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In Canada we have CA*Net. Same idea, works very, very well.

The Canadian research network carries a considerable amount of research traffic to/from Europe and Asia. These moves were done specifically to bypass the US Patriot Act.

Well whoop-de-fukin-do

The Canadian research network carries a considerable amount of research traffic to/from Europe and Asia. These moves were done specifically to bypass the US Patriot Act.

CANARIE

Of course, customer owned fiber networks aren't the only way. Having a neutral third party own and manage the dark fiber between colocation points and end-users (and likely the fiber uplinks too) would work. It'd be a nice bit of business for the power companies, for example. Let competing service providers plug their electronics into the fiber. Customer wants to switch providers? No problem, make the change at the colo and plug in a different box at his home.

Some cities, including the People's Republic of Ann Arbor, have upgraded their traffic light networks to fiber optics and put down extra conduit while they were at it. So, building a proper FTTH network wouldn't require (too much) tearing up of streets.

Fighting over last century's copper is a waste of time. Let's focus on making sure the fiber nets are set up correctly, and SOON!

Yes, any idiot can see that FTTH is the way to go, but Comcast and AT&T aren't run by just ANY idiots. Running fiber is a one-time expense, a big one to be certain but once it's in place you're good for the foreseeable future. Now, Comcast could get away with milking their hybrid fiber/coax plant for a while longer if they'd simply devote more bandwidth to Internet instead of TV, especially if DOCSIS 3 modems work, but AT&T has no such excuse. Spending lots of money on fancy electronics to get their antiquated copper plant to provide a measly 27Mbps aggregate bandwidth from the fiber node to the home (FTTN) rather than do things right the first time is going to go down in the B-school books as one of the most penny-wise, pound-foolish decisions in history. Hello, regular HDTV feeds are 20Mbps and recompressing those so you'll have enough bandwidth left for Internet, VoIP, and one measly SDTV channel makes HDTV look like an overgrown YouTube video (I exaggerate... slightly).

The sad thing is that the measly 6M/1M "Elite" tier Internet service AT&T U-verse offers is usually superior to Comcast and cheaper too. If they'd have been a little smarter they'd have skipped TV entirely (and those expensive settop boxes, TV channel fees, etc) and used all the bandwidth for Internet... assuming that they absolutely, positively won't run fiber like Verizon.

I have to disagree with the notion that we have to wait for the existing monopolies to correct their rectal-cranial inversion. It is possible for a new company to build FTTH. Having a separate company run fiber that various competing companies can plug into, as CANARIE describes, makes a lot of sense. Such a dark fiber net could be municipally run, or maybe the electric companies would like another revenue stream.

So light up a couple more fiber strands and upgrade from gig to 10gig equipment. (then from 10gig to 100gig)
But noooo, there's no money for that because the telecomms have spent all their infrastructure money on "QoS" and spying equipment.
Instead of upgrading the capacity they buy hugely powerful equipment to analyse these vast data flows and selectively reduce the quality of service.

The problem with the Internet is the big telecom companies making selfish business decisions instead of the correct technical decisions. (see Bell Canada peering)

I say we buy up the fiber for a new network and run it publicly like the roads.
Customer owned fiber is the way to go.
http://www.canarie.ca/canet4/library/customer.html

CANARIE (Canada) has many interesting articles and presentations on cracking the last mile problem. In short: municipalities contract someone to build dark fiber networks to the home, homeowners buy a strand of fiber, and competing service providers plug their electronics into the fiber. There are variations on the theme of course but with a neutral party owning the fiber it makes it very easy for new service providers to set up shop.

I'd insist that ISPs peer all local traffic at full speed, or at least 100Mbps symmetric, but let competition sort everything else out.

Dark Fiber FAQ

Customer owned fiber networks info.

The FAQ about Community Dark Fiber Networks is particularly interesting.

