 | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 1994 |
| Founder | Phillip J Lawlor |
| Headquarters | Dearborn, Michigan, United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Internet access, Colocation |
AGIS (Apex Global Internet Services) is a former Internet backbone based in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It is most remembered as having openly hosted spam email services, which destroyed its reputation and led to its bankruptcy.
AGIS was founded as Apex Global Information Services in 1994 by Phillip J Lawlor. [1] AGIS acquired Network99, Inc. in July 1995. [2]
Lawlor believed an ISP was not responsible for policing the content of its customers traffic. This hands-off policy resulted in a safe haven for the notorious spammer Sanford Wallace. By 1997, when Wallace's account was finally terminated, the ISP's reputation had been ruined. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February, 2000. [3]
AGIS was acquired by Telia Internet, Inc. in 2000. [4] Telia Internet, Inc. was acquired by Aleron Broadband, Inc. in 2001. [5] Aleron Broadband was acquired by Cogent Communications in 2004. [6]
In 1997, AGIS introduced its colocation product under the brand name "CoolLocation." [7]
In computer networking, peering is a voluntary interconnection of administratively separate Internet networks for the purpose of exchanging traffic between the "down-stream" users of each network. Peering is settlement-free, also known as "bill-and-keep," or "sender keeps all," meaning that neither party pays the other in association with the exchange of traffic; instead, each derives and retains revenue from its own customers.
The Internet backbone may be defined by the principal data routes between large, strategically interconnected computer networks and core routers of the Internet. These data routes are hosted by commercial, government, academic and other high-capacity network centers, as well as the Internet exchange points and network access points, that exchange Internet traffic between the countries, continents, and across the oceans. Internet service providers, often Tier 1 networks, participate in Internet backbone traffic by privately negotiated interconnection agreements, primarily governed by the principle of settlement-free peering.
A Tier 1 network is an Internet Protocol (IP) network that can reach every other network on the Internet solely via settlement-free interconnection. Tier 1 networks can exchange traffic with other Tier 1 networks without paying any fees for the exchange of traffic in either direction. In contrast, some Tier 2 networks and all Tier 3 networks must pay to transmit traffic on other networks.
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