Summary

  • Matt Griswold's NANOG 98 deck says connected networks will vote on the future of Chicago Open Pipes, but labels the voting structure unfinished. It also describes an asset lock while the fabric is used and surplus staying in the fabric.
  • Chicago Open Pipes now lists six founding networks. Its official page requires a 100G or larger active port for founder status and posts annual 100G and 400G fees of $4,200 and $12,500. The final vote and asset-disposition instruments are the records that would settle who controls the exchange after networks connect.

Six founding networks already have their names on Chicago Open Pipes' official page. There are port prices, peering options and a form to join. In Matt Griswold's NANOG 98 presentation, the future of this nonprofit exchange belongs to the networks plugged into it. One line on the governance slide is still doing a lot of work: “Voting structure being finalized.”

Griswold is not new to building exchanges. His original slides recall the Chicago Internet Exchange and say the technology was achievable; trust, participation and durable governance were harder. He also explains why the timing matters. Cross-connects, BGP sessions, traffic, capacity planning and operational trust make an IX sticky. A member can cancel a service, but it cannot casually move all those relationships to another fabric.

Open Pipes proposes a global nonprofit umbrella for legal and tax work and a local committee for each region. The slides say a fabric should not wind down while it is used, surplus should go back into it, and connected networks should vote on its future. The vote's structure was still being finalized in the October deck. That is a design decision with a deadline set by deployment, not a footnote for the annual report.

The Chicago page supplies the operational side of the promise. It names South Front Networks, Akamai Technologies, Hoyos Consulting, CoreSite, WiscNet and Hurricane Electric as founders. Founder status requires turning up at least a 100G port and sending traffic; the window closes at 100G aggregate traffic. The page offers 1G and 10G ports free while supplies last, 100G at $4,200 a year and 400G at $12,500. It calls the fees cost recovery. None of those prices answers whether a free-port network and a 400G network get the same vote, or who may authorize an asset transfer.

Griswold's talk makes a sharp case against the ease with which a commercial owner can change an exchange's incentives. The remedy's moving part is the member rule. His October slides describe the intended lock and vote; a final adopted voting and asset-disposition instrument would show how those promises bind the live Chicago fabric. The connected networks need that record while joining is still a choice, not after the cross-connects make leaving expensive.

Sources: NANOG 98 session · Griswold's original slides · Chicago Open Pipes official page.