The Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a network of networks that consists of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope, linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents and applications of the World Wide Web (WWW), electronic mail, telephony, and file sharing.
In computer networking, peering is a voluntary interconnection of administratively separate Internet networks for the purpose of exchanging traffic between the users of each network. The pure definition of 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 having to pay any fees for the exchange of traffic in either direction, while some Tier 2 networks and all Tier 3 networks must pay to transmit traffic on other networks.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet telephony, broadband telephony, and broadband phone service specifically refer to the provisioning of communications services over the public Internet, rather than via the public switched telephone network (PSTN), also known as plain old telephone service (POTS).
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. Internet service providers can be organised in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privately owned.
An Internet exchange point is the physical infrastructure through which Internet service providers (ISPs) and content delivery networks (CDNs) exchange Internet traffic between their networks.
AARNet provides Internet services to the Australian education and research communities and their research partners.
Internet traffic is the flow of data within the entire Internet, or in certain network links of its constituent networks. Common measurements of traffic are total volume, in units of multiples of the byte, or as transmission rates in bytes per certain time units.
LyonIX is the Internet eXchange point (IXP) of Lyon. LyonIX is managed by Rezopole, the non-profit organization supported by the Métropole de Lyon and the Auvergne – Rhône-Alpes region.
Level 3 Communications was an American multinational telecommunications and Internet service provider company headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. It ultimately became a part of CenturyLink, where Level 3 President and CEO Jeff Storey was installed as Chief Operating Officer, becoming CEO of CenturyLink one year later in a prearranged succession plan.
Xfinity is the trade name of Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, used to market consumer cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the company. The brand was first introduced in 2010; prior to that, these services were marketed primarily under the Comcast name.
Cogent Communications is a multinational internet service provider based in the United States. Cogent's primary services consist of Internet access and data transport, offered on a fiber optic, IP data-only network, along with colocation in data centers.
Internet transit is the service of allowing network traffic to cross or "transit" a computer network, usually used to connect a smaller Internet service provider (ISP) to the larger Internet. Technically, it consists of two bundled services:
PacketExchange was a British multinational network services provider based in London. Founded in 2002 by Jason Velody and Kieron O'Brien who were supported by Nigel Titley, Giles Heron, and Katie Snowball as the founder team, its network connected 45 points of presence across Europe, Asia and the United States over a private backbone consisting primarily of multiple 10 Gigabit Ethernet links over dedicated wavelengths on a fiber-optic mesh.
IP exchange or (IPX) is a telecommunications interconnection model for the exchange of IP based traffic between customers of separate mobile and fixed operators as well as other types of service provider, via IP based Network-to-Network Interface. IPX is developed by the GSM Association.
Hurricane Electric is a global Internet service provider offering IPv4 and IPv6 Internet access, transit, tools, and network applications, as well as data center colocation and hosting services in San Jose, California, and in Fremont, California, where the company is based.
Net bias is the counter-principle to net neutrality, which indicates differentiation or discrimination of price and the quality of content or applications on the Internet by ISPs. Similar terms include data discrimination and network management.
GTT Communications, Inc. (GTT), formerly Global Telecom and Technology, is a multinational telecommunications and internet service provider company with headquarters in Tysons, Virginia, and incorporated in Delaware. GTT operates a Tier 1 IP network, and provides transport and infrastructure; Internet; wide area networking, SD-WAN; managed services; and voice and video services.
Grenoble Internet eXchange or GrenoblIX is the Internet eXchange point (IXP) of Grenoble in Isère and Auvergne – Rhône-Alpes region. GrenoblIX allows to the connected members to exchange the traffic in order to avoid passing by faraway infrastructures. This Internet eXchange point is managed by the non-profit organization Rezopole, founded in 2001.
