I just saw Dyn’s (formerly Renesys) “Baker’s Dozen” article for 2015. It’s one of those little things that reminds me that our obsession with quality connectivity really does make a difference. The article describes Dyn’s view of top Internet providers based on their own Internet Intelligence – Transit product. Two of the providers that KanREN uses for three of our six upstream connections, Level(3) (KC and Wichita) and Telia Carrier (KC) were ranked #1 and #2 respectively. And a third, Hurricane Electric, made the cut in the Baker’s Dozen.
KanREN has a total of six commodity upstream connections spread over three of our backbone POPs. It’s something most of our members probably don’t think much about — go get some Internet, the carriers are all the same, right? Wrong. They’re not. KanREN staff are constantly evaluating Internet providers. We balance several things in making our selections. We look at reliability, reachability, reputation, routing table analysis, applicability to our particular member base and of course cost. We work hard to balance all of these (and more) aspects in creating our portfolio of upstream providers to create the best possible end-user experience, while controlling costs.
By building our backbone into key facilities in Kansas City and Wichita State University, KanREN is able to leverage direct connections with nearly any provider out there — something you can’t do unless you’re in these key locations. Together, through KanREN, our members have access to a portfolio of Internet carriers that wouldn’t be possible for them on their own. I’m proud of our work in building our portfolio. This is likely another thing our members don’t think much about — that’s great, they don’t need to, because we’ve got them covered!