The Interconnection Measurement Project

Building on the March 11 release of the “Revealing Utilization at Internet Interconnection Points” working paper, today, CITP is excited to announce the launch of the Interconnection Measurement Project. This unprecedented initiative includes the launch of a project-specific website and the ongoing collection, analysis, and release of capacity and utilization data from ISP interconnection points. CITP’s Interconnection Measurement Project uses the same method that I detailed in the working paper and includes the participation of seven ISPs—Bright House Networks, Comcast, Cox, Mediacom, Midco, Suddenlink, and Time Warner Cable.

The project website—which we aim to update regularly—includes additional views of the data that are not included in the working paper. The visualizations are organized into three categories: (1) Aggregate Views; (2) Regional Views; and (3) Views by Interconnect. The Aggregate Views provide peak utilization, growth in capacity and usage, as well as the distribution of peak utilization across interconnects and across participating ISPs, on a monthly basis across the entire data set. The Regional Views provide monthly peak utilization by region and distribution of peak utilization across interconnects by region. Finally, the Views by Interconnect provide details into daily per-link utilization statistics, as well as the distribution of peak utilization by link and by capacity, also on a monthly basis.The website visualizations also include an additional month of data (March 2016) beyond what the original working paper included. CITP plans to regularly update the visualizations with new data to provide a picture of how the Internet is evolving, and we will assess the project annually to ensure that the data, reports, and insights that we offer remain relevant.

The March data is consistent with the initial findings detailed in the working paper: that many interconnects have significant spare capacity, that this spare capacity exists both across ISPs in each region and in aggregate for any individual ISP, and that the aggregate utilization across interconnects is roughly 50 percent during peak periods.

The seven participating ISPs collectively account for about 50 percent of all US broadband subscribers. We at CITP hope that these ISPs are merely the pioneers of what may eventually become a much larger effort. As we continue to advance this field of research and deepen our understanding of traffic characteristics at interconnection points, we welcome the participation of even more ISPs as well as other network operators and edge providers in this important effort.