The SAVVIS Backbone Network

SAVVIS has engineered its network around a single platform - AS3561 - which enables one global IP backbone, rather than regional Autonomous Systems stitched together. That means that once data gets on the network, it’s a single BGP hop to the global network node nearest its destination. This minimizes the number of router hops and reduces the risk of downtime when traffic has to traverse multiple networks.

Some of our international competitors support services on multiple continents through joint ventures and partnerships. SAVVIS owns its own network - there are no joint ventures that may affect performance and support.

A single AS means:

• Customers are only one hop away from content hosted on the SAVVIS network
• Access to all of the routes on the Internet
• A single end-to-end Service Level Agreement

Network features include:

• Based on industry-leading Juniper core routers and Cisco equipment specifically designed for the needs of Tier 1 "carrier-class" customers
• OC-48/OC-192 backbone trunks, supporting MPLS protocol
• AS3561 is consistently rated over time as having the lowest latency, lowest packet loss, and highest reliability
• SAVVIS firmly segregates Layer-2 (transmission) and Layer-3 (routing)
• Layer-2 is ATM-based for traffic management
• Core network is designed for “zero” packet loss
• SAVVIS is moving to more efficient MPLS Layer 2 protocol

Peering

The SAVVIS Global AS3561 IP backbone has peering connections with 13 Tier 1 US and five Tier 1 European backbone providers. SAVVIS has built new OC-3 [STM-1] and OC-12 [STM-4] for a total of 26GBps connections to its largest direct connect peers, thus providing faster and more reliable access to their networks. With these enhancements, SAVVIS is able to allocate sufficient bandwidth to each peer, aiding in effective capacity planning.

In Europe, SAVVIS maintains pan-European private peering connections at LINX, PARIX and AMSIX operating at STM1 or higher speed with GTS/Ebone, Infonet/AUCS, UUNET AS703, Teleglobe and KPNQwest/EUNET. Additional European peering connections are under consideration.

These connections will provide our US customers with direct access close to 100 percent of the global address space and our European customers with direct access to 90 percent of the European address space. The benefits to SAVVIS customers include: faster access, minimum AS hops, lowest possible packet loss, and a better ability to plan for future growth for ISPs that peer with the SAVVIS IP backbone.

With an aggressive peering plan, including peering agreements with the largest Tier 1 backbones, SAVVIS is one of the leaders in the industry in finding efficient ways to route IP traffic through our network and beyond.

With the globalization of the Internet and SAVVIS' response of expanding the US based IP backbone to a truly global backbone under one AS3561, peering has become increasingly complex and the established peering policies have been amended. SAVVIS has formulated a global peering policy to maximize the benefits of peering to our customers and also provide equitable treatment of our peering partners.

In addition to its peering relationships, SAVVIS has direct transit connections with over 1,300 ISPs in the US and 100 direct connections to ISP's in over 70 countries. In peering and transit arrangements, SAVVIS' global AS3561 stands for quality, unsurpassed in the industry.

SAVVIS is a Tier 1 ISP that offers both IP connectivity and e-business solutions to enable global corporations to quickly reach their desired Internet content. To offer our customers efficient access to destinations that reside outside of SAVVIS’ Global IP Network, peering has been established at select major cities where our backbone nodes are present. In the USA, we have established peering relationships with the four other Tier 1 ISPs: AT&T (ANS), Genuity (GTE Interlink), UUNET (WorldCom), and Sprintlink.

As is the case with all Tier 1 ISPs, SAVVIS is prohibited from peering directly with any network outside the USA; however, our 270 transit relationships with 80 countries will provide the customer with excellent connectivity to overseas markets. We peer with five pan-European Regional Tier 1 networks including: UUNet (WorldCom), Ebone (GTS), AUCS (AT&T and Infonet), EUNET (KPN/Qwest), and France Telecom (which includes Global One and Equant), providing SAVVIS customers access to 90 percent of all European routes. In Asia, SAVVIS is establishing similar peering connections in Japan to provide similar route coverage. Once these peering arrangements are in place, no other Tier 1 ISP will be able to match SAVVIS’ global peering coverage.