Two ISP’s Duly Peered

A deal was inked last week to link two domestic Internet systems, Telekom Brunei Berhad (TelBru)’s BruNet and Datastream Technology Sdn Bhd (DST)’s SimpurNet which will directly connect the two Internet Service Providers (ISP) without the need to re-route the domestic Internet traffic via an overseas destination.

This is known as ‘peering networking’, which is a “business relationship whereby ISPs reciprocally provide connectivity to each other’s customers”.

The direct ISP peering arrangement will reduce the Internet traffic bandwidth usage (upstream and downstream) on the international connectivity resulting from the off-loading of Brunei’s domestic Internet traffic to the direct ISP peering connection. Consequently, direct peering arrangement will lower the cost of Internet traffic transit on international links.

In addition, the reduction and diversion in domestic Internet traffic would allow more international Internet traffic to pass through the international link. This, to a great extent, would improve the Internet traffic flow to overseas destination.

By collaborating with each other, the ‘Bilateral Peering Agreement’ marks a significant milestone for the telecommunication industries’ development and in enhancing Internet services here.

The signing ceremony was held at the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei (AiTi) building in Kg Anggerek Desa. AiTi plays a role as a facilitator in this agreement. The guest of honour was Dato Paduka Haji Awang Alaihuddin bin Pehin Orang Kaya Digadong Seri Lela Dato Seri Utama Haji Awang Mohd Taha, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications and Chairman of AiTi.

Signing the agreement on behalf of TelBru was its Acting Chief Executive Officer, Haji Umar Ali bin Haji Abdullah while Chief Executive Officer of DST, Mr Idris T Vasi signed on behalf of DST.

The Chief Executive of AiTi Awang Haji Yuhkup bin Haji Menudin in his speech explained that as two of the main gateways of Internet in Brunei, BruNet and SimpurNet are connected to multiple international data carriers. “Until today, there is no direct IP to IP connectivity between BruNet and SimpurNet,” he said.

Therefore, he said all kinds of domestic traffic sent and received between the two networks are routed via international data carriers instead of via a direct link between the two networks.

“Imagine every time you send your e-mail within Brunei, your e-mail has to go out from Brunei first. This has resulted in increased utilisation of international bandwidth which in turn causes longer or delayed inter-autonomous system (AS) traffic latency as well as higher cost for Internet transit services,” he said.

With the signing of the agreement yesterday, he said the good news is that all kinds of domestic telecom traffic messages to date including videos, could be sent and received between the two systems without going out of Brunei as it was before. “It means all customers within Brunei are now better connected,” he added.

From international perspectives, this may help the ‘connected’ entities to better negotiate with other international carriers, build-up diversity routes against network faults (or increased network redundancy). Lastly, Brunei is one step closer in fulfilling the Asean’s initiative of setting up Internet-exchange nodes in each of the member states.