The Internet topology has significantly changed in the past years. Today, it is richly connected and flattened. Such a change has been driven mostly by the fast growth of peering infrastructures and the expansion of Content Delivery Networks as alternatives to reduce interconnection costs and improve traffic delivery performance. While the topology evolution is perceptible, it is unclear whether or not the interconnection process has evolved or if it continues to be an ad-hoc and lengthy process. To shed light on the current practices of the Internet interconnection ecosystem and how these could impact the Internet, we surveyed more than 100 network operators and peering coordinators. We divide our results into two parts: ( i ) the current interconnection practices, including the steps of the process and the reasons to establish new interconnection agreements or to renegotiate existing ones, and the parameters discussed by network operators. In part ( ii ), we report the existing limitations and how the interconnection ecosystem can evolve in the future. We show that despite the changes in the topology, interconnecting continues to be a cumbersome process that usually takes days, weeks, or even months to complete, which is in stark contrast with the desire of most operators in reducing the interconnection setup time. We also identify that even being primary candidates to evolve the interconnection process, emerging on-demand connectivity companies are only fulfilling part of the existing gap between the current interconnection practices and the network operators' desires.

中文翻译：

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对当前互联网互连实践的调查

互联网拓扑在过去几年中发生了显着变化。今天，它有着丰富的联系和扁平化。这种变化主要是由对等基础设施的快速增长和内容交付网络的扩展推动的，作为降低互连成本和提高流量交付性能的替代方案。虽然拓扑演变是可感知的，但尚不清楚互连过程是否已经演变，或者它是否仍然是一个临时且漫长的过程。为了阐明互联网互连生态系统的当前实践以及这些实践如何影响互联网，我们调查了 100 多家网络运营商和对等协调员。我们将结果分为两部分：（一世) 当前的互连实践，包括过程的步骤和建立新互连协议或重新协商现有协议的原因，以及网络运营商讨论的参数。部分（ii)，我们报告了现有的限制以及互连生态系统在未来如何发展。我们表明，尽管拓扑结构发生了变化，但互连仍然是一个繁琐的过程，通常需要数天、数周甚至数月才能完成，这与大多数运营商减少互连设置时间的愿望形成鲜明对比。我们还发现，即使是发展互连过程的主要候选者，新兴的按需连接公司也只能满足当前互连实践与网络运营商需求之间现有差距的一部分。