The evolution of the Internet RAI

1
The evolution of the Internet RAI

• Pisa, May 27th, 2008

2
RAI Discovers Internet

• 1995 RAI begins its Internet presence renting a
  512Kbps link, later expanded to 2 Mbps, this link
  was mainly used for internal purposes (e-mail and
  journalist web browsing)
• 1996 As the Internet evolves, so does RAI,
  realizing that an institutional presence on the
  Internet is needed. The very first "Internet
  Node" is designed and deployed. At this stage,
  Internet access is provided by a single operator,
  who in turn distributes content to its peers
• 1999 RAI makes the choice to make direct
  peering with other national ISPs, hence the need
  to acquire its own Autonomous System (AS 8234),
  which is announced by its peers.
• 2000/2001 RAI becomes more aggressive towards
  the Internet market, and developes its first
  portal. At the same time, all the necessary steps
  to become Local Internet Registry are done and
  in 2001 RAI becomes a full member of RIPE, with
  its own pool of IP addresses and, for all intents
  and purposes places itself in the highest range
  of the market, as a content provider, thanks also
  to the enormous archive of audio and video
  material available. Also, direct peering with
  international operators is implemented.

3
RAI Discovers MIX

• 2006 At company level it is assessed positively
  the need to access the most important Italian NAP
  / IX (Neutral Access Point / Internet Exchange),
  the MIX (Milan Internet Exchange). The process to
  access the MIX as a full rights member starts.
• 28/08/2007 The process completes successfully
  and RAI deploys a CISCO CRS1 at the MIX
  headquarters in Milan with a bandwidth of 2 Gbps.
• 2008 RAI currently has direct peering with 42
  operators accessing the MIX with a use of
  bandwidth approximately about 700 Mbps peak.

4
Why RAI Connects to MIX

• Direct peering with the various operators at
  RAIs Internet Node doesnt makes it possible to
  reach all possible users of the portal content.
• Since RAI a national public service, being able
  to offer to those who want to make a direct
  peering seems natural. The MIX offers this
  possibility to all major ISPs operating
  nationally and which are related to MIX.
• RAI offers to all the MIX members the possibility
  of direct peering, and new operators who are
  seeking peering with RAI are connected
  immediately upon request.
• Greater visibility of corporate content not only
  through their direct peer (today mostly
  international, granted that the Italian
  communities abroad are huge) but more important,
  through the whole group of operators which joined
  the MIX, announcing RAI even if there is no
  direct peering agreement in existence.
• Costs optimization and scaling options always
  available, not excluding the possibility of
  direct peer, as indeed is the case of RAI.

5
What is the future ?

• Access to a panel of selected players with the
  objective to test the implementation of new
  technologies and methods of content distribution.
  For example, agreements involving the use of
  Multicast Protocol towards provider networks that
  are or can be made - Multicast enabled.
• Potential experimentation with other operators of
  the IPv6 protocol (IPv6 peering), while not
  impacting the current use of IPv4
• Possibility of creating a CUG (Closed User
  Group), basically a VLAN within the MIX
  infrastructure dedicated for a private peering
  within limited number of operators for purposes
  different than public peering.