yet many providers have seen little growth in total IP transit revenues.

Think you're too busy to blog? Think again. Or just ask your boss. After more than 100,000 miles in coach class this year (so far), my backbone may be aching, but the IP backbone market is as agile and dynamic as ever. Sales opportunities abound, but to take advantage, you'd better be savvy, and just a little cagey.

So, as our gleaming 777 departs Kuala Lumpur, I'll just relax in my fully-reclined, ultra-deluxe coach seat and tell you what this globetrotting sales guy has seen, heard and figured out.

Two new trends
As if the global financial crisis weren't enough, beleaguered NSPs have to rejigger their business plans (yet again) to accommodate encroachment from brazen usurpers and ever more competitive pricing:

1. Large eyeball networks (5 million+ subscribers) are selling paid peering to the largest content providers.
2. There are big price reductions in IP transit all over eastern Europe - now close to parity with western Europe.

Bob, the sales guy.

Ditched my #@!%$! cell in Stockholm. Verizon CDMA does not work in Europe! Upside: I now have a shiny, new World Edition Blackberry GSM/CDMA. I call it Trixie.

Road Tip: Just say NO! to mouth-searing kimchi or Indian curry for breakfast. No matter how polite you're trying to be.

With barely enough time to recharge Trixie after calls in Denver, Albuquerque, Stockholm and Bonn, I hopped a jet for Tokyo, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. (Trixie and I barely made it out of KL alive. Cab driver must have been conserving gas; tried to piggyback car in front.) Beginning to feel like Marco Polo on 'roids, but I gotta check out LA and DC before catching a shuttle back home to Boston (close enough) .

Trixie is overloaded with commentary, observations, insider scoops, and . . . new NSP sales and marketing contacts! (Hey, I'm a sales guy.) Time to download and see what comes out . . .