Basically, people own a strand or two of dark fiber in a fiber bundle running from their home to a central point in a "condominium" arrangement. You plug that fiber into whichever service provider you choose. Change the electronics at the ends of the fiber to upgrade service. A municipality contracting out the construction and maintenance of the fiber plant is the most likely scenario. Plain Internet service is cheap and if the usual suspects want to plug an ONT (Optical Networking Terminal) in for "triple play" that works too. Even local ISPs could be competitive under this arrangement.

There are several variations on the theme. Use your imagination.

Customer owned fiber networks info.

The FAQ about Community Dark Fiber Networks is particularly interesting.

Basically, people own a strand or two of dark fiber in a fiber bundle running from their home to a central point in a "condominium" arrangement. You plug that fiber into whichever service provider you choose. Change the electronics at the ends of the fiber to upgrade service. A municipality contracting out the construction and maintenance of the fiber plant is the most likely scenario. Plain Internet service is cheap and if the usual suspects want to plug an ONT (Optical Networking Terminal) in for "triple play" that works too. Even local ISPs could be competitive under this arrangement.

There are several variations on the theme. Use your imagination.

Mar 28 14:45:25 x.x.x.x Mar 28 2007 14:46:16: %PIX-4-407001: Deny traffic for local-host inside:y.y.y.y, license limit of 50 exceeded

Aye, but the government in Canada paid for the backbone to be put across the country. Different from the states where such things are done by corporate interests. A consortium of business, educational, and governmental interests worked on the project which brought about the world's first national optical Internet research and education network. This has blossomed into CA*net4, which is our current backbone.

Government interest in broadening communications abilities in Canada has always been viewed as culturally and economically important. A country laid out as we are couldn't possibly survive or thrive without such an interest. Canada paid a lot of attention to the establishment of the national telephone network, a great deal of funding is pumped into the cbc to guarantee that every community has access to it, and now .

Aye, but the government in Canada paid for the backbone to be put across the country. Different from the states where such things are done by corporate interests. A consortium of business, educational, and governmental interests worked on the project which brought about the world's first national optical Internet research and education network. This has blossomed into CA*net4, which is our current backbone.

Government interest in broadening communications abilities in Canada has always been viewed as culturally and economically important. A country laid out as we are couldn't possibly survive or thrive without such an interest. Canada paid a lot of attention to the establishment of the national telephone network, a great deal of funding is pumped into the cbc to guarantee that every community has access to it, and now .

You guys laugh, but it has been thought of before. http://morris.canarie.ca/MLISTS/news2001/0036.html

Anonymous poster is totally right. Internet2 runs on IPv4, but there is experimental IPv6 tunnels. They may have a couple experimental dedicated link these days, but that's all.

Lightpaths is an exciting development in networks. Imagine be able to reserve a lambda between and your friend 1000 km away. It's like having a dedicated fiber. Just plug your equipment at both ends.

Check the PPT of this workshop on the subject for more details:

My understanding was that any connection between 2 schools that were on Internet2 would automatically use the faster other pipe.

That's how it should be.

In .CA we have Canarie (CA*net4) which is a high speed fiber optic network for research and education. Much like the US' Internet2 which it ties to. At our workplace (biomedical reseach) we have a gigabit fiber line coming to us, our upstream provider does the BGP split. When getting stuff from universities and other researchers it screams. (I've burned a CD from an NFS mount half the continent away as a test/joke/whim)

Canada's current equivalent is called CA*Net4
CANET 4 Home Page

Link regarding international hookup to CANET 4.
"CA*net 4 also links to research networks in other countries including Internet 2 in the United States and Geant in Europe and is a partner along with SURFnet in the Netherlands and the STAR LIGHT in Chicago of the International Lambda Grid Testbed." (emphasis added)

So there you have it, a good portion of Canada's research institutions are are already linked into the Lambda initiative.

Canada's current equivalent is called CA*Net4
CANET 4 Home Page

Link regarding international hookup to CANET 4.
"CA*net 4 also links to research networks in other countries including Internet 2 in the United States and Geant in Europe and is a partner along with SURFnet in the Netherlands and the STAR LIGHT in Chicago of the International Lambda Grid Testbed." (emphasis added)

So there you have it, a good portion of Canada's research institutions are are already linked into the Lambda initiative.

