The WHREN-LILA proposal describes an interregional infrastructure that facilitates connectivity between the production services of the R&E networks from North and South America, as well as evolving network activities in the western hemisphere:

• The RedCLARA regional backbone in Latin America
• The National LambdaRail in the United States
• The Atlantic Wave to interconnect the international exchanges in Miami and New York with other international exchanges in the US and US federal networks
• Optical and GLIF exchanges evolving in North America and Europe
• Other data-intensive hybrid-services international networking activities

WHREN-LILA Links

WHREN-LILA links have been established between Miami - São Paulo, and San Diego – Tijuana. These links terminate in the following locations:

Miami, Florida: The AMPATH International Exchange. Located in the NAP of the Americas. Operator: FIU-AMPATH

São Paulo, Brazil: The São Paulo Open Exchange. Located in the NAP do Brazil. Operator: ANSP

San Diego, California: The CENIC International Exchange. Located in the CalREN network hub site . Operator: CENIC

Tijuana, Mexico: RedCLARA PoP. Located in the Bestel PoP. Operator: CLARA

Interconnection Facility Operator Responsibilities

The operator of the interconnection facility will be responsible for establishing and maintaining the operation of the WHREN-LILA link. An MoU describing the roles and responsibilities of the interconnection facility operator to the WHREN-LILA project will be established.

It will be the responsibility of the interconnection facility operator to inform the WHREN-LILA Project Steering Committee of costs for interconnection facility services.

Exchange and Peering Services

The WHREN-LILA links will enable exchange and peering services between the connected networks at each of the link termination locations. To avoid misunderstanding, it’s very important that we agree on the definitions of each of these terms. An Exchange service transports traffic from one network to another network, typically using a layer 2 switch, and through the application of VLANs. This model equally applies to a distributed layer 2 exchange. An optical exchange service transports traffic at layer 1 through cross-connect functions and establishing a physical layer circuit. Two networks that choose to peer will reciprocally exchanges routes across a common peering fabric.

In São Paulo, the Cisco ONS 15454 will support layer 1 and layer 2 exchange services. In Tijuana, the layer 2 ethernet switch will support layer transport between connected networks.

Acceptable Use Policy

Regional and national networks and other classes of networks that connect to the WHREN are likely to have an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) defined that describes the proper usage of network resources. The aim of an AUP should be on the responsible use of R&E networks. With the goal of interconnecting international, regional and national R&E networks and exchange points, the consortium has no AUP on its peering points or links, other than those explicitly stated in the future by the U.S. National Science Foundation and Brazil's