Internap created a platform to intelligently route data over the Internet's major backbones from a single connection to one of its own service points. As an Internet access provider, it has deployed a total of 37 service points in major U.S. cities, as well as having an international presence in London, Amsterdam and Tokyo.

Unlike some Internet access providers that randomly choose public network access points or private peering points, Internap's routing technology sends customer data along the optimal path. For its nearly 900 customers, the optimizing effects of its proprietary network architecture and advanced routing technologies dramatically boost performance. In fact, Internap recently made available a Web-based portal through which customers can compare not only its performance metrics to the guaranteed levels in its service-level agreement but also its performance to all the major Internet backbones.

Major companies served by Internap include NASDAQ, Colgate-Palmolive, Datek Online, Earthlink, Travelocity.com and many others, including local and regional ISPs, which expect high-performance Internet connectivity services in order to run mission-critical, Internet-based applications, or to use the Internet as a viable alternative to traditional private networking platforms, such as frame relay, ATM or private lines.

Internap had customers in its colocation facilities that wanted to connect to its equipment, but distance requirements were a limiting factor. The company typically connected its customers via 10-Mbps and 100-Mbps Ethernet over inexpensive copper. That proved challenging in its larger facilities with the 100-meter distance limitation for Ethernet and Fast Ethernet. Therefore, the company evaluated available options in order to expand its business and continue servicing existing customers.

Internap determined that deploying fiber was the best way to overcome the distance limitations presented by copper cabling. Fiber provides several advantages to Ethernet and Fast Ethernet networks. The most common use is to overcome distance limitations of coaxial and twisted-pair copper topologies. Fiber can extend these distances with multimode fiber, providing 2,000 meters, and single-mode fiber supporting five kilometers in half-duplex environments, and much more in full-duplex installations.