CA*Net 3 supposedly operates at up to 40Gbps, with CA*Net 4 under development which should be four to eight times faster. It's not clear, however, whether this is an aggregate data rate or if it can be sustained on a single connection.

Regardless, we'll eventually have Tbps data rates and all this will be a moot point. I only hope that a spammer doesn't manage to get one of those connections. How many viagra and penis spams per second is that? :)

Sadly, Vancouver, BC does not show up on their connectivity map.

If you're at a university in Canada then you are likely running through CA*net4 anyhow. Think of "Internet2" in the US but fully optical with OC-192 speeds (10 Gb/sec) across most of Canada. (NB: We connect to it through work at Canada's National Research Council

The biggest problem is that none of the primary routers support it.

Sources please!

*cough* two core routers dual-stacked where I work, one scheduled for next wednesday, the rest to follow in the weeks following. Abilene supports IPv6 natively. CA*net supports IPv6 natively. SURFnet supports IPv6 natively. IPv6 traffic exchanged at LINX and AMSIX. NTT Europe launched commercial IPv6 service in Europe on 19th February.

Btw. Any chance you could ask your ISP for IPv6 connectivity? From your post it sounds like they could do with some customer demand. :)

No, Canada has some much faster networks. CA*Net 3 was sold to Bellnexxia a while ago, after CA*Net 4 was built.

CA*Net 4, on the other hand, has a series of point-to-point 10 gigabit fibre links. The big thing about this network is that it places routing control and allocation of bandwidth in the hands of the end-users.

For a neat traffic map, check out http://205.189.33.72/stats/CAnet4map/CAnet4mapl3.h tm - but be warned, there are a *lot* of files. On high latency connections, you may want to enable pipelining in Mozilla before accessing it.

--Dan

That, and the highest bandwidth all-optical network on the planet, baby!

By Staff Writer ablair
November 18, 2002, 10:30 PM EST

Ottawa - Recently, an online movie download service backed by five major studios opened for business, marking one of the industry's biggest moves to date into Internet distribution. Movielink is a the joint project by MGM Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Studios

Canadian users will have to wait for a sequel to the initial Movielink service, however, since the service only works on computers with US IP addresses.

Last week's slight from Hollywood is an embarrassing rebuff for Canada, which has positioned itself as one of the leading countries for broadband adoption per capita. It also has a large contingent of early adopters, who likely would be interested in trying out technologies such as video-on-demand.

This is just the latest example of the challenges facing Canada. For years, many developers have ignored Canadian users entirely or forced them to wait months for region-specific versions of products, citing its relatively small market share. Canadians account for less than 5 percent of total desktop computing sales, according to industry research.

Movielink isn't the only online video service to dis the Mac. CinemaNow, an Internet movie site backed by studio Lion's Gate Entertainment, offers its wares to Windows customers only. In addition, Yahoo's Launch music video service also does not support the Mac, according to a recent test of the site by CNET News.com.

Canada clearly covets the market that the download service is meant to attract, having recently launched CA*net 4.

But if Canada has sometimes broken new ground, it has also frequently been left on the sidelines in the fast-evolving field of entertainment convergence.

In related news, Movieline.com reportedly does not allow connections from anywhere other than within the US, effectively rebuffing most of the world's online users.

A similar idea has already been implemented. Some
Canadian researchers used an existing 8000km fiber
optic network as a storage device. Basicly, the network
is configured as a loop and the
data to be stored is simply sent onto the network.
Packets of data are placed onto the network and can be
pulled from it as they pass a node on the network.
It's kind of like a cross between a token ring network
and a mercury delay line. You can find a few more
details from this link.

CA*NET 3 - CANARIE's National Optical Internet

Isn't it nice!

I had about 5500-6000 visitors before /. posted the story, mostly due to a posting about six months ago on [Canarie.ca] and links to my page from [Wkmn.com]

I just saw the counter exceed 10 000 hits and our webserver ([ACC.umu.se]) has served you guys with over 1 GB of data already.

