Verizon's Data 'Hotels' Bring IP Traffic Closer

With the tidal wave of content crossing the Internet growing more than 50% a year and with consumers demanding more jitter-free content, Verizon on Wednesday announced a program designed to streamline IP delivery for content delivery network providers (CDNs).

The Verizon Partner Port Program enables content owners and CDNs to bypass traditional backbone-peering processes by depositing their content directly into data center "hotels," including some provided by Equinix.

Boh Dupree, Verizon's group marketing manager, and senior technologist Douglas Pasko said the new program will improve the entire network experience, from initial content provider to consumer end users.

"We're enabling content providers to get closer to consumers," Pasko said in an interview. "We're trying to route content as efficiently as possible." While the new delivery scheme will bypass some existing bottlenecks by locating content in the strategically located "hotels," Verizon believes an important feature of the new scheme is its cost savings potential, because content providers will be able to get direct connections from their content storage devices to the Verizon Internet backbone network.

"By accessing our Internet backbone network regionally rather than transporting content across the continent to reach users, content owners can have the confidence that their material is connecting to Verizon's network over shorter paths with fewer 'hops,' " Verizon VP Quintin Lew said in a statement. "The result is fewer opportunities for delays or packet-loss failures due to traffic or other technical incidents like router failures, fiber cuts, and the like."

Dupree said the result for consumers will be an overall improved broadband experience, including less jitter in video files and accelerated loading of Web pages. He noted that the delivery of Web content also is improved by a new turnkey content–delivery network managed by Velocix, which offers intelligent routing technology to deliver large files. Verizon also said it supports peer-to-peer file transfers utilizing the P4P Working Group's network efficiency model, which trims the number of "hops" in Web transmissions.

Verizon noted that the Verizon Partner Port Program does not prioritize any content delivered over the Internet.