Modeling the peering and routing tussle between ISPs and P2P applications

Abstract

The connectivity between millions of nodes on the Internet is provided by the interconnection of many ISPs' networks. These ISPs, in their decisions to peer with each other, define a set of transit relationships. These transit relationships are the primary factors that dictate how traffic flows through the Internet. BGP-based inter-domain routing that implements these transit relationships can be considered economically efficient. The advent of peer-to-peer (P2P) applications and overlay networks, however, changes the rules by providing traffic routing favoring the applications' needs. This can lead to reduced economic efficiency and upset the ISPs' business model. In this paper, we propose simple models to represent P2P traffic demand, peering and routing in a market place of two competing ISPs to illustrate this tussle of the Internet. Based on these models, we also propose and investigate alternative peering and provisioning strategies available to the ISPs and analyze their effectiveness.