I actually received 15 requests for my resume during the storm that followed the posting on the Canarie mailing-list!

One employer from San Francisco, California, actually e-mailed me one day (the first week on my first job) and said: "I'm in Stockholm now and I'm booked for a flight up to Umea (my city).". I was also in Stockholm, but to make a long story short, I chose to stay with my first employer, because it felt so wrong to abandon them after a single week...

I hope he ever will forget me. ;)

I quit that job six months later (june 2001) and now I'm taking a few courses at my old University and I'm thinking about a PhD or I-don't-know-what.

That was a poorly researched /. response.
The program announced in the story is a provincial intiative for rural Alberta and, ASFAIK, not part of the Federal programs you mention. A look through the Alberta government Supernet Site does not reveal any connection to the Canarie project. This one is an all Alberta project using Alberta seed money.

FWIW, the Liberal Red Book III still contains unfullfilled promises from 1993's Red Book I. I don't put a lot faith that anything in the book will actually become policy.

This is a poorly researched /. story. It is, in fact, the entire country of Canada which is gaining a national fibre-optic network. information can be had here. If you read the site thouroughly, including the various white papers, you will see that the Canadian government has invested a large amount of money in the project. The aim is to create a national network by 2004. It's also a plan that Jean Chretien and Liberals are including as part of their platform in the upcoming election. Evidence can be found in what the Grits call Red Book III.

CANARIE is the national group leading advanced networking in Canada canarie

things like CA*net 3

Because things are so spread out here, telecommunications is much bigger than in the states (Australia's the same way). Geography provides the necessity that is the mother of invention.

cz

CANARIE is the national group leading advanced networking in Canada canarie

things like CA*net 3

Because things are so spread out here, telecommunications is much bigger than in the states (Australia's the same way). Geography provides the necessity that is the mother of invention.

cz

6 it-uk.uk.ten-155.net (212.1.192.98) 43.027 ms 40.527 ms 40.807 ms
7 canet.ca.ten-155.net (212.1.196.174) 156.944 ms 192.211 ms 183.248 ms

You're connected via TEN-155 - this is transit for EU R&D networks - (actually EU + Cyprus & Israel)

X-BTW: Another problem is that the current ATM VC between TEN-155 & Canarie is approaching saturation - so any added traffic will not fit through easily ;-(

compare:

UK.ten-155>trace www.utoronto.ca

Type escape sequence to abort.

Tracing the route to info.utcc.utoronto.ca (128.100.132.30)
1 canet.ca.ten-155.net (212.1.196.174) 108 msec 112 msec 108 msec
2 c3-torcor01.canet3.net (205.189.32.149) [AS 6509] 108 msec 108 msec 116 msec
3 onet-tor-on.canet2.net (205.189.32.9) [AS 6509] 116 msec 120 msec 132 msec
4 utoronto-tor-gigapop-if.onet.on.ca (205.211.94.166) [AS 549] 120 msec 116 ms ec 116 msec
5 mcl2-bbup.gw.utoronto.ca (128.100.200.11) [AS 239] 124 msec 112 msec 116 msec
6 info.utcc.utoronto.ca (128.100.132.30) [AS 239] 112 msec * 116 msec
UK.ten-155>

with:

UK.ten-155>trace www.sprint.ca

Type escape sequence to abort.
Tracing the route to www.sprint.ca (207.107.250.55)

1 mngmt-uk.ny.dante.net (212.1.200.81) [AS 9010] 80 msec 84 msec 80 msec
2 500.POS2-2.GW9.NYC4.ALTER.NET (157.130.19.21) 80 msec 84 msec 80 msec
3 110.ATM2-0.XR1.NYC4.ALTER.NET (152.63.21.202) 84 msec 80 msec 80 msec
4 189.ATM6-0.GW8.NYC4.ALTER.NET (146.188.180.57) [AS 702] 84 msec 80 msec 80 m sec
5 * * *

P.S. it-uk.uk.ten-155.net is an ATM sub-if on uk.ten-155.net ( which I used for the traceroutes - and no the router isn't publically accesible )

6 it-uk.uk.ten-155.net (212.1.192.98) 43.027 ms 40.527 ms 40.807 ms
7 canet.ca.ten-155.net (212.1.196.174) 156.944 ms 192.211 ms 183.248 ms

You're connected via TEN-155 - this is transit for EU R&D networks - (actually EU + Cyprus & Israel)

X-BTW: Another problem is that the current ATM VC between TEN-155 & Canarie is approaching saturation - so any added traffic will not fit through easily ;-(

compare:

UK.ten-155>trace www.utoronto.ca

Type escape sequence to abort.

