Interconnection and Edge Exchange
Alex Marcham · 2021
As was described in previous chapters, the internet is a network of networks. To make this system of multiple networks interoperating work as we need it to in order to support new generations of use cases and applications which rely on achieving low latency communications and a minimal cost of data transportation, there must be many distributed points of interconnection between networks present at the infrastructure edge, and the mix of networks present in these locations must match those that are required to support the application workloads required by customers and end users. Interconnection is the process by which one network is connected to another so that both networks are able to share data. This enables customers connected to one last mile or access network to use resources which are present on another network, such as a piece of content or a cloud service. This interconnection must be possible at the infrastructure edge network for the system to be valuable. In the infrastructure edge computing network, there must be one or more Meet Me Rooms (MMRs) present in the area. These are the physical locations where the exchange of data between networks occurs. Without an MMR in one of more infrastructure edge data centre facilities, interconnection is at best very limited and at worst non-existent at the infrastructure edge network, limiting its value.