Bilateral peering

Public bilateral peering takes place across a Layer 2 access technology, usually described as a shared fabric. An Internet Exchange Point allows multiple carriers to interconnect with other carriers across a single physical port.

Networks who peer publicly are connected to one public peering VLAN. It is an efficient and cost-effective method of reaching multiple peers as no traffic charges apply, only fixed port fees.

Smaller networks, or those who are new to peering, find public peering at exchange points an attractive way to meet and interconnect with other networks with open peering policies. Larger networks may also utilise public peering to aggregate a number of smaller peers, or for conducting temporary low-cost trial peering without the expense of provisioning a private interconnection.

Public peering makes the Internet more robust and reliable and has been the primary method of exchanging traffic in Europe for many years.