Tracing the route to info.utcc.utoronto.ca (128.100.132.30)
1 canet.ca.ten-155.net (212.1.196.174) 108 msec 112 msec 108 msec
2 c3-torcor01.canet3.net (205.189.32.149) [AS 6509] 108 msec 108 msec 116 msec
3 onet-tor-on.canet2.net (205.189.32.9) [AS 6509] 116 msec 120 msec 132 msec
4 utoronto-tor-gigapop-if.onet.on.ca (205.211.94.166) [AS 549] 120 msec 116 ms ec 116 msec
5 mcl2-bbup.gw.utoronto.ca (128.100.200.11) [AS 239] 124 msec 112 msec 116 msec
6 info.utcc.utoronto.ca (128.100.132.30) [AS 239] 112 msec * 116 msec
UK.ten-155>

with:

UK.ten-155>trace www.sprint.ca

Type escape sequence to abort.
Tracing the route to www.sprint.ca (207.107.250.55)

1 mngmt-uk.ny.dante.net (212.1.200.81) [AS 9010] 80 msec 84 msec 80 msec
2 500.POS2-2.GW9.NYC4.ALTER.NET (157.130.19.21) 80 msec 84 msec 80 msec
3 110.ATM2-0.XR1.NYC4.ALTER.NET (152.63.21.202) 84 msec 80 msec 80 msec
4 189.ATM6-0.GW8.NYC4.ALTER.NET (146.188.180.57) [AS 702] 84 msec 80 msec 80 m sec
5 * * *

P.S. it-uk.uk.ten-155.net is an ATM sub-if on uk.ten-155.net ( which I used for the traceroutes - and no the router isn't publically accesible )

C'mon... you know you wanna.
-legolas (in .ca)

i've looked at love from both sides now. from win and lose, and still somehow...

I work at the University of Alberta and do work with the CanetII and CanetII syustems. While they are pulibc networks they are NOT commercial ones, check out the AUP on the site this link is for CanetII but will only change a little for CanetII to my understanding. Primarily access is given to educational institutions and research outfits which might benefit from and add quality to the the initiative. Although subject to change, it is a WDM GBE network connecting the different RANs (Regional Area Networks) together. Alberta is probably going to use dark fiber and light it up with multi-channel GBE as it's RAN backbone. All in all I feel this whole thing is pretty exciting and_I'M_ excited to be a part of it.

Actually... on the canarie website, they have a probably accurate graphic.. Now it doesn't include Edmonton (*weep*).

This is the first totally optical network, which is pretty awesome... it involved a number of companies and government organizations working together, here is a quote from the site:

Cisco Systems Canada Co., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, will provide Cisco '12000's' which will in turn deliver the density, scalability and performance required to enable new multimedia applications for the new economy. JDS Fitel, a world leading supplier of fibre optics, will supply the key optical components needed to develop this optical Internet. Newbridge Networks, a world leader in communications networking, and Cambrian Systems Corporation, a Newbridge affiliate company, will provide leading-edge asynchronous transfer mode infrastructure equipment and advanced photonic networking solutions enabling the delivery of differentiated Internet Protocol services and other advanced, high-bandwidth applications. Nortel, the world's leading supplier of high-capacity optical networks, will supply infrastructure equipment for the project, enabling bandwidth-intensive IP traffic to be carried directly over optical channels on the WDM network.

What they need now is applications for the network, if you're a student, tell your prof and see if you can't get something started!

How sweet it is to be Canadian!